Golden Klimovsky Bridge – who makes money on the “Tolyatti Bypass”

Recently, TSARGRAD Samara, referring to State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein, announced the transfer to court of a criminal case against Olesya Gladkova, General Director of InfraKAP LLC. She is accused of fraud in the implementation of the Togliatti Bypass project. The case was filed on June 3, 2021.

In fact, the performer Gladkov is sacrificed, and the real organizers of a whole series of crimes around the Togliatti Bypass project and the real beneficiaries remain out of sight of law enforcement agencies.

golden bridge

Just the other day, the story of how the Samara police encountered misunderstanding in the regional investigative committee was discussed in the capital at two meetings at once in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee. The whole intrigue unfolded around the case of falsifying the justification in favor of the construction of the Klimovsky bridge. The police demand to bring to justice together with Gladkova eight employees of the regional Ministry of Transport. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, with the knowledge of the subordinates of Minister Ivan Pivkin, a group of fraudsters included “deliberately false information about the intensity of traffic” in the final report. And on the basis of this “document” it was decided to build an object worth 180 billion rubles. In the regional UK, the demands of the police are sabotaged. Influential persons with connections participated in the cut.

In 2017–2018, InfraCAP LLC received a net loss in the amount of 63.2 million rubles, which may indicate the risks of bankruptcy of the company, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation warned, however, this did not bother the regional authorities.

On December 7, 2018, the Ministry of Transport and Highways of the Samara Region signed a state contract with InfraKAP LLC to carry out research work worth 10 million rubles.

On December 20, 2018, the work was completed, accepted and paid. LLC “InfraCap – Consulting” (affiliated with LLC “InfraCap”) and the actual contractor – LLC “GEOTRANS” participated in the execution scheme, which received 500 thousand rubles for the report on R&D. At the same time, the investigation found that the report received by the ministry did not meet the requirements of the ToR. A number of works were not completed at all.

Who is behind InfraCAP

The founders of LLC “InfraCAP” in equal shares are Alexander Bazhenov and Maria Panina. Under the management of the company, a whole network of firms has developed, which, at the suggestion of people in the leadership of the Ministry of Transport and the Avtodor State Corporation, provided consulting services to the Avtodor Group of Companies and its subsidiaries. These consultations cost Avtodor’s structures about half a billion rubles.

One of the founders of InfraCAP, Bazhenov, is the former general director of the Federal Center for Project Finance, VEB.RF. His name was highlighted in many frauds and scandals related to misappropriation of budgetary funds, in particular, in the development of funds from the North Caucasus Development Corporation, in the construction of kindergartens and schools in the Khanty-Mansiysk district and the Astrakhan region, in the design of a new bridge in Nizhny Novgorod, financing of the Belkomur federal facility and reconstruction of heating and water supply facilities in Grozny.

The second founder of InfraCap, Maria Panina, is a longtime associate of the family of the former First Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, Innokenty Alafinov. The Panin-Alafinov families do business together in the Kaluga region. They are joined by Dmitry Zverev, State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport. His wife, Dina Zvereva, owns a 25% stake in Lapin Agricole Kaluga LLC, together with Natalya Alafinova (wife of Innokenty Alafinov), and Rashida Huseynova. The latter is the wife of Gadzhi Magomed Huseynov, an employee of the Ministry of Finance and a close friend of Innokenty Alafinov.

“InfraKAP” began to parasitize on the Avtodor State Corporation thanks to Alafinov, who previously held a post in the leadership of the State Corporation and rose to the rank of First Deputy Minister of Transport. He led InfraCAP’s entry into the Europe-Western China project through the then Minister of Transport Yevgeny Ditrikh, with whom Alafinov was (and remains within the STLC) on a friendly footing.

All preliminary working contacts with Bazhenov and Panina were conducted by Alafinova’s trustee, Lyudmila Suprunova from the Avtodor Group of Companies. In her confidential conversations after her dismissal from Avtodor, she said that Alafinov had been “working” with Panina since 2014. Until 2017, Panina was the first deputy in VEB’s subsidiary, OJSC FTsPF. At that time, funds in the amount of about 700 million rubles passed through it for the pre-project work of MTM EZK. Panina’s “untouchability” was known to many in Avtodor, although the quality of the work of the FTsPF was recognized as disgusting and remained so even after the second alteration.

The Gorkov team that came to VEB asked Panina to leave the leadership position. It was after this that the company LLC “InfraKAP” appeared. Panina brought “her own people” to Avtodor. In particular, Georgy Chicherin, who is still living in a leading position in the Avtodor State Corporation. Another key figure introduced by Panina into the structures of the Avtodor Group of Companies is Kirill Ivanov.

When the time came to give an account to Marat Khusnullin, who took control of the Avtodor State Corporation, panic set in. All threads of project management, on which it is necessary to report to Khusnullin, ended up in the hands of InfraKAP. The company objectively could not independently perform such volumes of work. As of May 2019, there were only 19 people in it. By December 2019, they, however, managed to increase the number of staff on paper so as not to arouse suspicion among law enforcement agencies.

