The richest NPO

The St. Petersburg Informal Association of Lawyers "Team 29", engaged in the problems of openness of information, accused the Russia Today channel of the opacity of financing

The technical equipment of Russia Today does not raise questions - questions to sources of financing

Social activists submitted a statement to the Ministry of Justice with a demand to figure out why ANO “TV-News”, managing the television channel, has never published a report on the sources of financing and their expenses, as the law requires this. Their question is supported by experts in combating corruption from Transpenseni International -Russia: they argue that Russia Today is a NPO that receives the most budget money, so there must be an example of openness.

According to the head of the “team 29” lawyer Ivan Pavlov, they became interested in the financing of Russia Today after the publication of the state budget project for 2015. “In 2014, the channel received 11.87 billion rubles from the federal budget, and a year later it was planned to transfer 15.38 billion to them already, that is, almost 30% more,” said Mr. Pavlov. - Then we decided to see who is the final recipient of all this money. And it turned out that the Russia Today, which conducts commercial activities, is controlled by the autonomous non-profit organization TV-News.

According to Article 32 of the Federal Law “On Non -Profit Organizations”, NGOs must keep accounting and statistical reporting, provide information on their activities with state statistics and tax authorities, a lawyer recalls. And by order of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated 03.29.2010 No. 72 “On approval of reporting forms of non -profit organizations”, NPOs must annually provide the department with detailed reports on sources of financing and expenses. “We have a very strict legislation on NPOs, they must report to the state, and the Ministry of Justice is obliged to publish these reports on a special website,” said Pavlov. “For violation of this rule, NGOs are facing a serious punishment, up to the closure.”

However, there was not a single report of an “TV-News” on the Ministry of Justice’s website, although the organization had to provide them annually since 2009. “At the end of November, we sent an official request to the Ministry of Justice-whether the organization submitted such reports, why they are not in the public domain and where you can still get acquainted with them,” the team 29 said. The agency ignored the deadline for preparing the answer, after which the social activists sent a complaint to the Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov on December 1. “After that, the answer came from the federal ministry, and rather strange,” says Mr. Pavlov. - In fact, this is the usual unsubscription - we were quoted the norm of the law that reports should be submitted and published. But they did not comment on the fact that there are still no reports on the site. ” As a result, the federal department redirected public men to the Moscow Department of the Ministry of Justice, saying that it was it that it collects reports from the Moscow NPOs. “Now we have sent a request to the regional administration and are waiting for an answer,” says Ivan Pavlov. -If they still publish the TV-News report, then we and other organizations will study its study in order to figure out where the budget money is still leaving. If this is not done, we will complain about the Ministry of Justice in the prosecutor’s office, since this is a direct violation of the law. ”

“Indeed, non -profit organizations are required to submit annual reports to the state,” Andrei Zhvirblis, Deputy Director of the Center for Anti -Corruption Research and Initiatives of Transpensers - Russia, confirmed NT . “The form of this reporting, although not complete, and in general, does not allow the organization to qualitatively disclose information about its activities, but is still an obligatory tool for information openness.” According to Zhvirblis, his organization repeatedly identified NPOs with public financing, which did not fulfill this norm of the law and did not report for the spending of budget funds. “Unfortunately, organizations do not bear any responsibility for this-they are not deprived of either direct subsidies of the state, nor the right to receive state centers through various programs, for example, the so-called“ presidential grants ”or a system of support for socially oriented NGOs,” says Andrei Zhvirblis. He added that especially serious issues arise to the reporting of ANO “TV-News”, since “it is the largest recipient of state funds among NPOs, and this money is not distributed on a competitive basis, but by a direct solution.” “The non -publication of the obligatory annual report does not directly speak about corruption violations in the organization, but in our opinion, it clearly shows its unwillingness to openness, without which, it seems to us, it is impossible to receive state funds,” says Zhvirblis. “The budget money should be distributed openly, and expended - accountable.”

The press service of the Russia Today television channel initially stated that they redirected the issues of the “channel’s management”, and later asked to clarify which law obliges the NGO to report to the Ministry of Justice. However, in the end, in response to the request, the following comment was provided: “The autonomous non-profit organization TV-News, which is the founder of the RT channel, fulfills and always fulfilled all obligations to the relevant supervisory authorities, including the Ministry of Justice. You can get acquainted with the reports provided annually to the Ministry of Justice, in the amount established by the legislation of the Russian Federation by contacting the Ministry of Justice. The financing of ANO “TV-News”, provided for by the federal budget of the Russian Federation for 2016, is 19 005 424.2 thousand rubles. Data on financing ANO "TV-News" is in the public domain. "

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