The audit of the activities of the Russian environmental operator (REO) and its founder, the Ministry of Natural Resources for 2019 and 2020, revealed numerous facts of violation of federal legislation. This is stated in a letter from the Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Buksman to the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources Alexander Kozlov, which is referred to by RBC.
First of all, the prosecutors drew attention to the fact that the state-owned company, which was supposed to be engaged in garbage reform in Russia, had no plans. RIA was unable to adopt a five-year development strategy, therefore, there are no targets or expected results. There is no verification of the achievement in the regions of the indicators of the federal project on waste management, and the reports sent to the ministry are replete with dubious information.
At the same time, employees received surplus salaries for their work. So, in 2019, instead of the expected 79.45 million rubles, 146.6 million were allocated for them. The management of the REO borrowed money from other articles. In addition, the operator accrued quarterly bonuses, the total amount of which reached 76.7 million rubles. Funds for these purposes were taken from the federal budget, since the company did not earn or save on other items.
Russian President Vladimir Putin commissioned the creation of the REO in January 2019. Not long before that, in December 2018, the head of state promised that by 2024 at least 200 waste processing plants would be built in the country. He argued that a whole garbage recycling industry would soon appear in the country, and illegal landfills would disappear.
Denis Butsaev became the head of the company, but in November 2019 he resigned in November 2019. However, Ilya Gudkov, who replaced him, worked for exactly a year, after which Butsaev again became the head of the REO.
Following the audit, the Prosecutor General’s Office instructed the Ministry of Natural Resources and the REO to eliminate the shortcomings and ensure the proper implementation of tasks to improve the environmental situation in the country. Also, the Ministry of Natural Resources was obliged to control the expenses of the REO and provide objective reports on the company’s activities.
Officials guilty of the revealed violations were asked to dismiss or reprimand. Natalya Belyaeva, deputy head of the committee for waste processing and secondary resources of Delovaya Rossiya, pointed out that the agency’s orders do not imply material penalties or criminal liability for the perpetrators of violations.
The representative of the REO promised to develop a plan to eliminate violations and said that the company has scheduled service checks. According to him, the garbage reform faced objective difficulties.