As it became known to Kommersant, the Presnensky District Court of Moscow arrested in absentia the former director of Alfa Development Holding Limited, Ukrainian citizen Elena Rymaruk, for two months. She is accused of embezzling more than 11 million rubles. ($ 174.2 thousand) during the execution of the state contract for the overhaul of the Rossotrudnichestvo building in Finland in 2014. Mrs. Rymaruk fled from the investigation and was put on the wanted list. Meanwhile, Rossotrudnichestvo in the Moscow Arbitration Court obtained compensation from the company in the amount of $244.2 thousand.
The reason for declaring the former director of Alfa Development Holding Limited, Elena Rymaruk, first on the federal and then international wanted list, was the fact that she systematically ignored calls to the investigator for interrogations, and then it became known that the businesswoman had gone abroad. The Presnensky department of the Moscow Department of the TFR, which charged her in absentia with a particularly large-scale fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), filed a petition with the Presnensky Court of Moscow for the election of a measure of restraint in absentia for a citizen of Ukraine in the form of detention.
One of the main arguments in favor of the arrest was the fact that Elena Rymaruk has been hiding from the investigation for more than a year.
At the same time, the investigator noted that the involvement of Mrs. Rymaruk in the theft of part of the funds intended for the overhaul of the building of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Finland is confirmed by numerous testimonies of witnesses and the results of examinations. And no illnesses preventing her from being kept in custody during the preliminary investigation were found. The court agreed with the investigation and arrested the ex-director in absentia for two months. The term of arrest will be calculated from the moment Mrs. Rymaruk is detained on the territory of Russia or her extradition to the Russian Federation.
The criminal case, in which Elena Rymaruk later became a defendant, was opened by the Presnensky Interdistrict Investigation Department on October 11, 2019. As it was established during the preliminary investigation, in August 2014 Rossotrudnichestvo organized a tender for the overhaul of the Russian Center for Science and Culture, located on Nordenskieldinkatu Street in Helsinki. According to the results of applications submitted for participation, the tender was won by Alfa Development Holding Limited registered in Cyprus.
As a result, a state contract for $4.67 million was signed with the director of the company, Rymaruk.
According to the contract, the state customer was obliged to finance the work, and the contractor, in turn, at the end of each month, report to him on the work carried out in accordance with the approved terms of reference, on their cost and submit relevant invoices.
Immediately after the conclusion of the contract, all $ 4.67 million were transferred from the budget to the settlement account of the central office of Rossotrudnichestvo. At the same time, according to the investigation, some “unidentified persons” from among the employees of Rossotrudnichestvo “out of selfish interest entered into a criminal conspiracy with the management of Alfa Development Holding Limited and, in particular, with Elena Rymaruk.” The investigation found that as a result of a criminal conspiracy, despite the fact that the capital repairs of the building were not completed in full, the documents on their execution and cost certificates, which contained deliberately false information, were drawn up and signed. According to investigators, the fabricated progress reports were made between 2014 and 2016 and then transferred to the head office of Rossotrudnichestvo in Moscow.
This resulted in $4.362 million being transferred to Alfa Development’s Cypriot settlement accounts with Eurobank Cyprus Ltd and Hellenic Bank Public Company Limited to pay for the overhaul.
Meanwhile, by decision of the investigation, a construction expertise was appointed and carried out directly at the scene in Finland in January 2019, according to the conclusions of which, not all work was performed at the Russian facility in Helsinki, but money in the amount of $174.2 thousand (at the rate of 2017 – about 11.14 million rubles) were appropriated by attackers.
It is worth noting that Rossotrudnichestvo in the Moscow Arbitration Court obtained compensation from Ms. Rymaruk’s company, including penalties, in the amount of $244.2 thousand.
The question of the possible extradition of the accused will be raised by the Prosecutor General’s Office after her whereabouts become clear. Mrs. Rymaruk’s defense was unavailable for comment.