Billion for Gens: Sotsstrakh EIIS scam not fully disclosed?

The scam, which was pulled when creating a unified integrated information system (EIIS) “Sotsstrakh”, ended in time for one of the main IT specialists of the Social Insurance Fund of Russia, Nikolai Evdokimov. He will go to a colony for seven years because, after his dismissal from the FSS, he registered the rights to 46 subsystems of the information system.

Information state systems are one of the gold veins for unscrupulous officials. Take, for example, the story of Anatoly Tikhonov and GIS Fuel and Energy Complex, where the Lanit company inherited the billionaire Gens, or the story through the Pension Fund and its contractors from among IT companies close to the former shareholder of Promsvyazbank Alexei Ananyev (together with his brother arrested in absentia in September 2019 and put on the international wanted list). The creation of the EIIS “Sotsstrakh” was not without a criminal case, and it may well be that the same Genses had a hand in this story.

The Dorogomilovsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Nikolai Evdokimov, one of the main IT specialists of the Social Insurance Fund of Russia, to seven years in prison, a fine of 500 thousand rubles and deprivation of the right to hold senior positions for two years.

Photo: https://mos-gorsud.ru

Evdokimov was initially accused of committing fraud, that is, acquiring the right to someone else’s property by deceit, committed by a group of persons by prior agreement, using their official position, on an especially large scale. But the subtlety of the case is that we are talking about intellectual property that cannot be touched, therefore in 2018 the case was already returned from the court for further investigation.

Evdokimov’s lawyer then stated that, in his opinion, in principle, the subject of the crime was not determined, and the certificate of the calculation of the cost of exclusive rights cannot be recognized as admissible evidence, and based on the information contained in it, the amount of damage can be determined, since at the time of acquaintance of the accused and his defense lawyers with the materials of the criminal case, the document was absent in the case materials. The case was then remanded for further investigation.

From the materials of that meeting, it is known that the amount of damage varies from 212.94 to 309.508 million rubles. At this price, the Social Insurance Fund estimated the damage from registering rights to 46 EIIS subsystems in the name of Evdokimov. The defendant himself does not admit guilt.

Photo: https://mos-gorsud.ru

According to the newspaper “Kommersant”, Evdokimov made a career in the FSS, for six years (since 2003) having risen to the rank of deputy head of the department for the operation and maintenance of information technologies of the fund. At the same time, both before working at the FSS and after his dismissal, he was listed as the director of Open Information Technologies LLC (later renamed NIST).

Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru/

It was Open Information Technologies LLC that acted as the developer of the EIIS Sotsstrakh, and it was for him that in 2014 Evdokimov registered exclusive rights to programs for the EIIS subsystem. Which later formed the basis of the criminal case.

After the verdict was announced, the defense announced that it would appeal.

Kovalevsky share

It is also not superfluous to recall that a similar trick was turned by the ex-adviser to the head of the FSS, who became his deputy and supervised the developments of Evdokimov – Sergey Kovalevsky (he was deputy from 2004 to 2010, and worked in the fund since 1997), who was also one time as an adviser to the general director of the Russian Agency for State Reserves.

The investigators raised claims against Kovalevsky in 2013 (after an audit carried out by the new head), since it turned out that back in 2005 he registered the rights to use the system, and the algorithm itself was patented back in 1991. Investigators calculated that the defendant received about 5.4 billion rubles of budget funds. The case was partially terminated after the statute of limitations had expired, although damage of about 4 billion rubles was calculated on it, and Kovalevsky did not live to see the verdict on the second episode – 2 billion rubles in damage. The defendant died in 2023.

An interesting fact: in 2015, the FSS filed two lawsuits against Evdokimov, the company he heads, and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company for the protection of business reputation. One case was closed because the second lawsuit was accepted for consideration, and the second lawsuit did not reach a verdict due to the fact that the person who signed the application did not have the authority to do so, since the power of attorney was revoked, which is confirmed by order No. 538 of 14.11 .2014. Solid confusion and some kind of vacillation, and not a serious state department.

Chain of known unknowns

It would seem that in this story everyone is punished. But even in the story with Kovalevsky, as they say, there is a nuance.

