Well, of course I have!
Several private joint stock companies
had lived off "Hercules".
- Who in particular?
- "Intensifier", for example.
"Intensifier" received a large advance of money...
...for the purpose of doing something
connected with lumber --
-- the substitute-chairman was not supposed
to know what it was --
...and immediately it crashed.
Somebody got the money.
But who got it?
Who was actually behind it?
Who can tell.
This man has a head on him!
I would not put my finger
into the mouth of this man.
Who was this man? Try to recall.
Funt does not know it.
All I had to do was do my time.
This is my profession.
I've done time at the time of Alexander II,..
...of Alexander III,..
...of Nicholas Romanov,..
...of Alexandre Kerensky,..
...during NEP, after NEP.
I did time under Tsarizm,..
... and under Socialism,..
...and under the Hetman...
...and now I'm between jobs.
But didn't you see
any representative of "Hercules"...
...about the business of advances?
- Any name?
- Berlaga, the bookkeeper.
But I'm waisting my valuable time on you.
Will you take on a chairman?
My price is not high: 120 rubles a month at liberty
and 240 in prison,..
...a 100% increase for damages.
I suppose we can give you the job.
Make out your application
and hand it to the hoof-specialist.
My table will be over there.
And you, comrade hoof-specialist,
will deliver this subpoena to citizen Berlaga.
The document is mandatory!
On your knees!
Stand up.
Approach.
I've heard a lot of interesting stories about you
in Moscow, Nizhni-Novgorod and Odessa.
You're goner, Berlaga, but let's talk.
- Be truthful.
- Like Scheherazade.
Tell us about you colleague Skumbrievich.
I'm fascinated by his artistic image.
Proceed.
He was born in 1891.
Our short-term relationship
does not provide any ground for assumption,..
...that he is an honest man.
This is surely the place to look for him.
If they say that he is attending
an inter-office meeting...
...then he must be here.
Granted that our department
also has its weak side...
There are all sorts of deficiencies.
But such as exist in "Hercules"!
I love instant photography!
Look! This is his stuff.
Citizen Skumbrievich! Zhorik!
He has evidently swum far away.
I have no intention
of waiting any longer.
I shall have to act
not only on land but on sea.
Hey dude, let me have a look.
Over there, behind the buoy.
Balaganov! Undress and get Berlaga ready!
We may need him!
Comrade Skumbrievich! Just one inquiry.
Who authorized advances for "Intensifier"?
- Those that you took...
- Me?
Then who took them?
Did the pope of Rome take it?
Shura! Launch Berlaga!
Dude, gimme a drink.
Witness for the prosecution, name the amount
received by Skumbrievich.
Do not dip!
Everybody to the surface!
No fighting!
Face-to-face testimony continues.
Our Skumbrievich has confessed.
He couldn't hold out against face-to-face testimony.
Squealed, did he, the viper?
I didn't do it in the interests of verity,
but in the interests of truth.
Here I sense the hand of Koreiko.
Funding of advances was authorized
by the comrade Polykhaev,..
...him personally?
I've got the name correctly?
Polykhaev.
As I said, it did not take long.
What will happen now? I will perish!
Tell me, my friend, my kind friend.
How can I be calm? I have a wife, children
and another woman in Rostov on the Don.
I did not hide anything. Word of honor!
Can I live in peace? Can I?
Man can have complete peace
only from an insurance policy.
Any life insurance agent can tell you that.
Comrades! Personally,
I don't need you any more.
But the government
will soon become interested in you.
Somehow I have stopped believing in Bender.
He's doing something that's not regular.
Well, well, Nobody asked your opinion.
No seriously! I greatly respect Ostap Ibrahimovich.
He's such a remarkable man!
What is he spending our money for? Just think.
Why all this foolish office?
And the