“I RUN the war on corruption here, or to be precise, I run the corruption here,” raps Nadya Tolokonnikova, one of the leaders of the art-punk protest collective Pussy Riot, in a new song aimed at Russia’s prosecutor-general, Yuri Chaika. In a video clip released on the internet on Wednesday, Ms Tolokonnikova and a cadre of conspirators dressed in prosecutors’ uniforms take turns beating prisoners, collecting bribes and dancing salaciously under a portrait of Vladimir Putin. “Don’t worry, son, we’ll shut up all our competitors,” intones Ms Tolokonnikova. “You’ll have your bricks, your ships and your salt mine.”

For those baffled by the lyrics, they stem from an investigation released in December by the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whom Ms Tolokonnikova calls “my political muse”. In a 45-minute film, Mr Navalny and his anti-corruption foundation implicated Mr Chaika and his sons in a vast web of graft that stretches from an Irkutsk shipyard to a luxury hotel in Greece. While Mr Navalny’s crusades against government officials are nothing new, the case against the Chaikas, if it claims are accurate, would be the most serious yet. Mr Navalny suggests that the prosecutor-general used his position not only to help his offspring build a vast business empire, but also to cover up their links to the Tsapok family, a criminal gang notorious for the mass murder of 12 people, including four children.

The film has penetrated beyond the crowd of supporters Mr Navalny’s investigations typically reach, racking up more than 4m views on YouTube. By late December, some 40% of Russians said they had seen or heard of it, a revealing figure given that the dominant state television networks paid the claims no heed. More revealing still was how little surprise the accusations generated amongst viewers. Nearly 80% found the accusations at least somewhat believable. As Ms Tolokonnikova sings, “I’m devoted to our old Russian business traditions: first the cops will pull you in for questioning, then it’ll look like an accident, you’ll be fed to the fish.”

The Kremlin, predictably, has dismissed Mr Navalny’s claims. Mr Putin’s chief of staff last week called the investigation an unsubstantiated “political statement”. Mr Chaika vehemently denied the charges, suggesting that Mr Navalny was carrying out orders for Bill Browder, an American financier who has become a fierce critic of Mr Putin since being driven out of Russia. Earlier this week, it was announced that Mr Chaika himself would oversee the inquiry into the accusations against him. (“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Mr Navalny responded.) At a meeting last week of Russia’s anti-corruption committee (on which Mr Chaika sits), Mr Putin acknowledged that uprooting graft would not happen “from one day to the next”. Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index did show some improvement for Russia: it rose 17 places to 119 out of 167, sandwiched between Guyana and Sierra Leone.

During Russia’s fat years, many citizens shrugged at officials who plundered the government kitty; there was plenty of money to go around. Now, as oil prices linger below $35 per barrel, Russia looks poised for a second year of recession, and state funds are becoming scarce. Officials are scrambling to close a looming budget gap, after the government’s call for 10% spending cuts. The government has also been eyeing privatisation as a potential source of income. Mr Putin recently summoned the heads of several state-owned companies to the Kremlin for talks. Potentially on the chopping block are Rosneft, Aeroflot, Russian Railways, the state bank VTB, Bashneft, the diamond miner Alrosa and the shipping firm Sovcomflot.

Yet any sales of state companies will be haunted by the memory of the shady deals of the 1990s. Worse, buyers know that it may only be a matter of time before the state asks for its assets back. That happened with Bashneft back in 2014, when the billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov was temporarily arrested and his shares in the company seized. The legal system offered little recourse. Perhaps he should have released a rap video.

Correction: A previous version of this article mischaracterised Sovcomflot as a shipbuilder. It is in fact a ship owner. Apologies.