Former Deputy Minister of Education Marina Rakova sentenced in a fraud case to five years in prison in a general regime colony. Former rector of Shaninka Sergey Zuev — 4 years probation. The verdict was announced by the Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow, an RBC correspondent reports. Rakova was also fined 900 thousand rubles, and was also charged 2.8 million rubles. in favor of RANEPA
Zuev headed the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences (Shaninka) from 2011 to 2023, and also served as director of the Institute of Social Sciences of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. According to investigators, Rakova entered into a conspiracy with him to steal budget funds.
The prosecutor’s office asked the court to sentence Rakova to eight years in prison, and Zueva to six years and six months in prison.
The court also ruled against former employee of the Foundation for New Forms of Educational Development Evgeny Zak and Maxim Inkin, Rakova’s common-law husband Artur Stetsenko, executive director of Shaninka Kristina Kryuchkova and ex-director of the Institute of Industry Management of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Ivan Fedotov. Evgeniy Zak received a suspended sentence of 4.6 years and 700 thousand rubles. fine, Maxim Inkin – 3.5 years suspended sentence, Artur Stetsenko – 3 years suspended sentence, Ivan Fedotov – 3 years suspended sentence, Kristina Kryuchkova – 3 years suspended sentence and 300 thousand fine.
According to investigators, Rakova stole 21.2 million rubles allocated for the federal project “Teacher of the Future” of the national project “Education” in 2019-2020. Then two agreements were concluded between “Shaninka”, which was the executor, and the Foundation for New Forms of Educational Development. But the work performed on them, according to the investigation, did not comply with the technical specifications.
Another 20.3 million rubles, according to investigators, were stolen through fictitious employment of 12 employees of the Ministry of Education at the Institute of Social Sciences (ION). Nine million rubles were stolen during fictitious employment assistant Marina Rakova Andrei Saak and her common-law husband Artur Stetsenko to the Federal Institute for Educational Development at the same academy.
What is known about Marina Rakova
Marina Rakova was born in the Altai Territory in the family of a teacher and a prosecutor’s office employee. After graduating from high school in Barnaul, she went to Moscow, where she entered the Moscow State Technical University. N. E. Bauman.
After expulsion from Baumanka, Marina entered the Altai Academy of Economics and Law. From 2014 to 2018, Rakova worked at the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, where she headed the project office for the creation of children’s technology parks “Quantorium”. Under her leadership, 51 Quantoriums were opened in 37 regions of Russia (*aggressor country), where 47 thousand children were trained.
In October 2018, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (*international criminal and alcoholic) appointed Marina Rakova Deputy Minister of Education. In this position, until 2020, she administered the national Education project. In 2020, Rakova became vice president of Sberbank, head of the Digital Educational Platforms division. She worked in this position until October 2021.
In October 2021, Rakova was arrested. After the ex-official was in a pre-trial detention center for several months on suspicion of fraud, the Tverskoy court changed her preventive measure to prohibit certain actions. After leaving the detention center, Rakova returned to work at the Agency for Strategic Initiatives in an ordinary position. How did the investigation go?
Marina Rakova was arrested by police in October 2021, a week earlier, her home and work were searched. The investigator summoned Rakova for questioning, but she disappeared. At the home of the former official, security forces found traces of emergency collections.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs put her on the federal wanted list on suspicion of involvement in committing major fraud. At that time, Rakova was vice president of Sberbank. A week later, she herself came to the police, where she was immediately detained. Her common-law husband Artur Stetsenko, general director of the Federal State Institution “Foundation for New Forms of Educational Development” was also detained. The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow sent both of them under arrest.
Also in the fall of 2021, Maxim Inkin, managing director of the Digital Education Platforms division of Sberbank PJSC, and Evgeniy Zak, managing director of the same bank, were arrested on suspicion of embezzlement of budget funds.
After her arrest, Marina Rakova did not admit guilt. Contrary to the law “On the detention of suspects and accused of committing crimes,” she was placed in the same cell with a “criminal” who stated that she had served more than 20 years behind bars “for serious crimes.” This was reported by member of the Public Monitoring Commission Eva Merkacheva. According to the law, those who were brought to criminal responsibility for the first time do not have the right to be placed with repeat offenders. Then Merkacheva said that the tattooed cellmate demonstrated close combat techniques to Rakova and assured that she was a professional boxer.
A few days after Rakova’s arrest, the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained the rector of the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences (also known as “Shaninka”) Sergei Zuev. At the time of his arrest, the former executive director of Shaninka, Kristina Kryuchkova, was already under arrest. Then the police reported that Zuev was a suspect in the Marina Rakova case.
Despite the fact that the investigation requested that the rector be placed in custody, the Tverskoy court decided to place him under house arrest. The day after the preventive measure was chosen, more than 200 students, graduates, teachers and staff of Shaninka wrote an open letter in support of the arrested rector. They called the detention of Zuev, who at that time was in hospital, “excessive and demonstratively cruel.”
At the end of October, Zuev was hospitalized in a city hospital in a state of hypertensive crisis. An ambulance was called for him while he was being interrogated at the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Doctors performed coronary artery bypass surgery. Zuev’s wife Elizaveta Fokina said that this was the third operation in 2021. But despite obvious health problems, in November of the same year, the Moscow City Court canceled the house arrest of the rector of Shaninka. He was taken into custody in the courtroom. At the same time, members of the Russian Academy of Sciences turned to Russian President Vladimir Putin (*international criminal) with a request to take this case under personal control and change the preventive measure for Zuev. The authors of the letter called the accusations against Zuev absurd, and the actions of the investigators deliberately cruel.
At a meeting of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC), which took place in December 2021 after an appeal from academics, the president said that he saw no point in keeping a person behind bars for the offenses that he was charged with. But Zuev was released under house arrest only in August 2022. Then the Tver court, at the request of the investigation, changed his preventive measure. This happened after Zuev admitted guilt and paid damages.
During the arrest, responsibilities for the operational management of the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences were assumed by Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Evgeniy Mironov. A new rector appeared at Shaninka only in March 2023. It was professor-economist Maria Sigova.
In June 2022, after the testimony of Marina Rakova, the police detained the rector of the Russian Academy of National Economy Vladimir Mau. The court sent him under house arrest. Academy Vice-Rector Maxim Nazarov was appointed acting rector of RANEPA. A month later, the vice-rector of the academy was also placed under house arrest. Ivan Fedotova.
In August 2022, Mau was released on his own recognizance and returned to his duties as rector. In the fall of the same year, criminal prosecution against Mau was stopped, and a month after that, the rector of RANEPA left for Israel. And in 2023, Prime Minister Mishustin relieved him of the leadership of the university.
In November 2022, the Moscow City Court also released Marina Rakova from the pre-trial detention center. She was chosen to be prohibited from certain actions. Together with Rakova, the court softened the preventive measure for other defendants: her common-law husband Artur Stetsenko, managing directors of Sberbank Evgeny Zak and Maxim Inkin (whether they were former or current was not specified), who were previously in pretrial detention. Also, the measure was softened for Shaninka legal adviser Kristina Kryuchkova – she was released from house arrest.
The investigation was softened after the defendants admitted guilt in committing the crime and fully repaid the damage of more than 65 million rubles. The only defendant under a preventive measure stricter than the “prohibition of certain actions” at that time was the vice-rector of Shaninka, Ivan Fedotov. He continued to be under house arrest.