From the life of celestials

“ * Directors of *state-owned companies have a very *beautiful life *, * they *can be compared *with celestials *" * - this is *the conclusion * came to * that the head *of the *group on *creating the * International *Financial Center ( *IFC *) in *Russia Alexander * Voloshin , about * which * he declared at the * collegium * of the Ministry of Economic Development .

Even third-rate managers of state-owned companies fly on charter planes, which cost $0.5–1 billion a year. And repairs in the office of each of the deputy directors of the state-owned company not named by Voloshin cost $500,000: “It is impossible to endure this.” From the reports, which state-owned companies are extremely reluctant to provide even to regulatory authorities, all this information is not visible, Voloshin noted: “Everything is buried somewhere.” After that, they talk about “what unbearable suffering they have to endure,” but it is necessary that the life of directors of state-owned companies really be unbearable - in terms of control and efficiency.

The reason for this statement by Voloshin could be the latest issue of Forbes: the heads of state-owned companies occupied the first places in the list of the highest paid top managers in Russia. The cure for Voloshin is to tighten the rules for disclosing information by state-owned companies, to introduce codes of corporate conduct, for the state to focus on information from minority investors, and, finally, to sell state-owned companies.

In fact, only the last resort can seriously improve the situation. But many state-owned companies should not be sold, but liquidated - the assets of most of them consist of property and money received from the state, and in place of a state-owned company, it is necessary not to grow a private monopoly, but to transfer the functions performed by state-owned companies to the open market.

So far, this has not been discussed, but the heads of state-owned companies should prepare for serious checks. The scandals around the Ministry of Defense and Oboronservis, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rosagroleasing, Vnesheconombank and OJSC Evraziysky (the case of Anatoly Ballo), energy state-owned companies and their beneficiaries are not unique. They can be repeated in every state-owned company, which now operate almost uncontrollably.

And the country's leadership has done almost everything for this. On November 28, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov announced that his department would not regulate loans from state-owned companies. Alexei Kudrin insisted on this for a long time. In mid-November, Dmitry Medvedev allowed state-owned companies to transfer only ¼ of their profits to the state. They are trying to reduce this amount to 5-10%. But according to the logic, state-owned companies should give all their profits to the state. And if they need money for development, they can be transferred from the budget.

Vladimir Putin is ready to create a state-owned company for every task - the other day, the president criticized the government for the second time for the fact that a state corporation for the development of the Far East has not yet been created. Is it any wonder that the heads of state-owned companies do not want transparency?

From January 1, all state-owned companies must buy goods and services according to the same rules as officials do. But the other day, the heads of Rosneft, Gazpromneft and Sberbank asked Putin to remove state-owned companies from the law on public procurement. And then, they say, it will be too expensive to maintain information systems and train personnel for procurement. But this is the only way to make state-owned companies transparent!