| Sergei Mironov is seeking the resignation of the general director of the Admiralty Shipyards A conflict over the position of the head of one of the largest shipbuilding defense plants in Russia - the St. Petersburg federal state enterprise Admiralty Shipyards - flared up between the Chairman of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov and the administration of St. Petersburg. The speaker accuses the general director of the shipyard, Vladimir Alexandrov, of financial irregularities and seeks his resignation. At the same time, Mr. Mironov’s intervention looks more than ambiguous against the background of the fact that Admiralty Shipyards is preparing for corporatization, and large financial and industrial groups are showing interest in managing the enterprise.
Back at the end of 2003, Mr. Mironov wrote a letter to the head of government, Mikhail Kasyanov, in which he asked to relieve the director of the Admiralty Shipyards from his position, since “as a result of unlawful actions on the part of V.L. Aleksandrov.” The federal budget has lost a significant amount of budget funds.” After this, several high-ranking officials of Smolny immediately stated that the city government and the governor would not allow Mr. Alexandrov to be offended, and the chairman of the city economics committee, Vladimir Blank, said that, according to his information, Mr. Mironov had already withdrawn his letter because he -de “misled”. However, recently the speaker himself, in a conversation with journalists, denied this information, assuring that his “letter has not been withdrawn.”
Admiralty Shipyards specialize in underwater shipbuilding. Over the course of its history, 298 submarines have left the docks of the plant, of which 41 are nuclear. In addition, the shipyard builds oil tankers; in particular, several tankers for LUKOIL have been launched here in recent years. Now the company is fulfilling the largest military export ship order in Russia - five diesel submarines are being built here for the Chinese naval forces. Officially, the total amount of the contract is kept secret, but, according to unofficial data, it is close to $1.5 billion. The first submarine was laid down in 2002, and already in 2003, regulatory authorities became interested in the plant. In particular, the shipyard was inspected by the Accounts Chamber, which discovered the non-return of part of the proceeds from the sale of weapons and military equipment abroad to the federal budget.
It is on the conclusions of Sergei Stepashin’s department that Sergei Mironov relies. “The inaction of the enterprise’s management is of particular concern,” says his address to the prime minister. -- As a result of the actions of officials of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise, a portion of the proceeds from exports totaling $7.4 million was not received. A criminal case was initiated against the general director on the grounds of a crime under Art. 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of power).”
Representatives of the shipyards do not give official comments on this matter, however, in behind-the-scenes conversations, shipbuilders say that the officials’ complaints against Mr. Alexandrov are pointless. Nevertheless, interlocutors in the St. Petersburg military-industrial complex note that many must want to participate in the distribution of funds coming to the plant for completing the 1.5 billion order. The scandal surrounding the management of the shipyard may have far-reaching consequences in light of the expected corporatization of the state-owned enterprise. Let us recall that a month ago Mr. Alexandrov said that the issue of corporatization might be considered this year. It is no secret that Mezhprombank is actively interested in St. Petersburg shipbuilding. It was he who, at the end of 2002, acted as a savior from bankruptcy and nationalization of the St. Petersburg Northern Shipyard, which builds destroyers for China. The state, through the court, demanded more than $600 million from the shipyard, but after actual control over the shipyard passed to Mezhprombank, the threat of ruin miraculously passed by itself.
The idea of merging the current St. Petersburg shipyards into a supershipyard has been discussed for 10 years, but so far things have not gone further than talk. It is possible that Mezhprombank, which has already received the Northern Shipyard, would like to bring this plan to life. However, the ICT holding, which owns the Baltic Shipyard, the third large shipyard in St. Petersburg, also claims control over the St. Petersburg shipbuilding complex. Interlocutors in the circles of the St. Petersburg military-industrial complex believe that the struggle for the Admiralty Shipyards could unfold between IST and Mezhprombank. Their representatives do not comment on the situation. Victor MATVEEV, St. Petersburg |
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