Personal "Uber" Shuvalov

Why the Deputy Prime Minister should not declare his plane. Explains Alexey Venediktov

The Corruption Foundation in July published an investigation from which it followed that Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov has a personal aircraft on which he himself, his wife fly, as well as their dogs of the Korgi breed. FBK demanded that Shuvalov are resigned, as the official did not declare this aircraft. Two weeks later, the editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow, Alexei Venediktov, who announced the results of his own investigation, unexpectedly spoke in defense of the Deputy Prime Minister: the Deputy Prime Minister flies on the plane of his son, so the aircraft does not have to declare the aircraft. Venediktov several times performed on his station with explanations of his own position, and also wrote more than 400 tweets in its defense. Medusa tells what Venediktov’s arguments are that FBK lawyers answer this and how Shuvalov himself reacted to investigations.

1. Shuvalov really bought a plane and flies on it. The editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow, Alexei Venediktov, refers to the information of the Vedomosti newspaper, which back in 2012 reported that Igor Shuvalov spent part of the money earned with the help of businessman Suleiman Karimov, on the purchase of a personal aircraft (Shuvalov in 2003 gave a loan for the purchase of Gazprom shares, which were consolidated in the Kerimov package; 2007 shares have risen seven times; According to Venediktov, the offshore company Igor and Olga Shuvalovs acquired a aircraft in 2009, while the deputy prime minister still flies on it.

2. Shuvalov "gave the plane to his son. According to Venediktov, in July 2013, the Shuvalovs presented Altitude, which belongs to the aircraft, to their adult son Eugene. Venediktov explains that an agreement is concluded between Igor and Olga Shuvalov and Altitude; Evgeny Shuvalov himself and other private individuals (according to the editor-in-chief of the Echo of Moscow, only a quarter of flights fall on the deputy prime minister). Thus, Shuvalov pays his son for using an airplane: Venediktov refers to accounts issued by Shuvalov for flights. To publish documents or at least inform how much one flight costs, he refused . The Deputy Prime Minister pays, according to Venediktov, from his personal account.

3. Shuvalov gave the plane to his son because of the law on offshores. In 2013, a law prohibiting officials to keep accounts and participate in business operations abroad. According to the journalist, the Deputy Prime Minister transferred almost all foreign assets to Russian companies, including an apartment in London, but could not do this with two companies: one has a house in Austria, the other thereby by the plane. Therefore, the companies, according to Venediktov, were donated to Evgeny Shuvalov-and did not appear in the declarations of Deputy Prime Minister since 2013.

4. Shuvalov should not declare the plane after 2013. The declaration of officials includes not only property, but also real estate in use. FBK insisted (and continues to insist): even if the plane does not belong to Igor Shuvalov, he uses it - which means he must declare. Venediktov claims that the Shuvalovs in the legal sense do not “use” the plane and do not “rent” it, but “order as a charter from the company”, so it is not necessary to declare it: “This is like a“ Uber ”. That's when you use the Ugr, do you declare it separately? No".

5. Shuvalov should not have declared the plane until 2013. There is an explanation of the Supreme Court, which obliged officials to declare aircraft separately - as real estate, notes Venediktov. But, he continues, the clarification came out after Igor Shuvalov got rid of the company that belonged to the ship. Therefore, from 2009 to 2013, it was not required to indicate it in the declaration.

6. Shuvalov says that he declared an “aircraft” offshore. But this is not in the declaration. From 2009 to 2013, the Deputy Prime Minister was supposed to indicate in the income declarations belonging to his company, which was bought by the plane. However, this did not happen. According to Venediktov, Igor Shuvalov explained to him that the full declarations are submitted to the government (and this company is indicated there), but are published in a cut out form. The journalist promised to request from the government information about what documents a partial publication of declarations is regulated. At the same time, he notes that other officials and their wives also do not indicate the ownership of the shares of any companies.

7. Shuvalov confirmed the purchase of the aircraft and the gift of the company to his son. According to Venediktov, he met with Igor Shuvalov and listened to his explanations along with the “chief editors of other media”. The Deputy Prime Minister confirmed that his company really bought a plane, that he really gave the company (at the same time, he was unhappy that the media found out who the company got) that he was really flying on the ship and pays for it. At the same time, Shuvalov confirmed the information about the buying apartments in the skyscraper on Kotelnicheskaya embankment: according to the deputy prime minister, this is his “investment projects”-he is not going to move to the skyscraper.

8. The FBK consider the gift of the company as an imaginary transaction and require the resignation of Shuvalov. Fund lawyer Ivan Zhdanov claims that in the donation of the company to Evgeny Shuvalov 20 days before the entry into force of the law on the ban on officials to own foreign assets, signs of an imaginary transaction are seen. The head of the Foundation Alexei Navalny, on the basis of Venediktov’s data, concludes that Shuvalov violated the law on officials of officials five times, so he must be resigned.