Internet posts documents on money laundering in laying ESPO pipeline with involvement of SFD companies

Alexei Navalny, a well-known blogger and a shareholder of the Open Joint-Stock Company "Transneft", has posted on the Internet scanned copies of documents confirming numerous violations committed by the Company, its subsidiaries and contractors in building the "Pipeline System Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean (PS ESPO)". According to the documents, companies from the Southern Federal District (SFD) of Russia took part in corruption schemes.

According to the blogger's data published in his blog on the LiveJournal, during construction of the PS ESPO at least 4 billion US dollars were stolen from the state budget. The shareholder refers to the data of the Russian Audit Chamber published in 2007: the posted photocopies of documents list violations and show the names and signatures of those responsible for the audit.

According to Navalny, the documents had been made secret, while embezzlers manage to escape liability because "they paid bribes with KAMAZ trucks full of money." However, the blogger has managed, with like-minded people, including those in the Audit Chamber, to find and publish the "Materials prepared by the OJSC 'Transneft' on request of the Audit Chamber No. ZI-11-03-69/11-03", first making sure that the documents were authentic.

It was established that most general contractors had been founded by dummy offshore companies; and in some cases companies were registered to assumed names under forged signatures.

Hundred percent of ordinary shares belong to the state; thus, as noted by Alexei Navalny, the damage of several billions US dollars was caused not only to the company itself, but also to the Russian Federation.

It is noteworthy that in 1999-2007 the "Transneft" was headed by Semyon Vainshtock, who changed his post, after the checks of the Audit Chamber, to the post of the head of the State Corporation "Olimpstroy", which was founded in 2007 and is now building Olympic objects in Sochi.

Blogger Navalny addresses for help to all Internet users in disseminating his post on the LiveJournal, namely, of the report itself and excerpts from it.

Currently, the Navalny's message about violations during the construction of the TS ESPO is accompanied by more than 5000 comments.

"I see no need to comment on bloggers' publications. The Audit Chamber is referred there. If there had been something, we surely would have learned everything directly from there," said Dmitri Peskov, spokesman for the Prime Minister, as quoted by RIA "Novosti".

According to Igor Dyomin, the spokesman of the "Transneft", the check of the finance of the construction of the oil pipeline "Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean" was triggered by new managers of the company.

The Council of the Federation is ready to check the reports about violations in construction of the ESPO pipeline. As announced today by the Council's speaker Sergey Mironov, "if even a small fraction of the facts is confirmed, there are bodies that shall react: Investigatory Committee and the Public Prosecutor's Office," the "Echo Moskvy" Radio reports.

The Audit Chamber has argued that the authenticity of the documents published by Navalny need yet to be verified; while the National Anti-Corruption Committee has stated its readiness to facilitate bringing perpetrators to justice, said the above radio station.