The dubious Enlightenment by Otto Sopronenko

Trustee Structures Igor Shuvalov disrupt billion-dollar projects in the regions

The opening of the educational complex in Nizhny Novgorod once again failed “School 800”, which is being built as part of a concession agreement worth 6.1 billion rubles, signed by the region with the First Concession Company Enlightenment. The opening of the institution was to take place last year as part of the celebrations dedicated to the 800th anniversary of the city. The company that received the concession is associated with the Prosveshchenie publishing house, which is co-owned by VEB, Sberbank and the Russian Direct Investment Fund, and whose board of directors is headed by Igor Shuvalov. In order to implement concession agreements for the construction of schools, several dozen companies with the common name “Prosveshchenie” were registered. The former VEB top manager and Shuvalov’s trustee Otto Sopronenko, the main owner and CEO of the First Concession Company Enlightenment, was directly involved in this process. He is also a co-owner of the construction company “Capital of the Volga Region”, which became the general contractor of the “School 800” project. Thus, “Shuvalov’s man” fully controls the process of construction in Nizhny Novgorod and is responsible for the repeated disruption of the commissioning of facilities. The construction of the complex was accompanied by high-profile corruption scandals. In particular, in January, School 800 was searched to check for possible misuse of budgetary funds, and in April a criminal case was opened on the fact of a particularly large-scale fraud in the supply of school equipment. In addition to Nizhny Novgorod, the Enlightenment structure controlled by Sopronenko disrupted the construction of two schools in Mari El, which were planned to be completed last July. But officials in Novosibirsk and Voronezh insured themselves against similar troubles by refusing dubious cooperation in a timely manner. Today, Sopronenko’s companies have accumulated a lot of problems: courts with subcontractors have been added to unfinished projects, demanding repayment of multimillion-dollar debts for work performed. However, the businessman continues to master the budget billions, feeling the support of the head of VEB.

There will be no lessons at School 800

The fact that the opening of the Nizhny Novgorod educational center “School 800” was once again thwarted was officially confirmed by representatives of the regional Ministry of Education and Science.

However, earlier this was stated by the regional Minister of Education Olga Petrova. Nevertheless, according to her, the department was sure for a long time that by September 1, the school would open its doors to students and teachers. But back in May, it was reported that the corps was 94% ready in Upper Pechery, 81% in the Avtozavodsky district, and 70% in the Sormovsky district! But again it didn’t work out.

Although here, it would be more appropriate to recall the well-known “this has never happened and here again …”, because the scandalous object was planned to be put into operation by September last year. Then the dates were postponed. In addition, the construction is accompanied by high-profile corruption scandals. So, last April, a criminal case was initiated on the fact of fraud on an especially large scale in the supply of school equipment, the cost of which turned out to be overestimated by 6 million rubles.

In addition, as Kommersant wrote, a significant amount of the purchased equipment was never received, and what nevertheless arrived at the facility, in terms of quality, completeness and composition, turned out to be inconsistent with the specifications for the concluded contracts. Such products were purchased in total for 14 million rublesbut the order was accepted and paid in full.

Before that, in January, at the facilities Autonomous non-profit educational organization (ANEO) “School 800” searches were carried out: the security forces were interested in the possible misappropriation of budgetary funds allocated for the purchase of teaching aids. The regional government described the investigation as “a work situation that does not affect the work on the project”. Shortly thereafter, it became known about the dismissal of the director of the ANEO Elena Belenkoexplaining her departure from her position due to personal circumstances.

Shuvalov and VEB “connect” to the “Enlightenment”

One gets the impression that “School 800” is a real bottomless well that absorbs billions. The completion of the project implementation will mean the closing of this “horn of financial abundance” for interested officials, not only Nizhny Novgorod, but also federal ones. Recall that the construction of an educational complex for 4550 places started in June 2020.

Governor Gleb Nikitin took part in the ceremony of laying the first stone in front of the lenses of photo and video cameras. The grand opening of the facility was planned to coincide with the 800th anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod (hence the name).

project cost 6.1 billion rubles implemented under a concession agreement between the region and The first concession company “Enlightenment” with financial participation Sberbank. At the same time, the company assumed the cost of maintaining the school until 2034; the regional government, for its part, guaranteed the concessionaire compensation10.4 billion rubles in the form of grants and interest, after which the objects will be transferred to regional ownership.

As a result, the First Concession Company “Enlightenment” failed miserably in a widely publicized undertaking. Note that this commercial structure is associated with JSC “Enlightenment” – the largest Russian publishing house of educational literature. In May last year, the state corporation “VEB. RF”,Sberbankand Russian Direct Investment Fund, receiving 25% of the shares. The cost of the transaction was not announced, but Vedomosti experts estimated it at 81 billion rubles. Considering that at the end of 2020, the company’s revenue amounted to 20.6 billion, and profit – 7 billion rubles, Igor Shuvalov, German Gref and Kirill Dmitriev obviously didn’t go wrong.

