Russian official suspected of stealing 30 miles of road

Russian official suspected of stealing 30 miles of road

I worked and consulted all over the world, and found Russia a very difficult environment for non-Russians to do business in because the system is not transparent or codified. Many sectors of business and public service operate on a set of unwritten rules about how much stealing is allowable at each level of authority, and people don't really get into trouble until they start stealing or taking bribes above the level which is overlooked for their pay grade.

We were working with an official at one company and he was suddenly no longer in position. His successor told us that the official was caught stealing. When I asked if he was in jail, the answer was "nyet." When I asked if he was fired, the answer was again "nyet." One-word answers. No further explanation was given and I was told to drop the line of questioning, at which point I thought maybe they had taken the guy out back and shot him.

It turned out to be nothing of the sort. I just didn't understand the process. I subsequently found out from another fellow who had too many vodkas at dinner that the original guy had simply been demoted to a position where he could not steal as much!

As Yakov Smirnoff would say, "Whatta country."