MOSCOW, January 19 (RIA Novsoti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was unaware of any instances of corruption during the construction of Olympic facilities in Sochi and the costs were possibly driven up by contractors.
“I do not see serious corruption instances for the moment, but there is a problem with overestimation of construction volumes,” Putin said in an interview with Russian and foreign journalists aired on Sunday.
He said that bidders often deliberately decrease estimated costs of a project in order to win tender, but push prices up once the bid is secured.
“This price increase, it is sometimes due to contractor’s deliberate acts, and sometimes it is due to the fact that the professional valuation of necessary investments, especially in mountain conditions, for a mountain cluster, are not efficient enough,” the president said.
When asked to comment on media reports quoting Swiss IOC member Gian-Franco Kasper as saying that up to a third of Sochi’s circa $50 billion budget had possibly been siphoned off, Putin said that the Olympic official did not say that directly.
“I have seen the transcript of his meeting with some journalists, your colleagues tried to drag him to this topic, and I can understand journalists, it is their job – always drag out “hot” topics,” he said. “But the Swiss specialist…he did not say that, as it seemed to me based on the report.
“If anyone has such information, give it to us, please. I repeat once again, we will be grateful. But so far there was nothing but talks,” he said.