Full transparency for Russian state companies

The Russian Government is taking further steps to fight corruption. The people running state banks and companies, and their families will have to provide complete information on their income.

Key personnel in state companies as well as their relatives should also provide data on stockholding and loans, but information about estate ownership is optional. And from next month, state companies can only do business with companies where the owners and shareholders are known.  The company rules will be altered allowing them to annul contracts with suppliers who don’t provide ownership details. Suppliers are concerned about possible legal action if contracts are terminated.  “Also minority share holders of state companies are likely to grumble as contracts with suppliers who don’t provide ownership data could be more profitable”, Ilya Rachkov from Noerr law bureau told Vedomosti Daily.The heads of state companies also doubt they would be able to provide full data in time as the number of suppliers and partners runs into thousands. They hope, the authorities would extend the terms or would cut down the information scope. Top managers also worry about the possible leak of sensitive data. The information should be provided to the Energy Ministry, the Economic Development Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Transport Ministry. The move comes after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin slammed the heads of Russian energy companies accusing them of offshore money laundering and corrupt practice.But not all the heads of state corporations are obliged to declare their incomes, for instance Rosnano and Rostechnologii are not in the list.