The court was skeptical of their arguments
MOSCOW, September 1. /tass/. The heads of the Piket group of companies, who are accused of supplying low-quality bulletproof vests to the Russian army in the amount of about 2 billion rubles, asked the court to transfer them from the pre-trial detention center to house arrest. This is stated in the case materials, which were reviewed by TASS.
"The accused Esipov A. S. and the lawyers indicated that the crime of which Esipov A. S. is accused was committed in the field of entrepreneurial activity on the basis of Part 1. 1 of Article 108 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, they asked Esipov A. S. to change the preventive measure to house arrest," the decision on extending the period of detention of the accused said, which was accepted by the Basmanny Court of Moscow. According to Part 1. 1 of Article 108 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, a preventive measure in the form of detention cannot be applied to representatives of business communities if their crime is related to entrepreneurial activity. Two other defendants also requested to be placed under house arrest, stating the need to look after young children.
However, the court was skeptical of these arguments. "The specific circumstances of the charges against Esipov, Kalchenko and Antonova of committing a serious crime and crimes of moderate severity, together with the results of the investigation of the criminal case, allow the court to agree with the arguments of the investigator that there are sufficient grounds to believe that, being at large, the accused can hide from the preliminary investigation and the court, put pressure on witnesses and other participants in the criminal case judicial proceedings, destroy evidence, as well as otherwise obstruct the proceedings in a criminal case," the document says. In this regard, the court extended the arrest of the defendants in the case until September 3.
The main defendant in the case is Andrey Esipov, CEO of the Piket Group of Companies (GC). In addition to him, Mikhail Kalchenko, the head of the security service of the Picket Group, and Victoria Antonova, the financial director of this company, are also involved in the case. All are in custody. All three arrested were charged under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud on a particularly large scale).
As stated in the court materials, a criminal case against Esipov and his subordinates was initiated "on the fact of embezzlement of funds during the implementation of a state contract for the supply of protective equipment for the needs of the Ministry of Defense." We are talking about the supply of 20 thousand bulletproof vests for the military in the zone of a special military operation, the quality of which did not meet the requirements for these products by representatives of the Ministry of Defense. The amount of damage caused by the head of the Picket Group of Companies is about 2 billion rubles.
According to information from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the Piket group of companies was established in 2001. Its main field of activity is the construction of residential and non-residential premises, but it is also engaged in other areas, including the production of workwear. In 2023, the number of personnel of the organization increased dramatically - from 22 to 53 people. In 2023, the company's revenue amounted to 730 million rubles, which is 0.5% more than a year earlier.