The FSB investigators who conducted the case did not rule out that the defendant Kovalevsky legalized part of the stolen money through his common-law wife Vera Lekhanova and her daughter, who allegedly received Canadian citizenship. Here the first question arises – were they looking in this direction and returned the mentioned billions of rubles to the state budget? There is no answer to this question.

But, if in the case of Kovalevsky, death will write off everything, then in the story with Evdokimov there are also known unknowns.

The investigation indicated that Nikolai Evdokimov was the director of Open Information Technologies LLC (later renamed NIST), the developer of Sotsstrakh EIIS. Yes, indeed, a certain Evdokimov Nikolai Valerievich was the director of NIST, which was liquidated in January 2021.

Based on litigation, initially the copyright holder of the program was different and, probably, Kovalevsky was related to him.

As specified in the materials of one of the cases considered in 2014, in 2008 Open Information Technologies LLC and New Information Systems and Technologies CJSC entered into an agreement on the alienation of the exclusive right to the HIST DoCoMo computer program (it was related to the EIIS “Social Insurance”). The rights to the program for CJSC “New Information Systems and Technologies” were confirmed by an agreement dated 1998, signed as an addition to the general agreement on cooperation between CJSC and the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation. The agreement with CJSC was valid until 2001. At the same time, it was specified in the case file that the CJSC was engaged in the modernization and development of a unified integrated information system of the FSS of the Russian Federation (EIIS Sotsstrakh) under a state contract dated 01.03.2005.

As of today, CJSC “New Information Systems and Technologies” has been liquidated, its founders were Epifanov Pavel Petrovich, Yurchenko Sergey Dmitrievich and Zaitsev Konstantin Sergeyevich. At the same time, according to open data, the namesake of the latter is directly related to the National Research Nuclear University “MEPhI” (associate professor, doctor of technical sciences). The CJSC was headed at one time by Valery Mazur, whose full namesake later also appeared as the director of the company, which was later headed by Evdokimov. That is, the most curious connections of the latter are evident.

Photo: https://ras.arbitr.ru/

Traces of the Genses

In 2014-2015, Evdokimov and the co-company tried through arbitration to recover some losses from the contractors of the FSS (which were finalizing, modernizing and developing the system), appealing to the fact that they supposedly own the rights and nothing can be done without them. But they lost their lawsuits.

Then, in 2014, a certain CJSC “Diramo” sued LLC “Open Information Technologies”, demanding to invalidate the agreement on alienation of the exclusive right to the computer program “HIST DoCoMo”, concluded by the defendant and CJSC “New Information Systems and Technologies”, arguing that it is he, they say, the copyright holder, and not the defendant at all. The Diramo court lost, and today it has been completely liquidated, like its successors.

Photo: https://kad.arbitr.ru

There was another notable office in this case – Sistematika LLC, with which the FSS of Russia had a long-standing relationship. Judging by the data of Rusprofile, four state contracts worth 1.6 billion rubles passed through it. Of these, three were concluded in 2011-2012. One of the contracts, concluded on January 12, 2011, just concerned the EIIS “Sotsstrakh”. For 443.751 million rubles, the company was supposed to provide technical support and service.

The company under the leadership of Evdokimov also repeatedly sued this company, starting in 2011. At the same time, Open Information Technologies LLC stated that Systematics had upgraded the Sotsstrakh UIIS software, which is technologically possible only when using the source code of the HIST DoCoMo program, which is a necessary technological component of the UIIS, and the developer has the authority to authorize , adaptation, modernization and implementation of the EIIS by the FSS of the Russian Federation did not transfer and did not receive the consent of the OIT for this. The Evdokimovskaya company stated in court that before and since the development of the information system, the FSS of the Russian Federation always involved the developer in development, and here it violated these “traditions” by giving the contract to Systematics.

Photo: https://kad.arbitr.ru

In 2011, the first instance even satisfied the claim, banning the Systematics company from using the HIST DoCoMo computer program and recovering 124 million rubles in damages. In fact, this verdict was canceled only in 2014 through a review of the case, that is, already when the FSB began to promote the case of Evdokimov et al. At the same time, Zakhozhiy I.A., a senior investigator of the Investigation Department of the FSB of Russia, took part in the case as another person.

