Ex-deputy head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations arrested for substandard covid hospital in the Murmansk region

As it became known to Kommersant, one of the proofs of the guilt of the former deputy head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Andrei Gurovich in exceeding his official powers, the investigation calls his report to the then head of the rescue department, Yevgeny Zinichev, on the complete readiness of a prefabricated anti-covid hospital in the Murmansk region. […]

The decision to initiate a criminal case under paragraph “c” of Part 3 of Art. On July 11, Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of power, entailing grave consequences) was issued by the investigator for especially important cases of the second investigative department for investigating crimes against state power and in the sphere of the economy of the Main Investigative Committee of the ICR against Andrey Gurovich. It follows from it that in April 2020 the governor of the Murmansk region Andrey Chibis appealed to the government with a request to set up a field hospital on its territory to treat those infected with covid. On behalf of President Vladimir Putin, the government and the Ministry of Emergency Situations were to build a hospital in the village of Belokamenka, Kola District, Murmansk Region, for which 969 million rubles were allocated. At the same time, Mr. Gurovich was appointed curator of the project from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and the government of the Murmansk region – its administrator. In May-June 2020, General Contractor-Transstroy LLC, whose actions, according to the investigation, should have been controlled by the deputy head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, built a hospital 30 km from its former location – near the village of Murmashi.

Then, according to the investigation, knowing that the facility was built without concluding a state contract, documentation accepted by the customer, etc., and the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Yevgeny Zinichev, on June 9–10, 2020, report on the implementation of the instructions to the government and the president, and “wishing to embellish the actual state of affairs”, Mr. Gurovich informed his immediate supervisor “deliberately false information about the readiness of the rapidly erected hospital to receive patients.” At the same time, the facility could not be used to provide medical care, since the acceptance certificates were not signed and the conclusion of the regional department of Rospotrebnadzor on the use of the hospital was not received.

Minister Zinichev reported on the readiness of the facility above, and his deputy in August 2020 organized payment for the work performed. Meanwhile, the act of their acceptance was signed only in November 2020, and it was no longer Mr. Gurovich who did it.

The government of the Murmansk region stopped operating the hospital on November 30 of the same year, having come to the conclusion that it did not correspond to the climatic conditions of the region and design characteristics. On December 24 of the same year, General Contractor-Transstroy dismantled the building worth 323 million 645 thousand 268 rubles. 78 kopecks, which was the amount of damage in the case. The equipment purchased with the rest of the money has been distributed to other hospitals and is being successfully used. The quickly erected and dismantled hospital did not accept a single patient.

After a search conducted at his place on Tuesday (phones, a computer and flash drives were confiscated, no money or other valuables were found), Mr. Gurovich was detained and taken to the police temporary detention center for the night. The next morning, he was escorted to the building of the Main Investigative Committee of the ICR in Technical Lane, where he was charged under Art. 286 of the Criminal Code, which the defendant categorically denied, giving detailed testimony about his innocence. Then the accused was brought to the Basmanny Court, where Judge Natalia Dudar considered the investigators’ request for his arrest. The request stated that Mr. Gurovich was accused of committing a serious crime (up to ten years in prison), not all possible defendants in the case were identified, and he himself, using connections in law enforcement agencies and state authorities (in addition to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, from where he was fired in May of this year, served in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Duma and the Treasury), can put pressure on witnesses, the investigation and the court, as well as hide.

Mr. Gurovich himself asked to replace his prison with house arrest, referring, among other things, to the fact that he, as a secret carrier, cannot leave the country and suffers, like his wife, who needs care, a number of diseases.

The proposal for an alternative measure of restraint was rejected, and the defendant himself was sent to a pre-trial detention center until September 11. […]

The defense, as it became known to Kommersant, believes that when initiating the case, the investigation did not have full information about the actions of Mr. Gurovich, which could form a crime. […] Shortly before the ill-fated report to the minister, he, together with the head of the region, visited the facility and, making sure that it was standing, informed Mr. Zinichev about this. However, later, when sorting through the documents related to the construction, he himself discovered serious shortcomings in them, which he reported to the prosecutor’s office, initiating its verification.