Nezavisimaya gazeta: "National projects have been left unattended"
Director of the Priority National Projects Department Boris Kovalchuk has officially left his post after handing in his resignation. However, the delicate situation surrounding the national projects, which have not made any visible progress, suggests that Mr Kovalchuk's resignation gives him a chance to move to another job without disgrace.
Vladimir Putin signed an executive order dismissing Boris Kovalchuk on December 25. According to the Government's press service, the 31-year-old official himself asked to be relieved of his job. Mr Kovalchuk, the "baby" of the Government, joined the Government in 2006 and was appointed chief of the Government's National Projects Department in April of that year.
His meteoric rise was attributed by many to the fact that he is the son of the co-owner of Rossiya bank, Yuri Kovalchuk, who is Putin's personal friend.
Our source at the White House says that the creation of the National Projects Department was artificial because it duplicated the work of several other departments in the Government: sectoral development, agri-industrial complex, culture, and education. Moreover, before the 2008 presidential elections there was a department dealing with national projects in the administration of then-First Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Multi-level bureaucratic supervision of the fulfillment of national projects has failed. Audit Chamber inspections have revealed numerous irregularities. The auditors who inspected the implementation of the Health National Project in the Kaliningrad, Smolensk, and Moscow regions, noted the poor quality of the delivered ambulance vehicles, some of which were delivered in a state of disrepair, and malfunctioning f medical equipment, including in the after sale guarantee period, which required additional municipal outlays.
Law enforcement bodies have likewise revealed some alarming facts. According to the Prosecutor's Office of the Altai Territory, more than 140 crimes involving embezzlement of the money earmarked for the national projects were committed in the region in 2008. Most of the crimes were committed in the implementation of the Development of the Agri-Industrial Complex Project. These "slipups" are not directly linked with Kovalchuk's name, but they exposed him to potential criticism. Mr Kovalchuk may have anticipated events by handing in his resignation. It is not yet known what his next job will be.
Igor Naumov
