Stepashin about Universiade 2013: There was no corruption or budget misappropriation

Sergey Stepashin, Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, reminded that the Accounts Chamber conducted 10 supervisory measures within the expenditure verification framework: in the Ministries of Construction and of Land and Property Regulations of Tatarstan, Head Investment and Construction Office of the Republic of Tatarstan, Capital Construction and Reconstruction Direction of Kazan Executive Committee and Executive Directorate “Kazan 2013”.

According to Stepashin, there was no serious criticism after the inspections: “Of course, there were some transgressions. But to have none in five years of preparation? There was no stealing. There were issues with stadium construction, some contractors had to be changed on the way, there was an increase in cost, but it had objective reasons. This was an enormous multi-billion infrastructural project; it was difficult to carry out without any transgressions or criticism. There was no outright corruption or budget misappropriations”. The chairman pointed out, that all the breaches had been dealt with efficiently after the monitoring bodies’ remarks.

When one of the journalists asked if the budget funds were spent efficiently, Stepashin asked her if she was from Kazan. Receiving a positive answer, he said: “Then why do you ask? Just look around. This is all for the people, for the city”.

Rustam Minnikhanov, President of Tatarstan, pointed out the experience that the republic gained working with the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation: “We all need to feel that there is God, Allah, but that we are watched over here as well. There are always a lot of people who want the money. This collaboration kept us up. We particularly asked for it to start during the construction and preparation stages. This allowed us to evade many troubles that could have come up afterwards. Such system should be employed at other federal and republican venues. It engaged Federal Service for Financial and Budget Supervision, as well as the Accounts Chamber and the Prosecutor-General's Office. It was a collaborative work of all supervisory bodies”.

Vitaly Mutko, Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation, assessed the Kazan Universiade organization: “Organization, all functions, security, logistics, transport, food, training and competitions were conducted at the highest level. The Universiade was broadcasted in 107 countries and had around 3 billion viewers. 150,000 tourists came to Kazan and 880,000 people visited sports venues. Kazan took the organization to a higher level”.

Mutko added that some of the Kazan’s expertise has been already implemented at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow, and is going to continue being applied at other mass competitions taking place in Russia.