Illegal Funding of 'United Russia' in Chelyabinsk region. Summary - 'Municipal scanner'

Anti-Corruption Initiative 'Municipal scanner' published evidence in regard to the investigation on the funding of 'United Russia' election campaign in Chelyabinsk region.

Last week we published a report on the illegal funding of 'United Russia' election campaign in Chelyabinsk region. It is all about the Russian legal entities, more than 30% of each is owned by foreign offshore companies and Russian state agencies which contributed to the election account of the above mentioned party, what is directly prohibited by law.

The response of representatives of 'United Russia' in Chelyabinsk was quite prompt.

'According to Natalia Ischenko responsible for the election campaign financing of the party, VAT Identification numbers (VIN) of LLC 'Resurs' and LLC 'Capital Invest', specified in the study issued by the experts, do not coincide with the actual VIN of donor companies. She refused to disclose the actual VAT identification numbers of the companies'. - RBC

The leader of the executive committee of UR in Chelyabinsk Vasily Zorin commented on znak.com: 'Two more organizations were identified as the result of the internal audit in June or July 2015. The funds were returned to them respectively'.

We would like to respond to these allegations with the following:

1. We understand that until the last moment 'United Russia' will deny the obvious and will try to wriggle out, as if it acknowledges the funding, it might face fines or even a criminal case can be brought against it in the future or it could be withdrawn from the election race.
2. With regard to LLC 'Resurs' and LLC 'Capital Invest"': indeed, the owners of these companies might share the 'namesake'. Therefore we have addressed the regulatory authorities to find out which companies contributed to the election fund. Until now, no one has presented any evidence that any other organizations have supported the party.
3. In regard to the contributions made by LLC 'UGC-Holding' and 'Unifrost', we can say that 'United Russia' stimulates a bold-faced lie. Firstly, in these cases, 'United Russia' cannot confirm that the owners of the companies share the ‘namesake’; therefore it claims that the funds were returned. However, in the report published by the election commission there was no reference to the justification such as foreign or state ownership under which the funds should have been given back. Secondly, Vasily Zorin claims that the party itself disclosed information on these payments in June or July, not the electoral commission. However the inflow is presented in the report as of 24 August issued by the election commission. Before this, the above mentioned revenues are reflected in the financial statement of 'United Russia' previously filed with the election commission. Moreover the exclusion of these funds in June seems to be a fiction, as the election commission registered the nomination documents submitted by 'United Russia' only on 9 July.

In this regard, we continue to insist that in Chelyabinsk region the contributions to the party 'United Russia' were made in violation of law.

We would like to present some additional evidence of illegal financing.

It is indicated in the report of 24 August that the Chelyabinsk regional association of trade union organizations 'Federation of Trade Unions of Chelyabinsk Region' (TIN 7451016831) contributed to 'United Russia' with 500 thousand rubles.

In this regard, on 29 December 2014, this public organization entered into a contract No. 3744601194015000009 for 'Overseeing the condition and operation of industrial and commercial buildings' with the administration of Magnitogorsk city in the amount of 1,199,880 rubles.

Under paragraph 15 of part 9 of Article 37 of the Chelyabinsk Regional Law 'On Elections to the Legislative Assembly of Chelyabinsk region', a non-profit organization that has received financial contributions or other assets from public authorities or other public bodies, local authorities are forbidden to make any donations to election funds earlier than a year afer it has received such financial contributions.

We have already submitted petition in regard to the above mentioned violation to the Prosecutor's Office.

Today at 16:00 (local time) the election commission of Chelyabinsk region (Chelyabinsk, Kirova 114, (entrance on Lenin av. 56), 2nd Floor, Conference Room) will consider our petition. We hope that the election commission acknowledges the violations made by 'United Russia', which are obvious.

The Source: Anti-Corruption Initiative 'Municipal scanner'