Press Release, 23.11.2020

Oleg Rodin, Chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of Yabloko and Director of the regional branch of the Anti-Corruption Policy Centre, appealed to the Control and Audit Department of the Ministry of Finance of the Nizhny Novgorod Region demanding to check the reasonabless of the purchase at the indicated price of car rental for officials of the Dzerzhinsk city administration and bring the officials representing the customer to justice.

In early November, the Dzerzhinsk administration placed an order for tender for a lease (financial lease) purchase of two Kia Optima cars worth 5.57 million roubles. As established by the Anti-Corruption Policy Centre, such machines can be leased for about 3.2 million roubles. Oleg Rodin demanded from the controlling authorities to bring officials to justice for the inflated prices.

According to the Nizhny Novgorod regional branch of the Anti-Corruption Policy Centre, one can find the same cars on lease much cheaper on the market. Thus, a Kia Optima can be purchased on a financial lease for 1.6 million roubles. Therefore, the overpricing for the purchase of a car could amount to 2.2 million roubles.

“Buying such expensive cars during the crisis is a real waste of money. There is no need for this, especially since the cars are bought above the market price. If I were an official of the administration, I would rather buy new buses on lease, then both residents and officials could move around the city faster,” the head of the Nizhny Novgorod Anti-Corruption Policy Centre of the Yabloko party said.

The Dzerzhinsk city administration tried several times to purchase foreign cars for lease. In April, the media drew attention to two purchases relating to car leasing. The tenders were canceled the same day. However, in November, according to a new tender, there was signed a contract with OOO Leasing Company Stone-XXI from Moscow. This company was the only firm to enter the auction, it did not try to bargain and received a contract for the maximum amount – 5,579,957.60 roubles.

The customer is the municipal government agency Specialist, subordinate to the Office of the Mayor of Dzerzhinsk. Since last year, it has been headed by Vladislav Paranichev, a former employee of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. The documents do not specify who will use the cars.