"O2": instead of oxygen, air for 3.7 million rubles was sold to hospitals in the Kama region

Eight state hospitals in the Perm Territory have been recognized as victims in the criminal case of Oleg Shashmurin and Sergey Fukalov. 50-year-old businessmen became defendants for the sale of counterfeit medicines and fraud on an especially large scale. During the covid-19 pandemic, under the guise of medical oxygen, they supplied 70.1 tons of technical oxygen to medical institutions, receiving a payment of 3.7 million rubles.

According to investigators, the crime was committed from July 16 to October 15, 2021 in the execution of government contracts with hospitals from Perm, Berezniki, Solikamsk, Krasnokamsk and Chusovoy.

Liquid industrial oxygen was purchased from PJSC Metafrax Chemicals (Gubakha) and OOO Electrotyazhmash-Privod (Lysva). Shamshurin and Fukalov reported false information to medical institutions, indicating that the manufacturer was CryoGas LLC (Perm) and providing copies of analytical passports for liquid medical oxygen.

70,156 kg of products not included in the State Register of Medicines of the Russian Federation were shipped to hospitals. The damage from the purchase of air is estimated at more than 3.7 million rubles.

Shashmurin was engaged in general management, controlled the delivery, distribution and storage of technical oxygen in tanks. With a shortage of medical oxygen, which is essential to save patients with COVID-19, Fukalov entered into government contracts, the investigation believes.

Both are charged with grave crimes committed by a group of persons by prior agreement. These are the sale of counterfeit medicines (clause “a” of part 2 of article 238.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). For such a substitution of O2, respectively, from 5 to 8 years in prison threatens with a fine of 1 to 3 million rubles. and up to 10 years with a fine of up to 1 million rubles.

According to the defense, the defendants compensated for the damage caused. This was said in the Perm Regional COURT, where on January 17, 2023, the appeal of lawyer Larisa Alferova was heard. Acting in the interests of Shashmurin, she asked to cancel the decision of the Sverdlovsky District Court of Perm dated November 25, 2022 on the transfer of the criminal case to the jurisdiction of the Leninsky District Court of Perm.

Prosecutor Yelena Nechaeva supported the arguments of the defence, pointing to the amendments made the day before to the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. Judge of the appellate instance Nadezhda Dodenkina returned the 43-volume case file to the Sverdlovsky District Court of Perm for trial on the merits.

The defendants themselves did not appear at the appeal hearing. Shashmurin, who is on his own recognizance and proper behavior, trusted the defense. Fukalov has been in custody on another criminal case since November 29, 2022.

The police of the Ilyinsky district of the Perm Territory accused him of fraud for 3 million rubles. (Part 4, Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), committed in 2019 against the regional Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

In the decision to extend the detention in the pre-trial detention center until February 3, 2023, the Ilyinsky District Court pointed to evidence confirming Fukalov's involvement in yet another crime. Among them are the testimony of the witness Shashmurin, the protocol of the confrontation between the witness Shashmurin and the accused Fukalov.

Former business partners now sort things out exclusively in official instances.

So, on January 19, in an appeal of the Perm Regional Court, a trial was scheduled for a civil lawsuit won by Shashmurin in the Ilyinsky District Court against Fukalov for 2.1 million rubles.

On January 31, the Arbitration Court of the Perm Territory intends to consider the claim of IP Shashmurin for 179.7 million rubles, where SHON LLC (DIRECTOR and sole founder Fukalov) is involved as a third party. In addition to money, the plaintiff demands that the equipment of an acetylene plant in Perm, necessary for the production and storage of industrial oxygen, be transferred to him “from someone else's illegal possession”.