Press Release, 14.11.2020

The Anti-Corruption Policy Centre of the Yabloko Party has opened the reception of nominees for the Golden Toilet Brush anti-award. The prize is awarded for the most wasteful public procurement contracts.

The Golden Toilet Brush has two nominations – federal and regional – and two sets of awards: gold, silver and bronze toilet brushes. The prizes are made in the shape of toilet brushes and will be awarded to the officials who made the most absurd and wasteful purchases from the federal or the regional budget funds.

The nomination for the award is open. Officials, institutions and companies that receive money from the federal or the regional budget and spend it on purchases can become nominees. All Russian citizens can nominate their prize winners and also read about the prize-winners of the previous years on the Golden Toilet Brush award website.

All purchases are published on the website www.zakupki.gov.ru, where one can look for nominees. The more absurd and wasteful the purchase is, the more likely it is that an official will receive his/her anti-prize.

The Golden Toilet Brush was launched by the St.Petersburg Youth Yabloko organization in 2008. Valentina Matvienko, then Governor of St.Petersburg, received the first award after purchasing toilet brushes for the city Administration at the price of 12,794 roubles per piece.

Over the years, dozens of federal and regional officials, including Viktor Zolotov, head of the Russian Guard, Vladimir Medinsky, Minister of Culture (2012-2020), Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov have won plastic brushes of elite colours.

The selection of nominees will end on 30 November, 2020. The winners of the anti-award will be will determined via voting which will start after the nominations.