Consul General on state orders: the adventures of an Italian in Russia
She is charged with fraud and abuse of power – the security forces suspect her of embezzlement of 2.7 million rubles for the purchase of masks and shoe covers in the midst of a pandemic.
There may be more powerful people behind it. And it’s not about Minister Alexander Myasoedov, and not even about Governor Vladimir Vladimirov himself (although he is responsible for everything that happens in the region). The regional Ministry of Health, and with it the Honorary Consul General of Italy in the Southern Federal District and the North Caucasus Federal District, Pierpaolo Lodigiani, can participate in such ugly affairs.
The latter, in addition to consular work, turned out to be a real businessman.
As Life.ru writes with reference to the data of the investigation, in 2020 Evgenia Mosina concluded two agreements between the Ministry of Property Relations of the Stavropol Territory and the PEST company. Contracts for 16 million rubles included the supply of masks and shoe covers for the organization of the Unified State Examination and other events in the region. According to law enforcers, the deputy minister, together with the director of the company, inflated the total price of products by 2.7 million rubles.
All in all, PEST got state contracts worth 63 million rubles – and all from the Ministry of Property. At the same time, one of the contracts from 2020 for the supply of shoe covers, napkins and other consumer goods (the amount of 45 million rubles) has been under execution since 2020. Still can’t deliver napkins?
At the same time, the company looks like a “dummy” – the authorized capital is 10 thousand rubles, there is not a single person in the state, revenue is barely 1 million rubles, losses are 1.5 million for 2021. Looks like a bogus office.
And the director, who could be mentioned by the investigation, is Alexander Chipiga. From 2017 to 2022, he also headed LLC NPP Stavtekhmed, which is engaged in the wholesale trade of pharmaceutical products. And here we are moving from the Ministry of Property to the Ministry of Health, because LLC NPP Stavtekhmed is one of the largest suppliers of hospitals in the region.
The structure belongs to Larisa Yushchenko, and also looks like a fictitious office. Only two people in the state with 10 thousand authorized capital, a loss of almost 10 million rubles at the end of 2021. And this is in the presence of state contracts for a total amount of 244 million rubles.
Cartel “gimp”
But not only that is interesting. And the fact that LLC NPP Stavtekhmed was previously caught by the hand when organizing a cartel for purchases for the Ministry of Health of the Stavropol Territory.
The Antimonopoly Service revealed a conspiracy for 160 million rubles in 2021. It is assumed that he acted in medical procurement in 2018-2019, just when Chepiga was in charge of NPP Stavtekhmed LLC.
Among other participants in the conspiracy were the companies KTM, Equipment Leasing Center, Kometa, and individual entrepreneur Irina Novoseltseva. In all of them, as in the above companies, you can find signs of fictitiousness. And – huge government contracts.
The modest IP Novoseltseva, who was registered only in 2017, has a total amount received from the budget – 122 million rubles. The vast majority of contracts are with medical institutions in the Stavropol Territory. Moreover, many contracts from 2020 and earlier for millions of rubles are still being executed – apparently, the businesswoman is in no hurry. It is clear that she can only be a nominal figure.
The company “Equipment Leasing Center” has government contracts for 201 million rubles. This is with an authorized capital of 10 thousand rubles and four employees. At the end of 2021, a loss of 14 million rubles was recorded. At the same time, in 2018 and 2019 (when, according to the FAS, there could have been a collusion), there was a profit of 38 and 23 million rubles, respectively.
The company is owned by Alexander Patsay, who is also the CEO. I just want to ask him – where did the money go? When the cartel was opened, did it become difficult to make money?
The company KTM Evgeny Polovinkin with government contracts for 146 million rubles – has a profit. True, only for 2019, because after the structure was liquidated, it turned out that false information was entered in relation to it in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
The only structure that looks more or less serious in this connection is Vladislav Gilyadov’s Moscow OOO Kometa. But the company does not supply medical equipment, but software, and has government contracts for 763 million rubles. Of these, 5 contracts totaling 46.4 million rubles with the Ministry of Health of the Stavropol Territory.
Consul over the fray
And it is to the Ministry of Health that a lot of questions arise in connection with this whole story. It seems that the cartel acted right under the noses of both the former Minister of Health Viktor Mazharov and the current Vladimir Kolesnikov, who took this post in 2020.
As for Mazharov, he resigned voluntarily. Someone might think that he was afraid of possible questions from law enforcement officers. But if so, then it could be not only this – the health care of the region in the covid 2020 was shaken by a whole series of scandals that Mazharov simply could not cope with. This was written by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
Be that as it may, both Mazharov and Kolesnikov are from the same medical field, and should have known each other perfectly. Another figure could also know them, who may be the real organizer and beneficiary of these dubious schemes.
We are talking about a respected person, Honorary Consul General of Italy in the Southern Federal District and the North Caucasus Federal District Pierpaolo Lodigiani. Given his status, he has extensive connections and contacts among the authorities of these federal districts, as well as among business representatives. But these are general phrases, but there are also direct connections.
From 2014 to 2016, the current Minister of Health of the Stavropol Territory, Vladimir Kolesnikov, worked as the General Director at Investa Euromed LLC. And immediately after him, the already mentioned Pierpaolo Lodigiani, who turned out to be a real businessman and manager, became the CEO of the company.
Doesn’t this look suspicious? And the most amazing thing is that neither Mr. Lodigiani, nor all the companies associated with him are under either Western or Russian sanctions – the work is going on as if nothing had happened.
Investa Euromed was liquidated in 2018. Its last owner is Investa-Finance, whose managing director is the same Pierpaolo Lodigiani. He, together with Rusmediakom, was the founder of the structure until 2021.
In total, Mr. Consul today is the head of eight companies at the same time, and acted as the founder of 11 legal entities in different regions of the country. The directions are very different – tourism, wholesale trade, the activities of recruitment agencies.
A real hodgepodge, which in fact can exist on funds from completely different cases – possible connections with officials in the government of Governor Vladimirov. At the same time, Lodigiani is not directly exposed to the blow – his companies do not have government contracts in the Stavropol Territory.
No, with one small exception – Navigatortour LLC, which belongs to the consul and his company Investa Consulting LLC, still concluded a state contract with the regional government in 2015. The subject of the purchase with a price of 133 thousand rubles is the purchase of entrance tickets to the exhibition, hotel accommodation and transport services.
On the one hand, this does not mean anything. On the other hand, it says a lot, if Mr. Lodigiani organized the trip of Stavropol officials to the exhibition, their accommodation in a hotel, and provided them with transport services. They could have had more than just a working relationship.
At the same time, the Navigatortour company itself remains active, despite all the same signs of fictitiousness: zero employees, no revenue and profit.
At the same time, Pierpaolo Lodigiani is active in other regions. For example, back in 2019, he became interested in the implementation of joint projects with the Government of Dagestan, and most of his business assets are concentrated in the Krasnodar Territory. To say that these, like the Stavropol Territory, are regions with high corruption is to say nothing.
Thus, it is Pierpaolo Lodigiani who can be the shadow “helmsman” of many business processes related to budget financing in the same Stavropol Territory. It is enough to have your own person in power. Which, in turn, may be Lodigiani’s former colleague at Invest Euromed, Vladimir Kolesnikov.
Pierpaolo Lodigiani.
And what about Governor Vladimir Vladimirov? Corruption scandals so often rumble in his team that it can be assumed that if he himself is not a participant in dubious schemes, then he probably should have been aware of what his subordinates are doing. But it is dangerous to wash dirty linen in public – Vladimirov has been among the governors for many years, who are predicted to soon resign.