After a change in the composition of shareholders, Shuvalov was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the enterprise. He also spoke about new far-reaching plans:

But the sleigh, as you know, should be prepared in the summer. By this time, numerous concession companies with the same name, Enlightenment, had already been officially registered, differing only in numbering. He was directly involved in their creation. Otto Sopronenko – a former top manager of VEB structures, who worked under Shuvalov and, as the media write, today continues to work in his interests. It is Sopronenko who is the main owner (80%) and CEO of the First Concession Company Enlightenment, which became the customer of School 800. The remaining 20% ​​belongs to LLC “Complex technical equipment” Enlightenment “affiliated with the publishing house of the same name and – up to a certain point – a Cypriot offshore “ENRIGHTENING HOLDINGS LIMITED”.

Omnipresent Sopronenko

The general contractor of the Nizhny Novgorod educational complex was originally “Construction Directorate” – the structure of the regional government. However, in October last year it became known that the company was leaving the facilities at the initiative of the customer. At the same time, due to the short construction time, the general contractor advanced into the project 500 million rubles budget funds.

The termination of cooperation with the Media Directorate was associated, among other things, with high-profile corruption scandals. In particular, in February 2021, the CEO of the company was arrested Andrey Nechaevwho was charged with taking a bribe with building materials in the amount of more than 1.2 million rubles for the acceptance of the work performed and the general patronage of the company that carried out the construction of a residential building.

Later, in August, the chief power engineer of the Directorate was arrested Petr Podbolotov: he is charged with taking a bribe in the amount of 600 thousand rublesas well as a Mercedes-Benz E200 car worth 6.5 millionfor assistance to a company interested in concluding a subcontract for construction and installation work at School 800, as well as their subsequent acceptance.
However, the termination of contractual obligations with the Construction Directorate is best characterized by the well-known aphorism about the “Moor who did his job”: its management managed to connect a construction company to the billion-dollar project as a subgeneral contractor “Capital of the Volga Region”, which eventually took the place of the Directorate. And here it is worth paying attention to one interesting nuance: after the repeated change of founders, two commercial structures became co-owners of the “Capital of the Volga Region” – Childhood Infrastructure LLC and SB Capital LLCand the first is a “daughter” of the second.

In turn, 47% of “SB Capital” is owned by … Otto Sopronenko, who thus actually received full control over the Nizhny Novgorod construction, and at the same time is responsible for its next failure. But no one dares to ask the “man Shuvalov”: neither the regional government, nor the governor Nikitin. The latter, by the way, in January last year, he himself received a prosecutor’s presentation for the lack of proper control over the construction of the educational building “School 800” in Upper Pechery.

“Enlightenment” in the regions moredo not trust?

But just as the amount does not change from changing the places of the terms, so the change of the general contractor did not give results: the expected opening of the educational complex by September 1 did not take place. Now Sopronenko promises to submit two buildings for commissioning – in Sormovsky and Avtozavodsky districts – next November. But is it worth trusting the words of a cunning businessman?

As for the object in Upper Pechery, on the eve of the “day of knowledge”, the State Duma deputy Dmitry Kuznetsov appealed to the prosecutor’s office with a request to conduct an inspection: according to the information available to him, the metal trusses of the school atrium were cut and then welded in violation of the technology and without checking the seams. This makes it life-threatening to stay in the building, as it threatens to collapse a multi-ton metal structure. Of course, Sopronenko categorically denies the existence of these violations.

Today, Shuvalov’s confidant has plenty of worries. The fact is that the “Capital of the Volga Region” controlled by him is mired in litigation with its own subcontractors trying to collect payment for the work performed. In relation to the company, dozens of statements of claim were sent to the courts for a total of 285 million rubles. In turn, Sopronenko’s lawyers, acting on the principle “the best way to defend is an attack”, make every effort to delay the processes, handling counterclaims.

Why the general contractor refuses to pay the bills and where the money intended to fulfill the terms of the concession agreement goes is a big question. That’s just the timing of the opening of “School 800” these lawsuits are unlikely to bring closer. In addition, the appetites of the businessman and his “senior comrades” from VEB and Sberbank are growing: the structures of the Enlightenment group are actively going to the regions and this, in turn, leads to new scandals.

So,The fourth concession company “Enlightenment” (its founder is the aforementioned SB Capital LLC) has already missed the construction deadlines for the concession of two schools in Mari El – in Yoshkar-Ola and the village of Bolshiye Pamyaly, which were supposed to be put into operation in July.

It is significant that last May the government of the Novosibirsk region decided to abandon the construction of three schools under concession agreements, transferring it to the format of a state order. Officially, this was due to “changes in the macroeconomic situation and growth in interest rates on loans.” In this case, the concessionaire was The fifth concession company “Prosveshchenie”. Unsuccessful attempt Twenty-seventh concession company “Enlightenment” to gain a foothold in Voronezh, where the city authorities initially supported the idea of ​​building a school for 1.5 thousand students. The cost of the project was estimated at 2.5 billion rublesHowever, in the end, the mayor’s office refused dubious cooperation, considering the concession format inappropriate and citing an increase in the key rate of the Central Bank.

Well, Novosibirsk and Voronezh officials prudently insured themselves against the problems that their Nizhny Novgorod and Mari counterparts faced. After all, Otto Sopronenko, who operates “under the roof” of VEB and Sberbank, feels invulnerable. In the meantime, the structures under his control “master” the budget billions, the opening of new schools in the regions of the presence of “Enlightenment” continues to be postponed indefinitely.