Chairman of the Russian Audit Chamber Sergei Stepashin stated major inspections will be conducted in the state-run corporations and the companies with the state share in the near future. In particular, the Russian top audit agency will inspect the efficiency of such companies as Rosagroleasing, Gazprom, Aeroflot, Russian Railways (RZD), Rosatom, RusHydro. In the view of the experts, the Rosagroleasing inspection can entail serious consequences for former minister Yelena Skrynnik.
The Russian chief auditor is planning to inspect the activities of Rosagoleasing for the last 10 years, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily reported. In this state-run company the misappropriation of 39 billion roubles was reported to be found. “We decided to conduct an independent audit inspection. I involved several audit spheres, and my deputy will head this audit inspection. We will invite independent experts and will analyse the Rosagroleasing activities for the last ten years under Yelena Skrynnik and today. We will compare it, calculate it and will deal with it. Slander or not slander, fairly or unfairly, who was fighting against someone,” Stepashin said. He acknowledged that he is concerned over a possible premeditated bankruptcy of this organization for its further passing in private possession. “There are some concerns that we want to dispel these concerns. By the way, Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fedorov supports us in this issue,” Stepashin said.
Political expert Dmitry Oreshkin believes that these inspections can end quite badly for Yelena Skrynnik. “These inspections are some kind of response to those questions that the society has,” the Novye Izvestia daily quoted the expert as saying. “Thanks to the development of the public opinion it is becoming obvious that the state funds are spent in a quite non-transparent and inefficient way. But, on the one hand, the authorities report abstractly that one trillion roubles was spent not for the concrete purpose, and, on the other hand, you read about concrete facts. Therefore, the authorities have nothing but respond to these facts in some way. But, unfortunately, we do not see real results of these activities,” he said.
Meanwhile, the first complex inspection of the gas major Gazprom for the last five years will be conducted in 2013 and will end in November 2013. In the view of the investors, the results of this inspection will be very interesting for the professional community. “The company is reproached for inefficient activities for a long time. Particularly these reproaches concern too high capital expenses of the company. Gazprom is also criticized for the cooperation with the limited pool of mediators in the purchases and the subcontractors in the works in detriment to efficiency,” co-director of the analytical department Investcafe Grigory Birg said.
The audit inspection of the state-run corporation Rusnano was already launched, the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily noted. “By the end of the first quarter of the year we will say about the current situation in the corporation and how its funds are spent. I would like to inquire in it, but not just listen to them,” Sergei Stepashin said. He evidently is also interested what this mysterious “nano” is like and in which tens of budget billions of roubles are invested, the newspaper noted. The Russian chief auditor is very interested in the air tickets. “Why major international air companies, which are eager to work in our country, are not permitted to enter our market,” Stepashin get puzzled. As for Aeroflot, the Russian Audit Chamber will also conduct an audit inspection in this largest Russian air company.