Could the case of fraud with contracts lead the security forces to the authors of the “scheme” with the EpiVacCorona vaccine?
The FSB Directorate for the Novosibirsk Region reported the detention of two former employees of the Vector State Scientific Center for Virology and Biotechnology, subordinate to Rospotrebnadzor, suspected of particularly large-scale fraud and taking a bribe. According to investigators, there was a criminal scheme associated with the renegotiation at a reduced cost of contracts for the provision of services to commercial structures for the collection and transportation of medical waste of III-IV hazard class for subsequent neutralization by the institution. In fact, the work was carried out on the basis of Vector, but the payment, through fictitious individual entrepreneurs, went to the accounts of one of the former employees and his relatives. The damage from the implementation of the scheme exceeds 6 million rubles. This is not the first corruption scandal related to the activities of the Vector Center. Last year, by order of the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova, the general director of the institution, Rinat Maksyutov, was fired. The grounds for the personnel decision were “failure to take measures to resolve and prevent conflicts of interest” and, as a consequence, “loss of trust,” that is, a violation of anti-corruption legislation. Maksyutov’s attempt to challenge the dismissal in court was unsuccessful. “Vector” gained scandalous fame thanks to the development of the coronavirus vaccine “EpiVacCorona,” for the production of which the federal government allocated more than 2 billion rubles from the reserve fund. The Nacimbio holding, controlled by Rostec, was responsible for supplying the vaccine to the regions; the drug was also to be exported to Brazil and Venezuela. However, already at the beginning of 2022, the federal Ministry of Health suspended the purchase and supply of vaccines to the regions. As it turned out, the “miracle drug” is a dummy, which was confirmed by the results of a study by a group of St. Petersburg scientists from the European University. Meanwhile, EpiVacCorona was intensively promoted by Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, and the patent for the vaccine included the name of the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, who oversees the work of the Vector Center.
A scheme involving government contracts was discovered at Vector
FSB officers in Novosibirsk detained two former employees of Rospotrebnadzor State Scientific Center of Virology and Biotechnology “Vector”, suspected of particularly large-scale fraud using official position and receiving a bribe by an official. The damage from their actions exceeds 6 million rubles.
How reports Interfax, the head of the Vector site, who was fired in 2024, organized a criminal scheme related to the renegotiation at a reduced cost of contracts for the provision of services to commercial structures for the collection and transportation of medical waste of III-IV hazard class for subsequent neutralization by the institution.
According to scheme, the collection of hazardous waste was to be carried out by individual enterprises registered in the name of the suspect’s relatives, but in fact the work was carried out by employees of the center. Payment for services provided in 2013-2024. was transferred through fictitious individual entrepreneurs to the accounts of the head of the site and his relatives.
Same suspect incriminated receiving a particularly large bribe for assistance in non-competitive procurement of packaging for medical waste at inflated prices. By versions investigation, the intermediary in receiving the bribe was the wife of the former head of the site: she previously also worked at Vector, and in addition, one of the individual entrepreneurs involved in the case was registered in her name.
Everyday life of “Vector”: conflict of interests and love affairs
It turns out that the scheme with government contracts has been practiced at Vector for almost ten years. Thus, it cannot be ruled out that during the investigation process in a criminal case new episodes and persons involved may appear. Possibly from among existing employees. Moreover, this is not the first corruption scandal associated with the Novosibirsk scientific center.
Let us recall that in May last year the media wrote on the dismissal of the general director of the institution, Doctor of Biological Sciences Rinata Maksyutova, who headed Vector in 2016. According to order Head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popovathe grounds for dismissal were “failure to take measures to resolve and prevent conflicts of interest” and as a consequence, “loss of trust”. That is, we were talking about non-compliance with anti-corruption legislation.
Maksyutov’s attempt to challenge the dismissal in court was unsuccessful: in December, the Novosibirsk Regional Court refused him to be reinstated to his previous job. What exactly the former general director committed legislative violations remains unknown. The press mentioned the presence in the case materials informationcontaining state secrets.
By information publication “Arguments and Facts”, the personnel decision was preceded by the receipt by the head of Rospotrebnadzor of an anonymous letter, which spoke about “immoral behavior”the CEO and his love affair with one of his subordinates, “abused official preferences”. What exactly the conflict of interest might be here is unclear.
Rather, in the words of a character from a famous movie, the loving Maksyutov“taverns and women brought to zugunder”.
With a high degree of probability, the real reason for the dismissal remained unknown to the general public. It is noteworthy that in publications The Novosibirsk online publication “Precedent” talked about a prosecutor’s inspection carried out in the scientific center in 2022 specifically for compliance with anti-corruption legislation, which did not reveal any violations in the work of the general director and his deputies.
