The Yakunin Prize, which became known last summer, impressed the entire public. Earlier, domestic media wrote that the ex-president of the Russian Railways received a bonus immediately in three years. Journalists found that the prize went to both current and former members of the board of the corporation. Recall that Yakunin by that time had already left the Russian Railways OJSC for a year. Why was he given a financial reward? Let's try to figure it out.
Bonus to all!
The public learned about the Yakunin Prize in August 2016. At that time, many board members became owners of the bonus for income received in the first half of the year. The distribution of earnings between shareholders is not surprising. Confused everyone else. This will be discussed further.
A representative of Russian Railways, who wished to remain anonymous, officially confirmed that there were many former board members among the recipients of the money. These include the former president of OAO. The most interesting thing is that Yakunin received the award, being already a year as if out of business.
Yakunin at the head of Russian Railways
Vladimir Yakunin led the railway monopoly for ten years. A well-known domestic manager took this post in June 2005, replacing Gennady Fadeev. A lot of problems and scandals were connected with the period of his leadership.
In particular, in 2013, due to financial difficulties that arose, Russian Railways was forced to switch to austerity mode. Some employees were even transferred to part-time work. Yakunin then justified himself that it was much better for them than sending workers on leave without maintenance. The number of such employees has reached almost one third. True, according to Yakunin, they were not involved in organizing transportation or ensuring safety on railways.
Seriously, the chair near Yakunin staggered in August 2015, when the governor of the Kaliningrad region Nikolai Tsukanov proposed his candidacy to the Federation Council from the Amber Territory. Yakunin then abandoned the senator’s portfolio, explaining that in this case he would not be able to lead the international public organizations in which he was a member. True, many then perceived this refusal as an unwillingness to leave high office.
Everything was resolved in five days. Medvedev signed a decree on the resignation of the president of Russian Railways. Putin then stated that this was the decision of Yakunin himself. The head of Russian Railways, summing up his activities, noted that the main achievements are the preservation of heavy engineering in Russia in the production of domestic locomotives, passenger and freight cars.
Official version
After all these events, Yakunin was given a prize almost a year after he finally left the company. In an official comment, representatives of Russian Railways explained to reporters that this was a long-term award. It was paid immediately for several years. Therefore, the recipients were all those who worked in the company during this period. Thus, Yakunin received the prize for three years. That is, just for the period when he headed the corporation.
Another source confirmed that the total amount allocated for the payment of bonuses included the remuneration that Yakunin got for his activities on the company's board. At the same time, no one began to name the final bonus size.
Specific numbers
After some time, the journalists still managed to achieve at least some specifics. In communication with the media, a representative of the ex-head of Russian Railways said that Yakunin really received money from the company in 2016. In total, it was 90 million rubles, which were divided into two tranches (75 million in the first and 15 million in the second). At the same time, it was emphasized that decisions on awarding payments to him were made without his participation.
There is also official data according to which in the second quarter of 2016, Russian Railways paid premiums in the amount of almost 900 million rubles, while over the same period last year the amount was almost three times less. Part of this money, obviously, went to the Yakunin Prize.
Such a discrepancy in the company was explained simply. The reason for the increase in the final amount in the payment of the bonus for three years, which went to many former and current employees.
Revenues of the head of Russian Railways
It is worth recognizing that the earnings of the ex-head of Russian Railways have always been a hot topic. During his entire stay at the helm of the company, he never published a declaration of income. Therefore, whether this prize was the only one among Yakunin is not known for certain.
The only time he revealed his salary was in May 2015. A few months before leaving. Then, in an interview with reporters, he admitted that his monthly income varies from 4 to 5.5 million rubles.
Moreover, in the ranking of the richest top managers of the country, Yakunin has always been in the leading position. In 2014, journalists estimated his annual income at $ 11 million. Yakunin denied this information. At the same time, the Russian Railways press service officially announced that over the year the head of the company earned about 93.5 million rubles.