Vladimir Putin inspects the construction of the Vostochny Cosmodrome in 2015. © Sputnik / Aleksey Nikolskyi
BBC: Russia corruption: Putin's pet space project Vostochny tainted by massive theft
Russia's new Vostochny space centre has lost at least 11bn roubles (£133m; $172m) through theft and top officials have been jailed.
So what went wrong with President Vladimir Putin's pet project?
Russia's Federal Investigative Committee (SK) says it is handling 12 more criminal cases linked to theft in this mega-project, which Mr Putin sees as a strategic priority for Russia, because of its huge commercial potential.
The longest jail term handed down so far was 11-and-a-half years for Yuri Khrizman, former head of state construction firm Dalspetsstroy.
Prof Mark Galeotti, a Russia expert at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), told the BBC the Vostochny scandal highlighted the scale of corruption in Mr Putin's huge state bureaucracy.
"How can you deal with it without declaring war on your own elite? He's not prepared to do that. This dependency on mega-projects almost invariably creates massive opportunities for embezzlement," Mr Galeotti said.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: With the exception of Russia's massive oil projects, every other major Russian mega project is a recipe for massive theft and corruption. I still remember the Sochi Olympics and the insane costs involved in that project .... Russia Is Spending A Ludicrous Amount Of Money On The Winter Olympics (Business Insider). At least Russian media is reporting this theft. In the past they would have ignore it.
More News On Russia's Space Program Rocked By Major Theft And Corruption
‘They keep stealing in hundreds of millions’: Putin outraged by ongoing fraud at Vostochny Cosmodrome construction -- RT
Kremlin: $169 mln stolen out of $1.4 bln allocated for Vostochny spaceport construction -- TASS
Putin bemoans continued corruption at space base -- ABC News/AP
Putin: hundreds of millions being stolen in construction of Vostochny cosmodrome -- Crime Russia
Corrupt officials removed from Vostochny spaceport construction -- TASS
2 comments:
Theft and corruption can be greatly reduced by:
1) regular and ongoing audits by INDEPENDENT auditors and/or inspector generals
2) a strong system of internal accounting controls and IT General Controls
3) use of reward-based whistle-blowing hotlines
"How can you deal with it without declaring war on your own elite? He's not prepared to do that."
My 2 cents is to pick some low hanging fruit. It might start a trend.
- Getting rid of some of the low hanging fruit deprives some of the bigger boys of cover. They might realize this and skim a little less. So even if you do not prosecute them they might reign in their excesses a little. It would be a bit like a minor course correction of s hip over a long time.
- The lower hanging fruit is not as politically connected, so there might be less risk politically. Going after the lower hanging and slowly ramping up puts people on notice and slowly over time increases transparency and reduces theft.
- Going after the lower hanging fruit trains your prosecutors, investigators, and others. Keep those guy on the up and up and slowly build their moral, elan, and reputation.
* 6 Sigma does not always go after the biggest projects 1st using the Pareto principle. They go after low hanging fruit (from which I got the idea). They might start the big project, but they get the low hanging ones too, because they are quicker and add to the bottom line quicker. they build moral.
A campaign example is Sargon and Lugal-Zage-Si. Everyone knew they were going to fight. they knew it. Lugal-Zage-Si was established first, put Sargon on the throne of a city and had a bigger army.
Sargon did not attack Lugal-Zage-Si in the south. Instead he went north and rolled up some cities. Then he attacked he mountain tribes in the east. Finally he had larger territory (may not larger one than Lugal-Zage-Si, but larger) and he had a veteran army and a rep. He wheeled south and defeated Lugal-Zage-Si.
My advice is get the low hanging fruit and ramp up.
After a time go after people in your party but of other factions, who are corrupt.
Then make an all out assault on corruption.
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