Govt officials mustn't sit on boards at rival companies - Medvedev
MOSCOW. March 30 (Interfax) - Government officials must not sit on the boards of directors at rival companies, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting of the modernization commission in Magnitogorsk.
This is one of three things that have to be done to alleviate the excessive influence that state companies have on the investment climate, he said.
"First we need to fix and finally announce a privatization schedule for large shareholdings in the next three years. Secondly, we have to eliminate the practice where senior profile government officials, namely those responsible for the rules for regulation in specific sectors, occupy seats on the boards of directors of companies operating in a competitive environment," Medvedev said.
"Thirdly, a procedure has to be introduced for the biggest state companies to publish preliminary information about planned procurements, including the price of lots," he said.
Presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich told reporters that Medvedev's demands for high-profile ministers and deputy prime ministers to vacate their seats on boards of directors would apply to Rosneft and VTB , where the boards are chaired by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin, respectively.
"A board should not contain a person who is involved in or is regulating this sector or and working in [the board of directors] in a certain company. Particularly companies in competing sectors. For example Rosneft and VTB could quite easily fit this description," Dvorkovich said.
Bureaucrats will be replaced by independent directors," he said.
