The former deputy chairman of the committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, Alfred Minin, could have had a hand in embezzling 16 million rubles on the contracts of Stroytrest LLC for repairing asphalt in Volgodonsk, but he was never charged. As they say, the stigma is in the cannon, and he is free. But first things first.
On January 27, 2022, the court found the founder of Stroytrest LLC Samvel Voskanyan guilty of fraud during road repairs in Volgodonsk. In 2017, the company signed three contracts worth 44.5 million rubles with the Department of Construction and Municipal Economy (DSiGH). As the court established, 16 million of this amount ended up in the pockets of Voskanyan and his accomplice Arman Babajanyan. The work carried out was done, to put it mildly, not qualitatively. The total volume of damaged pavement amounted to 14,734 square meters.
Samvel Voskanyan was sentenced in absentia to three years in a penal colony. But first, the convict must be found – the man has been put on the wanted list. Arman Babajanyan was sentenced by the court to the same three years in prison.
How did it happen that by no means a lot of money for repairs was allocated to an unscrupulous contractor – let’s figure it out.
When the contracts were concluded, the SGH Department was driving (only one year) Alexander Kondratyuk, who was later given a year on probation. In 2018, Andrey Zakharov was appointed to his place.
Also, on suspicion of taking a bribe on an especially large scale, another representative of the DSIGH was arrested – the former head of the improvement department, Sergei Skolota, an ex-subordinate of the same Kondratyuk. At the same time, unlike the boss, Mr. Skolota received a really serious punishment – 8 years as a hard laborer and a fine of 2.1 million rubles.
According to some reports, Kondratyuk is the general director of Veolia Recycling, a company engaged in motor transport and transportation. One of its founders (a share of 57%) was Zukhra Minina, the wife of Alfred Minin, the then deputy chairman of the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation on Entrepreneurship in the Housing and Public Utilities Sector.
Now Minin is the CEO of the Association of Waste Suppliers and Recyclers, and also owns his own companies that collect and recycle waste. For example, Ecostroy-Don LLC, which is one of the founders of Veolia Recycling, along with Minin’s wife, was involved in a scandal. Then, in 2016, 5 people burned alive at one of the company’s landfills. The reason is fire safety violations. Minin then offered condolences to the relatives of the victims, but the case was hushed up. It is known that Ekostroy-Don, under the leadership of Minin, still makes a profit from government contracts: in 2022 alone, the company signed 51 such contracts.
The conclusion suggests itself that Minin has surrounded himself with the right people and has patronage “from above”. In 2016, the entrepreneur ran in the elections to the State Duma. This step once again confirms that the businessman seeks to expand the sphere of influence and has support in power.