FSB completes investigation of corruption in Ivanovo region during COVID

The special service believes that the leaders of the regional depzdrav stole 8 million rubles. on the purchase of equipment at inflated prices. The defense denies the allegations, also pointing out

The FSB has completed an investigation into the case of the purchase of oxygen concentrators and protective overalls at inflated prices in the Ivanovo region, as a result of which 8 million rubles were stolen from the regional budget, Kommersant writes.

In 2020, the authorities allowed all institutions involved in the provision of medical services to buy the necessary equipment without holding a tender in the context of the CORONAVIRUS pandemic.

The case was opened in April 2021, at first only Yuri Elchaninov, the DIRECTOR of the Medrus company, which was engaged in the wholesale supply of medical equipment, went through it. Investigators suspected him of fraud in the supply of oxygen concentrators to the Ivanovo Department of HEALTH. In the first half of 2022, Artur Fokin, HEAD of the region’s depzdrav, and his deputy Alexei Buyankin were detained. All three are charged with an article on especially large-scale fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code), they face up to two years in prison.

At the same time, Fokin is separately accused of large-scale embezzlement (part 3 of article 160 of the Criminal Code). The investigation believes that he ordered to allocate 20 protective medical overalls to the Regional Diagnostic Center for 818 thousand rubles. The FSB did not see the need for this decision, Fokin faces up to six years in prison under this article.

The defendants do not agree with the conclusions of the investigation. They insist that they acted within the framework of the law under difficult epidemiological conditions. In October 2020, the number of new patients began to increase due to the spread of the Delta strain, which led to an increase in the number of seriously ill patients who needed oxygen support. That is why the supply of oxygen concentrators was forced, lawyer Anna Kotkova explained.

At that time, the Department of Health did not have enough funds to purchase equipment, and the entrepreneur agreed to transfer oxygen concentrators without concluding a contract at his own risk. According to the department’s documentation, from October 23 to the end of 2020, 3.9 thousand people’s lives were saved in the region, and the equipment is still in operation.

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According to the defense, when the Department of Health of the Ivanovo Region had funds, it began work on concluding a contract for 35 million rubles, and the department’s employees studied the prices on the market, concluding that the prices for equipment offered by businessmen were lower than market prices by 23% - 10 mln rub.

“Even before the initiation of a criminal case, the suits were returned three times. And this despite the fact that the warehouses of the regional health department at that time had a stock of these suits of 100 thousand units, so the issuance of 600 of them did not affect the provision of employees of other medical organizations, ”added Kotkova.