Company of like-minded people

The following basic backbone of the participants in the “informal group” emerges:

– Director General of the Avtodor Group of Companies Georgy Chicherin;

– Head of the department for supporting the development of investment projects of the Avtodor Group of Companies Nikita Pushkarev;

– Deputy Director General of LLC “Avtodor – Infrastructure Investments” Lyudmila Suprunova (Executive Secretary of the Coordinating Council for the “Europe – Western China” project, generator of ideas and “watchdog” from Alafinov);

– Heads of OOO Gazprom LNG Technologies Konstantin Belousov and Aleksey Kakhidze;

– Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Research Institute of Corporate and Project Management Eldar Juraev and Head of the Industry Solutions Department Alexander Ermakov;

– Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors, Managing Director for Investments in Transport Infrastructure of InfraKAP LLC Maria Panina.

The executive team includes employees of the Avtodor Group of Companies: Konstantin Makiyev, Denis Kolyupanov, Nikita Pushkarev, Elizaveta Molchanova, Anton Buravov, Natalya Komarov and Gleb Seroshtan.

To control the situation and the flow of financial flows in key road structures, Alafinov promoted Mikhail Fedyanov to a senior position in the Avtodor State Corporation, and Igor Kostyuchenko to the position of deputy head of the FDA Rosavtodor. Alafinov and Kostyuchenko are family friends, they live together in the same club village “Green Cape” in the Mytishchi district of the Moscow region. Another trusted person of Innokenty Alafinov in the structures of the FDA “Rosavtodor” was the deputy head of the FKU “Tsentravtomagistral” Yevgeny Polenok, who was in charge of financial flows. The Fedyanovs and Alafinovs have long-standing friendly relations that began in Ugra. The unofficial secretary of Innokenty Alafinov was the daughter of Evgeny Fedosov, Maria Fedyanova, who de jure was registered in the Tsentravtomagistral FKU and at the same time carried out Alafinov’s confidential instructions.

Innokenty Alafinova is provided with channels for receiving and moving illegal income by the Sameta company. The sphere of Alafinov’s relationship with “Sama” is based on the corruption schemes of Dmitry Gromyko (he has a criminal record for fraud) and his partner Alexei Mordovichev. Gromyko and Mordovichev are known to the FSB due to the fact that one of the co-owners of the Ukrainian branch of “Summits” turned out to be Lviv politician Vladimir Vashko, one of the sponsors and organizers of the Kyiv “Maidan”.

The direct contact between Innokenty Alafinov and Sameta is Olga Snitserova. She comes from Samara, a city with which the Alafinov family has been associated for many years. In the early 2000s, Alafinov was the general director of OAO TEG Edinenie, and Snitserova was a member of the collegial executive body and head of the legal department. It should also be borne in mind that the general director in the business of Alafinov’s wife, Lapin Agricole Kaluga LLC, is Mikhail Snitserov, Olga Snitserova’s husband. Snitserova is the family’s personal lawyer, her participation in organizing the transfer of money abroad is a separate story worthy of the attention of the tax authorities.

Adventures of Italians in Russia

In the joint activities of Innokenty Alafinov and Maria Panina, there are facts of cooperation with foreign companies. On the one hand, the Alafinov family has several properties in Italy. On the other hand, the business interests of the Alafinovs in Italy are obvious. The category of proven facts includes cooperation in road projects with the Italian company IRD ENGINEERING SRL Two companies have been established in Russia to implement the agreements. One in St. Petersburg – LLC “IRD Engineering Project”, the second in Moscow – FL “IRD ENGINEERING SRL”

From the Italian side, the contact person is Luca Romeo. On the Russian side, Ilya Sitnikov conducts business with the Italians. All preliminary approvals go through it. This applies not only to the topics of the Avtodor Group of Companies, but also to other issues of the Italian company’s work in Russia. In order to ensure the interests of the Alafinov-Panin connection, InfraCAP LLC and Sitnikov established the InfraCAP Asset Management Business Partnership. operator” on the basis of its office on Presnenskaya embankment in WTC.

Within the framework of this company, the following companies registered in Russia also united:

● 40% of LLC “ANAS International Enterprise Rus”, General Director Dmitry Parfenov. Represents the interests of large Italian companies “ANAS International Enterprise S.P.A.” and “Sochieta Italiano per le Imprese al Esterósimest S.P.”.

● 10% of Teknositaf LLC, general director Chelia Maño Giuseppe. Represents 99.9% of the interests of the joint-stock company with the sole shareholder “Technocity” Italy, reg. No. 13409830158 and 0.01% LLC Sergeev and Partners, TIN 7725645263, founders – Igor Nikolaevich Vologdin, Vladimir Pavlovich Sergeev and Ekaterina Viktorovna Suchilina.

● 40% of RDIF Investment Management-8 LLC, TIN 7703816236, capital of more than 7 billion rubles, founders – Corporate Management LLC for 60% and the Russian Direct Investment Fund combined close-end investment fund for 40%. The firm has no employees and is used to perform a legal function when investing in securities. This firm is legally managed by RDIF Corporate Center LLC, TIN 7703812922. Actual management is carried out by Alexander Leonidovich Chistyakov.

