Director of the Institute of Public Administration and Management of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation (RANEPA) Igor Bartsits and Dean of the Faculty of Public Administration of the RANEPA Svetlana Larina became defendants in a criminal case on especially large-scale fraud. The Lefortovo District Court sent the first one to a pre-trial detention center, and his alleged accomplice was placed under house arrest. Both are accused “of embezzlement of funds by systematically obtaining them from subordinates for unreasonable accrual of additional wages.” However, in the RANEPA itself they say that it was not budget money that was stolen from them.
As follows from the widespread reports of the RANEPA and the FSB, the abuses of “the leading, teaching and administrative staff of the Institute of Civil Service and Management” were revealed through joint efforts.
At first, doubts about the validity of accruing an additional salary increase to teachers and other RANEPA personnel allegedly arose during an internal financial audit. After that, the security forces got involved in finding out who received bonuses and for what. During the investigation of a criminal case initiated by the investigative department of the FSB under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud on an especially large scale), it was established that the director of the Institute of Public Administration and Management of the RANEPA Igor Bartsits and the dean of the Faculty of State Management of the Economy of the RANEPA Svetlana Larina were involved in illegal activities. Both are professors and doctors of sciences – the first in law, and his colleague in economics. Mr. Bartsits in 2009 was awarded the gold medal. F. N. Plevako “For a major contribution to the development of the legal profession in Russia and strengthening its unity, the training of qualified legal personnel.”
Both defendants were detained on December 25, and the next day, at the request of the investigation, the Lefortovo District Court of Moscow sent Mr. Bartsits to a pre-trial detention center, and his alleged accomplice Larina was placed under house arrest.
According to Kommersant, the FSB believes that the essence of the fraud was that Messrs. Bartsits and Larina agreed with their subordinates and colleagues that they would write out salary bonuses and bonuses to them, which they would then return to them in cash for a small deducting some kind of commission for the service.
The FSB notes that one of the defendants was caught red-handed by operatives while receiving money from subordinate employees of the university. At the same time, the issue of initiating criminal cases against several people who agreed to participate in the criminal scheme on the facts of giving a bribe on an especially large scale (part 5 of article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and receiving a bribe on an especially large amount (part 6 article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
Lawyers for the accused Bartsyts and Larina did not comment on the acts incriminated to their clients. The RANEPA itself also refrains from publishing the details of this case.
They only stated that they “are assisting in the investigation,” but “in the interests of the investigation, they do not provide any additional information on the detention case and will keep the public informed of what is happening as soon as they receive permission from law enforcement agencies.” They also clarified that the identified theft, and, according to Kommersant, while it is about several million rubles, did not affect budget funds. True, the RANEPA did not specify where exactly the money for fictitious processing and so on came from.
