Landing has begun
In one day, the Russian space industry lost two top managers at once – the general director of NPP Geophysics-Cosmos Evgeniy Fomichev and the deputy head of Roscosmos Oleg Frolov. Something happened to them that “no one expected” – they will await trial in a pre-trial detention center on charges of particularly large-scale fraud.
In the interests of the state corporation
One day, the security forces paid a visit to two top executives from the Russian space industry. The first, so to speak, to be given the honor of being investigated was the deputy head of Roscosmos, who repeatedly worked Oleg Frolov. He is suspected of fraud on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country)) – Investigative Committee calls figures of almost half a billion rubles, which Frolov, by the way, a reserve general and doctor of military sciences, together with already established accomplices, successfully mastered for themselves in the execution of a state contract for the purchase of equipment in the interests of the state corporation.
The next “space” figure was the general director of the research and production enterprise “Geophysics-Cosmos” Evgeniy Fomichev. Fomichev has the status of a lawyer (member of the RP Consulting board), but now he himself will need the help of his colleagues – he is going through the same Part 4 Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country). True, everything else, unlike the situation with Frolov, is shrouded in darkness – the investigation did not make public either the essence of the charges or the amount of damage, and the trial to select a preventive measure for Evgeniy Fomichev was held behind closed doors at the request of the investigator and lawyer. They say that the case contains materials containing state secrets and the names of witnesses who may not feel safe after being made public.
Since 1958, NPO “Geophysics”, and now NPP “Geophysics-Cosmos” – one of the structural enterprises of Roscosmos – specializes in the manufacture of navigation instruments for spacecraft. As noted Online company, almost all Russian spacecraft include equipment manufactured by Geophysics. True, in the Moscow City Court later reported, that the criminal case against Evgeniy Fomichev has nothing to do with space. Rather, with land – the Fund for the Protection of the Rights of Citizens* – Participants in Shared Construction, and now the Territory Development Fund (TDF). Money from which, according to investigators, he stole and misappropriated.
Earth, calling Earth
This explanation from the court makes it possible to slightly lift the veil of secrecy that surrounds Fomichev’s case. Scheme for withdrawing money from the FRT in the fall told Investigative committee. Among other things, the Territory Development Fund was involved in restoring the rights of participants in shared construction in the event that the developer company was declared bankrupt. Trinity with a former arbitration manager Svetlana Aglinishkene and lawyers Ekaterina Myskina And Dmitry Sharifullin in contracts with affiliated organizations, they overstated the amount for protecting the property of developers when they were going through bankruptcy proceedings. And Svetlana Aglinishkene worked bankruptcy manager Urban Group, once the largest developer in the Moscow region. After the bankruptcy of the holding, the same fate befell the group’s companies; ultimately, after 2018, the problems of shareholders of 70 unfinished houses had to be resolved.
With the help of this scheme, the Territory Development Fund suffered damage to 240 million rubles. Did Evgeniy Fomichev participate in this “cutting”? Like Sharifullin and Myskina, he is also a lawyer. The connection of his case with dubious schemes involving the Territorial Development Fund was revealed by the court. So anything is possible. Perhaps the top “Geophysics” really “lit up” in the FRT, only later than the other defendants.
Strong quality
However, even without the Territory Development Fund, Geophysics-Space, headed by Evgeny Fomichev, should have no less sensitive questions. One of the leading enterprises in the space industry has literally been staying in its ships lately. In databases can be found several hundred arbitration cases alone, and only recently, where Geophysics-Cosmos is involved. Apparently, the company is a regular client of the courts, and this already implies the assumption that the ability to resolve cases quietly and peacefully and at the negotiating table is not Evgeny Fomichev’s strongest quality. And last year, Fomichev kept his staff on a starvation diet, failing to pay 700 employees more than 3.6 million rubles in wages. The workers could only see their money after the intervention labor inspection.
Be that as it may, only one thing can be said for now. Criminal cases of the deputy head of Roscosmos Oleg Frolov and “Geophysics-Space” Evgenia Fomicheva outwardly they are in no way related to each other. Besides the fact that they both work in the structures of the state corporation and the security forces came to both of them at the same time. But who knows what else will be revealed in the depths of Roscosmos during the investigation, which has not yet been completed.