EpiVacCorona: a “miracle vaccine” for older people
It seems that what the prosecutor's office could not establish was established by the FSB. By the way, after the high-profile dismissal of Maksyutov, the head of the Novosibirsk science city Koltsovo Nikolay Krasnikov and a group of local deputies sent to the prime minister Mikhail Mishustin appeal with a request to “consider the circumstances” of what happened. Speaking about the achievements of the now former CEO, the authors of the appeal emphasized:
It’s worth looking at Vector’s work during the pandemic in more detail. The fact is that a vaccine against coronavirus was developed in this research center “EpiVacCorona”, patented in September 2020. In April 2021, the media, with reference to Rospotrebnadzor, reported on the supply of the first large batch of the drug to 40 Russian regions: 230 thousand sets of vaccine doses were shipped at Domodedovo airport. A state-controlled corporation was responsible for its deliveries. “Rostec” holding “Nacimbio”.
In the Center itself emphasizedthat EpiVacCorona is a “soft” vaccine and is suitable “for the elderly and for people with chronic diseases”, and according to the results of the first and second phases of clinical trials during vaccination, immunity is allegedly developed in more than 90% of those vaccinated. By words Head of the Epidemiological Surveillance Department of Rospotrebnadzor Albina Melnikovaby the end of April 2022 it was planned to put about 1.5 million doses of the drug into circulation.
Even earlier, it became known about the agreements signed with foreign companies agreements and contracts to export more than 50 million doses of the vaccine. Rinat Maksyutov, who was the general director of Vector at that time told about the upcoming deliveries of EpiVacCorona to Brazil and Venezuela. With the government of the latter manufacturing company “Geropharm” signed a supply agreement, the volume of which was to amount to 5 million kits (10 million doses) by the end of 2021.
Billion-dollar scam under the guise of a pandemic
It would seem that EpiVacCorona will be no less successful than its competitor Sputnik V from the Center. Gamaleya. But everything turned out to be not so simple: already in January 2022, the federal Ministry of Health suspended procurement and supply of vaccines to the regions. In most regions of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism), the last batches of the drug were received at the end of November – beginning of December 2021, and there were no requests from the Ministry of Health or the distributor Nacimbio for its release in 2022 not received.
It turns out that the widely promoted vaccine in practice turned out to be… a banal “dummy”. Moreover, in scientific circles it was initially met with a fair amount of skepticism. Thunder struck just at the beginning of January 2022, when the results were published research a group of St. Petersburg scientists from the European University, working under the guidance of a candidate of medical sciences Anton Barchuk.
As it turned out, during the audit it was not possible to confirm the effectiveness of EpiVacCorona. More precisely, she turned out to be negative. Of course, the Vector Center categorically disagreed with such conclusions, announcingWhat “The sample size used by the researchers does not allow for an assessment of the vaccine’s effectiveness.”.
Note that even earlier about the ineffectiveness of the drug said virologist, doctor of medical sciences, professor Anatoly Altshtein.
The scientist drew attention to the fact that EpiVacCorona does not provide antibodies to coronavirus, therefore it can be vaccinated an unlimited number of times. But Altstein is an employee of the Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology. Gamaleya, who produced Sputnik V. Apparently, his words were considered criticism of a competitor. If so, then in vain.
But in “Vector” they vigorously praised the “dummy”, the production of which was officially authorized by the federal government allocated from the reserve fund more than 2 billion rubles.
High-ranking officials also joined in a kind of “advertising campaign”. For example, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the healthcare sector Tatiana Golikovaknown for her friendship with the pharmaceutical “king”, the beneficiary of the company “Pharmstandard” Viktor Kharitonin, PR EpiVacCorona to ensure that it does not have serious side effects. Even Sputnik V, according to the official, could turn out to be “a little more reactogenic”.
The head of Rospotrebnadzor deserves special attention Anna Popova, whose department, we recall, oversees the work of Vector. How found out journalists, she personally participated in the development of EpiVacCorona, and the patent for the vaccine includes her name. Is it any wonder that Rospotrebnadzor assured Is the drug against coronavirus 100% effective? Moreover, Popova’s subordinates no doubt The fact is that the vaccine will also cope with the Omicron strain. Indeed, such “brilliant” know-how!
In general, at a certain stage the scam was undoubtedly a success. Everything was ruined by the initiative of independent scientists, otherwise the interested officials would have continued to “develop” budget billions on “bullshit.” The end of the pandemic also played a role, but new promising “topics” could have been thought of in this case. In the meantime, while high-ranking officials were working on a big scale, the Vector Center had been implementing corruption schemes for years with contracts for the collection and transportation of medical waste. True, the intervention of the FSB put an end to them. Perhaps further investigation will reveal other, much larger, financial frauds?
