The Prosecutor General's Office demands 3.2 billion rubles from the head of the Kursk Region Development Corporation
MOSCOW, January 28 – RIA Novosti. The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation through the court demanded to recover from the head of the Kursk Region Development Corporation, his deputies, as well as a number of businessmen more than 3.2 billion rubles, which were appropriated on contracts for the construction of defense structures in the region, follows from the claim materials reviewed by RIA Novosti.
The claim was sent to the Leninsky District Court of Kursk. The defendants in the case are Vladimir Lukin, CEO of the Kursk Region Development Corporation, his former and current deputies Igor Grabin and Snezhana Martyanova, Vladislav Martyanov, Denis Fedorov, Maxim Vasiliev, Yuri Bessonov, Maxim Voronin, Vladimir Konoplev, Ivan Utkin; companies: CTC Service LLC, Techimpex LLC, Trading House Kursk LLC, Trading House Kursk LLC, SIEMI LLC, Elektrostroymontazh LLC, Yartes Engineering LLC, Energosystem LLC.
The Russian Ministry of Defense, the Kursk Region Capital Construction Department, the Kursk Region Development Corporation, and the Kursk Region Ministry of Construction are listed as third parties in the lawsuit.
As follows from the materials of the lawsuit, the prosecutor's office demanded "to recover 3,222 billion rubles jointly from all participants (individuals and companies)," and also stated the need to apply interim measures in the case and seize the property of firms and participants in corruption schemes.
The document notes that a special regime for the functioning of government bodies has been introduced in the region since October 2022. It involves, in particular, the implementation of measures for territorial defense, as well as the exercise of powers to meet the needs of the Russian army. In addition, the regime allows local authorities to make purchases without auctions and contests.
From 2022 to 2023, 19.4 billion rubles were allocated from the federal budget to the government of the Kursk region for the construction of defensive structures, dugouts, firing points, strongpoints, anti-tank pyramids and ditches to protect against the military aggression of Ukraine. The main manager is the regional capital construction department, and the general contractor is the local development corporation, whose CEO is Vladimir Lukin. Grabin and Martyanova were appointed his deputies.
"At the same time, the supervisory measures showed that they used their official position for personal purposes and the interests of trusted persons, for their illegal enrichment by illegally seizing budgetary funds allocated to protect and strengthen the country's defense capability from enemy invasion," the document says.
According to the information, the attackers, using the high-alert mode in the region, attracted citizens trusted by them. In particular, Deputy of the Regional Duma Vasiliev, who connected SIEMI LLC and CTC Service LLC, affiliated with him, to the "deal". Two contracts were subsequently concluded with these companies, on the basis of which the firms received almost 385.3 million rubles, part of this money was legalized through the purchase of expensive real estate. Then, through the former deputy Bessonov, the company Elektrostroymontazh was involved, with which a contract was signed for almost 70.3 million rubles.
According to the lawsuit, Martianova involved her brother in the theft, who de facto owns Energo Resources LLC and Trading House Kursk LLC. His partner is Fedorov. And with the assistance of the development corporation, 14 contracts were concluded with their companies, which allowed them to illegally seize 1.4 billion rubles.
Another participant in the corruption scheme, according to the Prosecutor General's Office, was Moscow businessman Utkin, who owns Techimpex LLC. The company has received six contracts worth 1.3 billion rubles, the lawsuit explains.
In total, according to the Prosecutor General's Office, 23 contracts worth 3 billion 222 million 435 thousand rubles were concluded with these companies from December 2022 to December 2023.
The companies that signed the contracts created "the appearance of carrying out work on the construction of protective structures and implemented a false cost scheme by concluding fictitious contracts with one-day firms for the supply of building materials," the document says.
Earlier, the courts detained Lukin, Grabin and Fedorov in the case of embezzlement of funds allocated for the construction of fortifications in the Kursk region. The Martianovs are also in custody, but they were arrested in Ivanovo.
