Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 1462 - 1131: From the People, For the People

Chapter 1462: Chapter 1131: From the People, For the People

Medvedev was right to raise this issue, after all, he is from the Government side, where the bulk of the annual Finance budget is spent.

Now that Wang Ye has set up this new Department, it’s clear that it’s intended to be directly under the Kremlin, isn’t it about to squeeze the Government’s budget? So he must first clarify this matter.

Grezlov also nodded in agreement, "Indeed, I do not oppose the establishment of a new department, but how will the financial issue be resolved? Surely, we cannot reduce other departments’ budgets, as that might result in more loss than gain."

It is rare, but Grezlov and Medvedev hold the same attitude on this issue...

It isn’t that they are teaming up against Wang Ye or anything; public matters are public matters, and personal relationships remain personal.

In matters of national importance, if they see something inappropriate, they will bring it up face to face, and would not let things slide just because they have a good relationship with Wang Ye.

Although the others didn’t speak, they were all waiting for Wang Ye to further explain. If Wang Ye couldn’t come up with a convincing solution, even if the proposal technically passed, it would clearly undermine his authority, because it wouldn’t command respect from others.

Clearly, Wang Ye is not a reckless person; since he dared to propose this plan, he must have made thorough preparations.

Thus, facing everyone’s skepticism, Wang Ye was calm.

When no one else spoke, he smiled and said, "I don’t know if everyone remembers that we have a Federal Government Law, which mentions that public officials above a certain level must publicly declare their financial status every year."

The whole Meeting Room suddenly fell silent, everyone exchanging looks, not knowing why Wang Ye suddenly brought this up.

As for that provision in the Federal Government Law he mentioned, nobody really knew about it, since nobody had ever declared anything...

Only Gavriil coughed and continued, "There is such a regulation, specifically targeting Government personnel, including the Vice President and various Ministers, but it does not include the Kremlin and its direct departments. This regulation was introduced in the 90s, as you all know, the situation was quite chaotic then, so..."

Everyone knew what Gavriil left unsaid; basically, nobody took it seriously, and nobody declared on time.

But what does this regulation have to do with today’s matter?

Wang Ye didn’t let everyone wait too long and directly revealed the mystery.

He straightforwardly said: "I believe this regulation initially had a good intention, but it was not seriously enforced. As everyone is aware, our entire public service system is far from being considered incorruptible! This issue is what I am focusing on, and I will introduce an anti-corruption law, requiring all public officials at the rank of deputy minister and above, whether in the Government, directly under the Kremlin, or even the upper and lower chambers, to regularly disclose their financial information. I won’t be an exception either!"

There was another silence in the Meeting Room, Gavriil frowned slightly, seeming hesitant to speak.

He wasn’t opposing Wang Ye, and he understood the necessity of the anti-corruption law, but the question was, was Wang Ye being too hasty...

Was it really necessary to start by offending a large group of influential figures?

However, Wang Ye wasn’t being too extreme; he mentioned that this anti-corruption law targeted only public officials at the deputy minister level and above, not affecting the lower-level public personnel, so it wouldn’t face much widespread opposition, rather, garner support and endorsement from the lower-tier public officials.

After all, how many are there just at the deputy minister level and above...

Vladimir was the first to voice his support: "I support it! Publicly disclosing personal financial information is a normal thing; many countries do it, why can’t we? As long as one’s behavior is upright and not corrupt, there’s naturally no fear in disclosing one’s financial information."

Korokolli also promptly said: "Yes, I see no problem with it either. Honestly, my Family and I don’t have much in assets, just my annual salary and benefits, which is practically already public."

Whether the two of them are truly "clean" is another matter, but their disclosed financial status will certainly appear "clean," and it’s nearly impossible that any flaw will appear!

Since they are professionals, always cautious, it’s unlikely they would easily leave any loopholes in financial matters, so even with public disclosure, they aren’t worried.

Seeing someone taking the lead, regardless of whether others were genuinely willing, they could only follow and express their approval.

Grezlov smiled and said, "Our disclosure would just show that bit of assets, but Mikhail, it’s different for you; you were a major figure in the Business World before, possessing countless assets... Disclosure might not be a good idea. It could lead to malicious public criticism, so I think you may not need to disclose yours."

These words sounded favorable to Wang Ye, but if Wang Ye really took that course of action, he might fall into a pit.

But Grezlov did have a point; many had speculated about Wang Ye’s wealth, claiming he is practically the world’s richest man, with a net worth of several hundred billion US dollars!

Now if it were really disclosed, it might be quite "scary"...

Wang Ye merely smiled lightly and crisply said: