25.04.09

Senior officials of the Presidential Administration and their families declared income. Presidential Aide Konstantin Chuichenko declared 368.5 million rubles made in 2008. This vast figure includes "income from sale of land plots and real estate".

Chuichenko declared ownership of a land plot (5,000 square meters), an apartment owned together with the spouse (123 square meters), and some autos - Nissan Navara, Land Rover, and ATV Traxter Max XT. His wife Christine Tikhonova made 92.4 million rubles in 2008. She owns two land plots (1,113 and 4,500 square meters) and two manors (200 and 900 square meters).

Chuichenko told Vedomosti that there was no need to be surprised at his income because he had been a businessman before becoming a civil servant. Before becoming Chief of the Control Directorate last summer, he had sat on Gazprom Board of Directors as well as on those of Gazprom Oil, Gazprom Media, and Rosneftegaz. He had been one of RosUkrEnergo directors as well. Sources close to the RosUkrEnergo say that Chuichenko could earn $1 million in this company alone in 2008.

Tikhonova on the other hand founded and headed no companies. (It is known that her sister Yana Tikhonova is the head of Glencore International AG mission in Moscow.) Friends of the family say that Tikhonova spends all her time raising children. Chuichenko himself claims that his wife makes little ("...something about 10,000 rubles, I think") and that her income in 2008 is attributed to the sale of some real estate or other.

Presidential Administration Director Sergei Naryshkin made 5.7 million rubles, Senior Assistant Director Vladislav Surkov 3.9 million rubles, Assistant Directors Aleksei Gromov and Alexander Beglov 3.7 million rubles each.

Pay is the least part of what officials make, a source in the Presidential Administration explained. There are also monthly allowances, awards for important and complicated missions accomplished, bonus for work with classified information, and seniority pay.

When a presidential aide makes between 3 and 3.5 million rubles, it means that there were no alternative sources of income worth mentioning, the source continued. This is exactly what Arkady Dvorkovich, Oleg Markov, Jahan Pollyeva, Larisa Brycheva, Press Secretary Natalia Timakova, and Chief of Protocol Marina Yentaltseva declared. Yentaltseva also declared a Bentley Continental GT Speed (market price in excess of 8 million rubles).

Assistant to the president Sergei Prikhodko (he is in charge of foreign affairs) made 5.3 million rubles but not because he sat on the boards of Tactical Missile Weapons and Sukhoi. Insiders say that as a representative of the state on these corporations' boards of directors, Prikhodko is not supposed to get any pay there.

Where spouses are concerned, Dvorkovich's wife Zumrud Rustamova made 27 million rubles as Polimetall assistant director general. Surkov's wife Natalia Dubovitskaya made 16.8 million rubles and Pollyeva's husband Mikhail Kazachkov 6.5 million rubles. Along with everything else, Kazachkov declared ownership of a manor (149 square meters) in Italy. Kazachkov is Russian Helicopter Systems Director General, which is a company specializing in the use and maintenance of domestic and foreign helicopters.

Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative Georgy Poltavchenko made 6.8 million rubles; Ilya Klebanov, Vladimir Ustinov, and Anatoly Kvashnin over 4 million rubles each; Oleg Safonov, Grigori Rapota, and Nikolai Vinnichenko more than 3 million rubles each. Rapota's wife Tatiana Samolis, Press Secretary of the Foreign Intelligence Service, declared an apartment (51 square meter) in Montenegro.

Declaration Of Civil Servants' Incomes Useful But Insufficient - poll

Most Russians have welcomed President Dmitry Medvedev-initiated rule requiring high-ranking civil servants and their relatives should declare their incomes and property, but at the same time believe the measure is insufficient, as follows from an opinion poll the national public opinion studies center VCIOM held on April 4-5.

The poll of an audience of 1,600 men and women of age in 140 cities and villages of Russia's 42 regions identified a large degree of society's awareness of the head of state's anti-corruption initiative.

Seventy six percent of the polled know that civil servants must declare their incomes and incomes of close relatives - 33 percent said they were well-informed, and another 43 percent acknowledged that they have heard something about it.

One in three respondents (31 percent) said Medvedev's idea was "excellent and a long-expected anti-corruption measure." A little less - 26 percent - believe this is a good idea, but Russian civil servants will be able to sidestep it, and 18 percent said the presidential initiative is a step in the right direction, but more effective ways of fighting corruption should be looked for.

The most resolute supporters of the measure are rural residents - 38 percent, backers of the United Russia and Fair Russia parties - 35 percent and 34 percent respectively - and representatives of the liberally-minded electorate - 33 percent.

Simultaneously, 15 percent of the polled described the initiative as a populist measure unable to yield any tangible results.

This sort of pessimism is most frequent in Moscow and St. Petersburg - 25 percent, and supporters of the Communist Party and the Liberal Democrats - 20 percent each.

Asked whose income declaration, except for that of the presidential couple they would like to see, 52 percent said they "do not care about other people's incomes."

Those who do mentioned Vladimir Putin (8 percent), and Vladimir Zhirinovsky (7 percent). Five percent wish to see the declarations of all civil servants, and three percent, of the representatives of local authorities.

Two percent (a rate far below the statistical error margin of 3.4 percent) would like to take a look at the incomes of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov and members of the Cabinet.

About Alinga Consulting Group

    Audit and Taxation     Legal     Accounting and Payroll

Questions? Ask Alinga's Experts!

Source: Vedomosti, Itar-Tass