Press release, 26.09.2018

Russian Federal Treasury admitted the infringement of the initial (maximum) price assessment for the procurement of Christmas tress and decorations for Russia’s Defence Ministry. An unscheduled check-out took place upon Yabloko’s application. Yabloko’s Centre for Anti-Corruption Policies discovered that the Defence Ministry will buy 268 Christmas trees at the cost ranging from 14.000 to 2.99 million roubles per tree. According to Yabloko, the initial price for some trees was overpriced ninefold.

Photo: Hrvoje Jelavic / / PA Images / ТASS

On 29 November 2017 the Defence Ministry placed an order for “Christmas decorations” at the cost of 17.201.257 roubles. The ordering customer referred to the supply of three companies when forming prices. An average price of “Green Christmas Tree (0.6 m)” is 39.931 roubles. However, the basic price for this tree on the market is 4.200 roubles. This means that the ordering customer increased the price by 9.5 times.

Upon Yabloko’s application Russian Federal Treasury released a statement No 43 on conducting an unscheduled in-house check of the Defence Ministry on 22 February 2018. The check proved that the ministry violated paragraph 2 Article 22 of the law on the contract system. It is the violation of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.

According to Yabloko’s lawyer Alexei Chumakov, the Defence Ministry may face a fine of 10,000 roubles for spending 17 million roubles ineffectively. “It is a shortfall in the legislation that leads to public funds wasting and corruption,” he explained.

At the moment Yabloko’s Centre for Anti-Corruption Policies is developing amendments to Russia’s Administrative Code increasing responsibility for infringements of pricing rationale.