Kirovsky District Court of Irkutsk sentenced former Minister of Health of the Irkutsk region Natalia Ledyaeva to 6 years 8 months in a penal colony in the case of fraud in the purchase of medical masks in 2020, an IrCity correspondent said from the courtroom. Ledyaeva’s son Ilya Belousov received 8 years and 6 months in a penal colony.
The judge read out the verdict for 2 days. She read out the indictment, the testimonies of all witnesses, the accused and experts, all the protocols of examinations and searches. In the end, the court stated that it recognizes the testimony of all the witnesses and does not see any significant contradictions in them, does not doubt the conclusions of the experts that are available in the case, since it does not doubt their qualifications.
In its conclusion, the court concluded that the guilt of the defendants was fully proven. Recall that they were accused under the articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on fraud and the sale of goods that do not meet safety requirements. The court also considered that all the defendants acted out of selfish motives. The verdict also states that the crimes were committed by an organized criminal group headed by Ledyaeva’s son.
Entrepreneurs Dmitry Kozlov and Yevgeny Urenko, who were also defendants, received 8 years, 4 months and 6.5 years, respectively. All defendants will serve their sentences in a penal colony.
All the defendants were credited with the term of stay in the pre-trial detention center.
Defendant Aleksey Sorokin, for whose IP contracts were drawn up, received 6 years probation with a probationary period of 4 years. Another defendant, Nikita Mazurenko, also received a suspended sentence of 5 years and 4 months.
During her last speech on December 6, Ledyaeva stated that during her tenure as minister, they “twice tried to imprison her.” Other defendants in the case – Ledyaeva’s son Ilya Belousov and entrepreneurs Dmitry Kozlov and Yevgeny Urenko – noted that the masks were delivered on time and used, therefore, in their opinion, there can be no damage.
Recall criminal case on the supply of masks to the Irkutsk region was initiated in October 2020 under the articles “Fraud committed on an especially large scale” and “Circulation of falsified, substandard and unregistered medicines, medical devices committed by a group of persons by prior agreement”. First was detained son of Natalia Ledyaeva Ilya Belousov, and a month later detained and herself.
Initially, the damage caused to the budget of the Irkutsk region was estimated at 40 million rubles, but by the time the case was brought to court, it had grown to 90 million. To the purchase, which became the basis for initiating a criminal case, may be involved an entrepreneur from Angarsk who started work in February 2020. In total, he received 9 contracts for almost 200 million rubles.
KP.Ru, 12/20/2022, “The court announced the verdict to the ex-head of the Ministry of Health of the Irkutsk region and her son for fraud in the purchase of masks for 96 million rubles”: As investigators have established, from May to October 2020, the head of the Ministry of Health of the Irkutsk Region, using her official position, made the ministry conclude a state contract for the supply of medical masks and respirators with her accomplices. At the same time, she was aware that falsification would be transferred to the region’s hospitals. Products that did not pass registration ended up in medical institutions in Tulun, Sayansk, Cheremkhovo, Shelekhov, Angarsk, Ust-Ilimsk, Irkutsk and other cities. To hide the deception, false characteristics were described in the accompanying documents of the product. The money received as a result of fraud, the group divided among themselves and spent at their discretion. […]
The court also ordered the perpetrators to pay the damage they caused to the Ministry of Health of the region and medical institutions. — Inset K.ru
Natalia Ledyaeva resigned from her post mid-November 2020. The governor of the Irkutsk region, Igor Kobzev, refused to evaluate the activities of the former minister. […]
ircity.ru, 11/24/2022, “I’m behind bars because my mother is a minister”: the son of Natalia Ledyaeva spoke in court in the case of the purchase of masks”: Angarsk businessman Ilya Belousov, who is accused of fraud with the supply of medical masks to the Irkutsk region in 2020, said that he was behind bars only because he is the son of the former Minister of Health of the region Natalia Ledyaeva. […]
According to Belousov, the shortage of PPE in the Irkutsk region was predictable and all steps should have been taken to prevent it.
– Instead, huge funds were transferred to the monopolist – JSC “Irkutsk Regional Wholesale and Supply Pharmacy Base” – in the form of an advance payment, which simply did not have these PPE. By the way, during the interrogation, Yuri Slanchenko (Director of IOOSAB. – Note ed.) admitted that the Chinese supplier at IOOSAB was the same as ours, – said Ilya Belousov.
The defendant told the judge that his arrest was “a means to change the Minister of Health of the Irkutsk region Natalia Ledyaeva for that period of time.” — Inset K.ru
Formally, Ledyaeva complied with the requirements of the law and transferred the business to trust management. On the other hand, given her new position and the specialization of the firm, there is clearly a conflict of interest.
During this time, the Ministry of Health of the region has already made several large purchases, but their circumstances also raise questions. So, in April, the department signed a contract with the Moscow JSC Concern Radioelectronic Technologies for the supply of artificial lung ventilation devices of the Aventa-M brand. In total, 178 ventilators were bought for more than 331 million rubles.
Each of these devices cost the budget 1.8 million rubles, although similar ventilators are much cheaper. Nine devices were supplied to the Angarsk City Hospital No. 1. Among the suppliers of the hospital, where Ledyaeva herself once worked as a pediatrician, you can meet the company MANO “LDC”, which is headed by the same Tatyana Gurshpon.
The son of the head of the regional Ministry of Health, Ilya Belousov, is also associated with the medical business. According to SPARK, back in 2002, he opened the company “Medical Center for Rehabilitation and Prevention”, which lasted 18 years and was liquidated only a month ago. Ledyaeva was a director in this firm in 2003.
All these circumstances raise questions for Ledyaeva. First of all, why the Ministry of Health chose a little-known businessman from Angarsk as a supplier, who had just registered an IP and had no history of working with government agencies. In addition, he himself is from Angarsk, where Ledyaev comes from and where her company is registered. The situation with the company that Ledyaeva managed to register while moving from one place of civil service to another also looks suspicious.
Life sent these questions to the head of the Ministry of Health of the Irkutsk Region, Natalia Ledyaeva, but by the time the material was published, she had not received any answers.
