A criminal case has been initiated on the fact of negligence against unidentified persons of the Ministry of Transport of the Samara Region. The case is related to the state contract for the development of the Samara-Tolyatti intelligent transport system, concluded by the Ministry of Transport with RosdorNII. The contractor complied with the terms of the contract, but the ministry refused to pay for the work. The formal reason for the refusal is shortcomings in the research work of RosdorNII. As a result, the contractor collected more than 119 million rubles from the ministry through the court. for the work performed, as well as a penalty in the amount of 29.7 million rubles.
The Soviet MCO of the Investigative Committee of the ICR for the Samara Region opened a criminal case on the fact of negligence (Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) of unidentified officials from among the employees of the Ministry of Transport and Highways of the Samara Region. The crime resulted in the payment of a penalty of about 30 million rubles. from the budget of the Samara region by a court decision. Circumstances and suspects, as well as damage are established. Kommersant was informed about this in the press service of the Investigative Committee of the ICR for the region.
State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein told the details in his telegram channel. According to him, the case was initiated based on the results of prosecutorial checks. We are talking about a state contract for the development of a project for an intelligent transport system that provides for the automation of traffic control processes in the Samara-Togliatti urban agglomeration. The Ministry entered into this contract with the Russian Road Research Institute (RosdorNII) in May 2020. The contractor complied with the terms of the contract, but the ministry refused to pay for the work. After that, the institute applied to the arbitration court and collected more than 146.8 million rubles from the ministry, including 119 million rubles. debt under a government contract, as well as a penalty in the amount of 29.7 million rubles. for the period from March 21, 2021 to March 3, 2022.
According to the court, the contractor handed over to the Ministry of Transport the results of the research work, taking into account all the comments, in February 2021. In response, the ministry sent a letter “on the obligation of the contractor to timely fulfill the requirements for state accounting of scientific research, development and technological work for civil purposes.” The department did not send any other comments. After the expiration of the deadlines for acceptance, the FAA “RosdorNII” offered the Ministry of Transport to pay for the work, considering “the result of the work was accepted.” In response, the department reported on the shortcomings identified by the members of the acceptance committee. At the same time, according to the Association of Transport Engineers, the research work complied with the requirements of the contract and GOST in terms of structure and content. After refusing to pay for work in the summer of 2021, the research institute went to court.
The Arbitration Court of the Samara Region came to the conclusion about the “consumer value” of the research work, since the Ministry of Transport used it. So, in November 2021, the ministry signed a state contract to create an intelligent transport system in the Samara region, which provides for the automation of traffic management processes in the Samara-Togliatti agglomeration (stages 1–3). The tender documentation in full contains the result of the work received from RosdorNII.
The main unofficial suspect in the case is former Deputy Minister of Transport Andrey Spiridonov, Alexander Khinshtein specifies. The official served as deputy minister for three years and left the post in January 2021. The dismissal of Andrei Spiridonov was preceded by a series of scandals due to the poor quality of roads in the region. So, in early November 2021, law enforcement officers initiated a criminal negligence case against the leadership of the regional Ministry of Transport (part 1.1 of article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). This happened after the cancellation of school bus routes in the Syzran and Shigon regions due to poor road conditions. The roads fell into disrepair after several years of heavy trucks transporting building materials along them under a concession concluded with the approval of the regional transport ministry. According to preliminary data, the region suffered damage of at least 190 million rubles. The Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Kommersant region explained that specific suspects in the case have not yet been identified.
After that, the prosecutor’s office of the Samara region suspected ex-Deputy Minister of Transport Andrey Spiridonov of violating the requirements of anti-corruption legislation. Two relatives of the former official held senior positions in organizations managed by Andrey Spiridonov himself. The son-in-law of the ex-deputy minister of transport, Denis Bezrukov, worked at ASADO (an enterprise for the maintenance and repair of roads), and the nephew of Mr. Spiridonov’s wife, Nikita Alexandrov, heads the road diagnostics department at the Road Administration. Mr. Spiridonov, among other things, was responsible for the results of ASADO’s activities.
“Meanwhile, during the investigation, questions will inevitably arise to the Minister of Transport Ivan Pivkin himself. Which of them will follow their colleague Plaksin, time will tell, ”says Alexander Khinshtein.
At the beginning of the week, it became known about another criminal case in the government of the Samara region – the regional Minister of Construction Nikolai Plaksin was detained at the workplace. He is charged with Part 3 of Art. 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of official powers). The criminal case is connected with the “illegal” issue by the regional Ministry of Construction of a permit for the commissioning of two cultural centers in municipal districts.
