The case of the expansion of the Central Ring Road has not passed the test of time

On March 2, the Moscow City Court terminated, due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, the criminal case against Artur Mints, co-owner of the Metroproekt company, and Sergey Krokhin, general director of Spetsmetroproekt LLC, who were accused by the investigative department of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation of particularly large-scale fraud.

The security forces believed that the defendants passed off the achievements of Soviet specialists from the 1980s as their own research during the expansion of the Central Ring Road, and the 8.8 billion rubles allocated for this. allocated budget funds.

On Wednesday, the Moscow City Court held preliminary hearings on the criminal case, during which the lawyers filed a motion to terminate the criminal prosecution of Mr. Mints and Krokhin due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, which is ten years. On Thursday, the press service of the city court reported that the petition was granted, and the case was dismissed due to non-rehabilitating defendants in circumstances. Preventive measures in the form of written undertakings not to leave and proper behavior in respect of Messrs. Mints and Krokhin were cancelled. However, the decision has not yet entered into force – it is being studied at the Prosecutor General’s Office.

As Kommersant has already reported, the investigation of the case began after Pyotr Khomyakov, a leading specialist of the geoecological survey department (OGEI) of Spetsmetroproekt LLC, testified against his future defendants. Prior to this, a criminal case was initiated against him and a number of other persons for participation in the extremist organization Northern Brotherhood (banned in Russia. – Kommersant), whose members were going to overthrow the authorities in the country by organizing a “velvet revolution”.

Already after the arrest, the defendant Khomyakov, in order to mitigate the punishment, concluded a pre-trial agreement on cooperation with the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, telling in detail about the theft in the design of the Central Ring Road. In particular, he said that in the course of survey work on the construction of a highway around Moscow, about 8.8 billion rubles were appropriated.

Employees of the OGEI, having received these billions, instead of their work, used the data of Soviet specialists who conducted surveys back in the 1980s.

Taking into account the fact that Pyotr Khomyakov provided the investigation with new information about the embezzlement of funds and thereby fulfilled the agreement with the Prosecutor General’s Office, the court in 2012 sentenced him for extremism to only four years in prison. True, the defendant was never released, having died of a heart attack.

On November 30, 2011, the FSB Investigative Department opened a criminal case on the facts of embezzlement (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) of 8.8 billion rubles. During the investigation, the accounts of Spetsmetroproekt, OAO TsKAD, RAO-Universitet, Soyuzdorproject LLC, Galsinveststroy and Ecoproekt were arrested, the management of which, according to the investigation, was aware of the fraudulent scheme for the preparation of survey work.

Then the turn came to Artur Mints, co-owner of the Metroproekt company, and Sergey Krokhin, general director of Spetsmetroproekt LLC, in whose company the research of Soviet specialists was allegedly kept. At the end of the investigation, both were charged with fraud committed by a group of persons by prior agreement on an especially large scale. Because of the secrecy stamp, it was supposed to be considered by the Moscow City Court, which stopped the criminal prosecution of the defendants. Their lawyers did not comment on the court decision.