At the same time, an examination was carried out in the case and the expert stated that the HIST DoCoMo program is used as part of the versions of the UIIS Sotsstrakh program submitted for study, but it is not a development tool, but contains a set of components on the basis of which the programs were created , which are included in the versions submitted for research, and modification of the EIIS program without using the program is impossible, except for the case of programming the program functionality again.

Photo: https://kad.arbitr.ru

What does it say? The fact that back in the distant 90s, a private company tried to completely bind all further contracts somehow related to the EIIS. That is, in addition to Evdokimov, all those who signed these contracts and agreements should sit in the dock, not noticing the “underwater bomb”, which later “exploded”. But there is one more nuance – if the program, which was discussed in all courts, the same “HIST DoCoMo”, is still not a development tool, as the expert said, then the rights to it still belong to the FSS and nothing Evdokimov, it turns out did not steal?

There are a lot of questions in this case that have not been answered even by the time the verdict is announced. And one of these questions is the role of the beneficiaries of “Systematics” in this whole story. After all, as we saw from the court materials, for many years the FSS applied only to the developer in cases related to the EIIS, and then suddenly decided to change the contractor. Moreover, in 2015 Systematics even tried to bankrupt its “main competitor”, but failed.

Yes, and “Systematics” also has something to blame. But for some reason, no one brought her to the answer.

According to the auditors (the results of the audits were announced in 2014) of the Accounts Chamber of Russia, problems associated with the implementation of software were identified in two regional branches of the FSS. An audit of the execution of government contracts concluded by the FSS with Sistematika LLC showed that certain types of software were transferred to the Fund at prices that were 65-70% higher than their prime cost from copyright holders, totaling 134.4 million rubles. That is, the company overestimated prices, but no one answered for this? Why are the beneficiaries of the company not next to the same Evdokimov? This is where the most curious fact turns out – first Georgy Gens, and then his heir, Philip Gens, could have been related to the contractor. Persons, judging by the history of the GIS fuel and energy complex, are almost inviolable.

In 2015, the Cnews publication reported that the Lanit group of companies (at that time Georgy Gens) and Systematics implemented plans to create a joint venture based on their own consulting divisions. The new structure received the name – “Consist business of groups” and was formed on the basis of the Lanit consulting and LCEurope assets entering into Lanit and TOPS Consulting and Sciener companies belonging to Sistematika.

By the way, in 2020, Lanit, represented by Philip Gens, fully redeemed the share of its partners in Consist LLC, the parent company of the Consist Business Group consulting group. JSC Systematics Group was represented in the deal by Leonid Goldenberg (President of Systematics Group, now part of the National Computer Corporation).

According to Rusprofile, Sistematika LLC, which was the executor of contracts with the FSS of the Russian Federation, was established in 1998. The owner in the period from 06/21/2015 to 01/28/2016 was Tops Consulting LLC and Systematics Group JSC. Today, Systematics is controlled by JSC Systematics Group, whose beneficiary at the end of 2022 was Denis Frolov, known to readers from a story about a possible connection with the head of VEB Igor Shuvalov.

Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru

In June 2016, Tops Business Integrator LLC appeared in the list of owners of Sistematika LLC. The Tops Consulting company has been liquidated today, but its last owner was Consist LLC, which, in turn, was owned by Georgy Gens from 06/25/2015 to 12/16/2018, today the company is controlled by his son, who inherited the assets, – Philip Gens.

Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru

Another asset that Sotsstrakh inherited in the history of EISS is the aforementioned Tops Business Integrator LLC, established in 2001 and becoming the successor of Tops Holding LLC. From the moment Tops Business Integrator was founded, it was owned by Systematics Group JSC and Systematics LLC, and the company was also the executor of two contracts with the Federal Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation for a total of 375 million rubles. One of them dealt with the supply of sets of equipment for data processing and transmission to ensure the functioning of the EIIS.

