A Russian official's wife has bought 66 cars. Quite tellingly, her spouse is a Federal Transport Supervision Officer. A former one. An inspection showed that the family budget wouldn’t be enough for such an impressive motor pool. A story from the Head of the General Prosecutor's Office and one of the thousands of corruption cases discovered and punished.
Yury Chaika gave the latest numbers in an interview to Kommersant. This year alone, the department found 200,000 violations. Most often, officials are caught trying to hide the incomes of close relatives, apartments and cars that they forget to specify in the declaration. According to Yuri Chaika, disciplinary sanctions in 2018 were imposed on almost 48,000 officials. 900 people were fired due to loss of confidence. The damage is calculated only by the investigated cases. And it's 46 billion roubles ($700 million).
Here comes an obvious question, how to fight corruption? One of the answers is teaching a certain attitude towards bribes and to begin teaching since childhood.
Georgy Podgorniy has seen the result.
- Georgy, hello.
- Good evening, sir.
- Will they apply an art force to bribe-takers?
- They should. We were at the Prosecutor General's Office today and found such an anti-corruption comic book there. These are impressive stories about the 80s and 90s when you couldn't get an appointment without a chocolate bar. Now that we have MfSCs, you don't have to show any gratitude.
Fight corruption not with action but with a word or, rather, an idea. That's how slogans and catchphrases are used against with the plague of the 21st century. Authors act on the level of thin matters. They offer anti-corruption soap, for those with dirty hands, with a mark, "application term from 3 to 8 years". Others try to solve the issue on an international scale.
"Here, we can see nations that defend Russia and the entire CIS from corruption around the circle where money and gold are. We're all together, hand in hand".
Bribes are illustrated in different ways, mousetraps with coins, Medusa, and even a pack of cigarettes that obviously harms the country's economy. In most cases, they use an image of an official as a vivid example. They compare them to a smartphone here, they both can be charged. Apart from slogans, they use vivid videos that are hard to be understood in two ways.
"This is Vitaly, an official, his salary is 80,000 roubles ($1,200) a month, he wants to take a bribe".
The author didn’t beat around the bush and showed at what illegal enrichment leads to. We can see a man of honor near a corrupt official.
Alexey Isakov, author: "I wanted to show the comparison in my video, the way one can make it in his life with no corruption and with bribery".
All in all, it's all clear, the art, the thinking outside the box, but why does the Prosecutor's Office hold a contest? Nominally, all the sanctions for corrupt officials are spelled out in the law. The Prosecutor General Yury Chaika explains that it's better to prevent the fire.
Yury Chaika: "We see that young people have the right guidelines, despise corruption as a thing that undermines the state arrangement and affects the economic security of our countries".
For the sake of justice, the corruption issue is vital not only for Russia. The contest is international: Amenia, Kazakhstan, Belorussia are equal participants. They raise sore problems. In the healthcare system, for instance, as this lady from Minsk, that has created quite a lucrative work.
Anastasia Shalygina, the author: "At first, we can see just the symbol of medicine, the red cross, laconic and immediately striking, but, looking closer, we can see that there is money under it, and this is bribery, corruption and so on. And the slogan "money heals" with a question mark is here for a reason, we want the audience to think it through".
The other thing is social advertising on sharp topics is not something new. But who's the audience when it comes to bribery? And can we admit that such a method is effective for the state information policy?
Evgeny Martynov, public figure: "Those two formats that we've chosen, posters and videos, are most effective, as they're more applicable, we all know that social advertising and advertising in general is usually along the roads, this is outdoor advertising. If we talk about a video and the timing is right for federal TV channels, 15-30 seconds may be very vital because the audience is large".
Just make it work! Any measures are good. Cliches, old expressions or incredible artwork. The authors even remember a quote of the last czar of Russia. Let's finish with it. "Those who will steal from the treasury more than a meter of rope costs, will be hung on this rope".
- Georgy Podgorniy about creative work.