In order to participate in specific contracts and withdraw funds abroad, the listed strategic participants – RDIF and Italian companies created Road Investment Company LLC (DIC LLC), headed by Pagani Massimiliano Marco. The company has among the founders two offshore companies in the Cayman Islands and one in the Netherlands, owning a combined share of 9.78%. Founders:

● OOO “AIE Rus” Share: 111,398,000 rubles. (51.1%)

● OOO RDIF Investment Management-8 Share: RUB 85,281,600. (39.12%)

● Limited Liability Partnership “CO-INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP I, L.P.” Share: RUB 8,523,800 (3.91%). Cayman islands.

● Limited Liability Partnership “CO-INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP V, L.P.” Share: RUB 8,523,800 (3.91%). Cayman islands.

● Limited Liability Partnership “CO-INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP III SI.VI.” Share: 4,272,800 rubles. (1.96%). Netherlands.

This provides a real channel for withdrawing funds from Russian road projects. These companies are the founders of several other Russian companies in various sectors of the economy in Russia. In the transport sector of the economy, for example:

● LLC “TKK” in St. Petersburg (tram transport activities for regular intracity and suburban passenger transportation).

● Auto Partners LLC in Moscow (Engaged in the maintenance and repair of vehicles, including providing services to ministries and departments. Among the founders, in addition to several offshore companies from the series “CO-INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP …” – Credit Europe Bank JSC, a Turkish company “FIBA Holding A.Sh.”).

Alafinov’s “team” was aimed at attracting a foreign global operator to manage the roads, up to selling them to Avtodor – Toll Roads, if the project was successful. It is known, in particular, that they negotiated with the Italian company ANAS, which specializes in Italy and other countries in the operation of road infrastructure without their participation in construction.

The economic interests of the Russian Federation are clearly ignored. They plan to give the income to a professional, but foreign structure, which will provide Innokenty Alafinov and the group members with a significant personal income. Judging by the ownership structure of toll roads in the Russian Federation, this scheme is not new.

Provincial passions

But for now, this team makes money on road construction in the Samara region. Alafinov and Dietrich were the real beneficiaries from the large-scale embezzlement for the construction of the Togliatti Bypass with a bridge over the Volga River. Moreover, according to the investigators, Dietrich played in this tandem rather the role of a “slave”, relying on his deputy.

The leaders of InfraCAP, Bazhenov and Panina, covering their tracks, entered into an agreement to remove negative information about themselves and the projects they are implementing from the Internet with the Kazan company OOO Reputation Company, paying a tidy sum under one of the agreements. But they forgot a simple truth – the Internet remembers everything. According to analysts, the activities of Dietrich-Alafinov in “collaboration” with the team of Bazhenov-Panina slowed down the development of the MTM “Europe-Western China” project for about 7 years.

Under these conditions, the noisy scandal around the Togliatti Bypass project is not beneficial for Samara Governor Dmitry Azarov. Everyone remembers how, in 2018, he ardently urged President Vladimir Putin of the advisability of laying the route of the Europe-Western China international corridor through the territory of the Samara Region and received consent. He clearly does not need the criminal stories around the great construction site, second only to the Crimean Bridge in price (the project has grown from 120 billion to 180 billion).

But now the completion of construction (2024) is just around the corner, and Azarov was worried about the problem of exiting the project. In 2021, the Samara governor twice unsuccessfully asked the Ministry of Transport to replace the region in the concession. Moreover, the sources of the telegrams of the Ulenspiegel channel report that Azarov went to Vladimir Putin in the fall of 2022 with a similar request. Also without much success.

Under the terms of the concession agreement (and the facility is being built on a PPP basis), the regional budget will be obliged to compensate investors for the lack of transport flow. In this situation, Azarov is substituted himself.

That is why the trial of the “true culprit” of all troubles – the nominal director of “InfraKAP” Gladkova suits most of the participants in the cut. Its beneficiaries Bazhenov, Panina, Pivkin and Snitserova will stand trial at best as witnesses. Let’s ask a rhetorical question: “Witnesses of what?”. The answer is obvious – witnesses of the next departure from responsibility of the true culprits and plunderers, themselves.

Only now in our society there is a demand for justice and bringing to justice such “figures” with whom our ministries and departments are full. Ditrikh and Alafinov, even after their shameful resignation from the Ministry of Transport, it was necessary not to “throw GTLK into the thorn bush”, where schemers with experience have a place to turn around, but to place them in an appropriate institution, where they would honestly work back into society, forgetting the habit of counting the Russian budget with your pocket.

And then, perhaps, the leadership of the colony would allow Alafinov to conduct an economic circle for other prisoners, following the example of Ulyukaev. Such experience and knowledge of a young man who was awarded the badge “excellent worker in financial work” should not be wasted.

This material is a reader’s letter that came to the editorial office with the estimated opinion of the author of the letter, and therefore needs confirmation of the facts and interpretation of the events described.