In addition to traces to Gens, they managed to find traces from Systematika LLC to Mikhail Fridman, German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev. As Comnews reported, in 2008 A1, the investment division of Alfa Group, acquired a blocking stake in Systematica Group (the owner was the Cypriot company Systematica Holdings), and Systematica LLC was the main asset of the group. A1 got rid of this property only in January 2013.

What role these persons played in the UISS Sotsstrakh case could be found out by the Investigative Committee.

Evdokimov was convicted, but the beneficiaries were forgotten?

But let’s not forget about the role of the company led by Evdokimov. There are also details that, in our opinion, the investigators ignored.

According to the documents, the developer of EISS Sotsstrakh is Open Information Technologies LLC (aka NIST), which was led by Evdokimov. But Evdokimov has not been the owner of the company, at least since 2014, and it was then that the main disputes for rights in the courts unfolded. According to Rusprofile, this contractor is owned by Anna Kulikova and Sergey Ushenin (the bases are not disclosed by those who owned the asset earlier).

Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru

And, if nothing else is registered on Ushenin, then Anna Kulikova is a rather remarkable person.

Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru

Kulikova is a co-owner of Lazurit System and Hardware Enterprise LLC, which is also owned by Gennady Kurochkin (50%), Sergey Begishev and Arkady Tabakov. Alexander Kurochkin heads the company.

In turn, Lazurit has a “subsidiary” asset – Mniirs Special Development Center LLC (TsSR Mniirs LLC), which acted as the executor of 40 government contracts for a total amount of more than 53 million rubles, of which 44.54 million rubles were provided by the company nine contracts with JSC “Concern” Sozvezdie “from the division of the holding “Ruselectronics” of the state corporation “Rostec”.

Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru/

In addition, Arkady Tabakov was a co-owner of APK Mniirs LLC in 2016-2022 (now he is only its director). which belongs to JSC “Mniirs” (“Moscow Research Institute of Radio Communications”). The latter, judging by the data of “Rusprofile”, was established
The Ministry of Property Relations of Russia, and the director of this joint-stock company, which is currently in bankruptcy, is Vasily Danilov, the former deputy governor of the Yaroslavl region, the former head of the department of industry and transport of the Yaroslavl region. And Mniirs, in turn, is the executor of 14 government contracts worth more than 46 million rubles. Among the customers are UNTO Special Communications of the Federal Security Service of Russia, FGBU “NII TsPK named after Yu.A. Gagarin”, “Roskosmos” and others.

Both Tabakov and Gennady Kurochkin were also founders of TsSR Mniirs CJSC, whose successor was TsSR Mniirs LLC.

Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru/

Another thread with another IT company is the common email of NIST Evdokimov and a certain Hi-Tech LLC. The latter was established in 2010 and operates in the field of software development. Since June 2023, the company has been owned by Pik-Investproekt LLC from the PIK division of Sergey Gordeev (the share is pledged in Alfa-Bank), but until that time and since May 2014, Lekhanova Inga Borisovna owned Hi-Tech. At the same time, it had no other assets, and the owners did not appear in the databases until 2014.

Prior to Anton Alekseev, who was appointed by PIK, the director of Hi-Tech was Alexander Kopytman (the owner of the Sovenergoinvest trading company), and before him, a certain Tukin Evgeny Viktorovich. The full namesake of the latter was among the signatories https://epivakorona.com/openletter2signatures.html of an open letter to the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation with a request for an independent and open verification of the effectiveness of the EpiVacCorona vaccine and it was indicated that Tukin is a programmer.

Could Hi-Tech be associated with NIST or Evdokimov, this is a question rather for the Sledkom. If you look at the reporting of Hi-Tech LLC, then the company is quite modest – only 4.6 million rubles in revenue for 2022. But the fact remains that PIK would not buy a shell company, and, judging by the encumbrance, I had to borrow money from the bank for the purchase.

Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru/

Thus, in the net balance, we have a whole group of IT companies associated with NIST and its co-owner, and at the same time they also acted as suppliers of products for government agencies. There are traces of the billionaire Gens in this chain, as well as other, no less famous persons.

After studying all the materials of the case and the nuances, a well-founded question arises, is it not time for the case to be further investigated?

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