Navalny accused the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Chechnya of gross violation in process of state purchases

The Ministry of Interior Affairs of Chechnya is spending federal funds on improper purposes. This was an accusation of Alexey Navalny, a famous blogger with over one thousand subscribers, author of "Rospil" project, against the Ministry.

In April, 2011, Alexey Navalny analyzed the tender of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Chechnya on supply of foreign-made and domestic cars to a total sum of 113 million rubles within the framework of "Rospil" project. According to the order, the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Chechnya needed 15 Mercedes Е350 cars, two jeeps Toyota Land Cruiser 200, one Porsche Cayenne, a Toyota Camry and about one hundred different Russian makes of cars, production of "Avtovaz", at the moment.

In his post "Names for Hero of Russia Kadyrov" Alexey Navalny stated that it was just this order that became the reason for "Rospil's" own investigation of the activities of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Chechnya and for looking into the matter "without drawing their attention".

The "Mercedes" and "Porsche" cars were still purchased

According to Navalny, in process of the investigation it emerged that first the order on delivery of the cars was canceled but at the end of April, 2011, it was placed again. "The matter turned out very interesting. If we believe the data on placement of the order and the web-site of state purchases, respectively, not a single application for participation in the auction was submitted. Such a situation allows the customer to purchase the same goods by agreement with the Department of Federal Antimonopoly Service (DFAS), already not by auction but from one provider", the blogger writes.

In reply to "Rospil's" inquiry DFAS informed that there was no such agreement and the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Chechnya ignored the inquiry. Therefore, Alexey Navalny arrived at a conclusion that the policemen either managed without the cars or the cars were purchased illegally.

On verifying the data on other auctions announced by the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Chechnya in 2010-2011, the team of "Rospil" discovered a similar situation.

"A vast majority of the auctions held by the Ministry of Interior Affairs in Chechen Republic since September, 2010, failed. Beside this fact, there are no protocols for several purchases", a report posted on "Rospil's" web-site runs.

According to a summary table worked out by "Rospil", from September, 27, 2010, till September, 19, 2011, the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Chechnya held 92 auctions with not a single application, to a total sum of 359,5 rubles. For 21 auctions to a sum of 226,1 million rubles each, there was only one application; for seven more auctions to a sum of 7,4 million rubles two applications were submitted, besides, purchase protocols on six of them are absent. Finally, the members of "Rospil" team failed to find any information on 20 auctions to a total sum of 26,5 million rubles. Therefore, "Rospil" questioned transparency of the auctions to a sum of over 620 million rubles.

The data collected in this way enabled "Rospil" to appeal to Prosecutor General's, the Ministry of Finance and Rosfinnadzor demanding to inspect observance of Federal law on purchases by the Chechen Ministry. As a result of the efforts of "Rospil" team, Rosfinnadzor responsible for control over consumption of budget funds included inspection of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Chechnya into its schedule of supervision to be held till the end of 2012.

"Federal funds allotted in a huge quantity on the needs of the Ministry of Interior Affairs in Chechen Republic are spent in quite a shadow and fraudulent way. The contractors or providers are just assigned by a decision of the personnel of the Ministry. We do not believe that this can go without kickbacks", Alexey Navalny writes in his blog.

He also considers that "Chechen policemen have become so much impudent for the reason on their impunity and permissiveness that they do not even try to pretend for the sake of appearances" and the "investigative bodies are doing all they can to prevent inquiry".

Finally, he points out the names of eight high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Interior Affairs who, in the opinion of the members of "Rospil", must be "kicked out from state service, become figurants of criminal cases and be in the dock".

"The funds were allotted on specific needs"

The issue of state purchases of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Chechnya has been actively discussed in Alexey Navalny's blog on LiveJournal since February, 8. There are 1139 comments to the post at the moment.

The bloggers' opinions became at variance at once. Some of them think that "Rospil's" investigation is posed as prevention of a "theft of century" though it is not really so.

"In the state of triumphant euphoria they forget that the funds were allotted on specific goods and needs (the documents may not be quite in order as everywhere in the country). It produces an especially strong impression on sensitive citizens while they "shyly forget" that the cost of construction of only one overpass 390 meters long in Moscow makes about 400 000 000 rubles", Livejournal user adoscom writes.

The users who support "Rospil's" investigation are skeptical about the results of making the information on financial violations public.

"Tomorrow we will be informed that some of the persons mentioned by Navalny were discharged just the day before yesterday and others have never worked at the Ministry of Interior Affairs", user fraticelli comments on Alexey Navalny's post.

The authorities of Chechnya and the Ministry of Interior Affairs have not commented on the statements of Alexey Navalny and "Rospil" team yet.