The Nikulinsky Court of Moscow began to consider a resonant criminal case on the embezzlement of funds allocated for educational programs, the main defendants of which are the former Deputy Minister of Education Marina Rakova, the rector of the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences (Shaninka) Sergey Zuev and the Vice-Rector of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) Ivan Fedotov. In addition to fraud with budgetary funds, they are charged with fictitious employment of almost a dozen employees of the Ministry of Education in the divisions of the RANEPA. Almost all the defendants pleaded guilty during the investigation and confirmed this already at the court session.
The process in this high-profile case in the Nikulinsky court of the capital formally started on March 6, however, after the first meeting, at which only issues related to the measure of restraint for the defendants were discussed, a long break was announced. Then, over several more sessions, the prosecutor read out the indictment, completing this procedure on April 4. After that, the court, as required by law, clarified with the defendants whether they understood the charge and how they relate to it.
There were no surprises – almost all the defendants admitted their guilt during the investigation, partially or completely repaid the damage in the case. They confirmed their position during the process.
“I understand the accusation, I fully admit my guilt in all episodes,” said, in particular, ex-Deputy Minister Marina Rakova. Sergei Zuev and the common-law spouse of Marina Rakova, a former employee of the Foundation for New Forms of Education Development (FNFRO), Artur Stetsenko, who worked under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, spoke in the same spirit, and his ex-colleagues in the fund Maxim Inkin and Evgeny Zak, in addition, emphasized that in addition to recognizing guilt, they also repent of their deeds.
Former Vice-Rector of the RANEPA Ivan Fedotov told the court that he partially admits guilt, since he does not agree with the qualification of his actions by the investigation. And only the former executive director of Shaninka, Kristina Kryuchkova, announced that she was going to express her attitude towards the prosecution during the debate.
At the next meetings, the court will interrogate witnesses and proceed to the study of written evidence.
As previously reported by Kommersant, the criminal case, which is being heard in the Nikulinsky court, was initiated by the Moscow police on August 7, 2021. It refers to five episodes of fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) for a total of 50 million rubles.
According to the case file, Marina Rakova, together with the leaders of Shaninka and the RANEPA, organized a large-scale scheme for embezzling budget funds.
This scheme, according to the investigation, was in effect from 2018 to 2020, that is, almost the entire time during which Marina Rakova held the post of deputy minister.
In the first episode of the case, we are talking about the theft of 21.3 million rubles allocated to the Ministry of Education as part of the implementation of the federal projects “Education” and “Teacher of the Future”. This amount, according to the materials of the case, was stolen through the FNFRO created by Marina Rakova. The Foundation, according to the investigation, entered into two contracts with Shaninka to carry out various studies, the reports on which were falsified.
The remaining episodes of the investigation relate to the illegal receipt of salaries by the defendants and the fictitious employment of 13 employees of the Ministry of Education at the Institute of Social Sciences and the Federal Institute for the Development of Education, which are structural divisions of the RANEPA. According to the investigation, the “dead souls” did not appear at work for several years, but they were paid a salary that the defendants appropriated.
Most of the defendants are now assigned a measure of restraint in the form of a ban on certain actions, and only Ivan Fedotov is under house arrest.
Another defendant in the case, ex-director of the research laboratory for the development of the tax system at the RANEPA, Natalya Kornienko, fled from the investigation, after which she was arrested in absentia and put on the wanted list.
Interestingly, Marina Rakova, already in the status of an accused, got a job at the Agency for Strategic Initiatives created by the Russian government. As emphasized in the agency, the former deputy minister works for them “in an ordinary position” and is engaged in social projects.