Irkutsk authorities in vain got hooked on “Mobile Avia”

In the Irkutsk region, led by former Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations Igor Kobzev, there is a small airline, Mobil Avia. Over and over again, she receives government contracts for the aviation protection of forests and the provision of sanitation services.

It’s hard to understand how the owner of the structure, Yuri Kirsanov, now receives them. After all, last November Mobil Avia LLC canceled the aircraft operator’s certificate. Nevertheless, already this year she will again receive over 90 million rubles.

It smacks of a probable corruption scheme, in which the governor Igor Kobzev, and, possibly, the deputy chairman of the regional government, Vladimir Chitorkin, appointed by him, may be involved. Could not do without the officials of the Federal Air Transport Agency, headed by Alexander Neradko. And what will be the price if Mobil Avia planes fall apart in the air – loss of life?

The correspondent of The Moscow Post in the Irkutsk region understood the situation.

At the very beginning of January, the Irkutsk Aviation Forest Protection Base, based on the results of an electronic auction, concluded an agreement with Mobil Avia LLC for aviation services in the 2023 fire season. The contract amount was 90.3 million rubles. The company will provide 10 An-2 aircraft with crews for monitoring fire danger, extinguishing forest fires and for air training.

According to the Rusprofile information service, today Mobil Avia LLC is the proud owner of state contracts for almost 50 million rubles. Of these, 45.6 million rubles – with the Department of Natural Resources and Ecology of the YNAO, another 4 million rubles – with FBU Avialesookhrana.

That is, either the money has not yet been transferred, or for some reason the new contracts are not listed in open sources. However, information about the conclusion is indicated on the official portal of the Irkutsk government, there is no reason not to believe him.

For some reason, there is also no information about concluded contracts in other open databases, although more than a month has passed since the auction (12/27/22).

At the same time, the procurement is present on the public procurement portal itself, and Mobile Avia LLC is indicated as the winner. The contract was concluded on December 29, 2022. Accordingly, the company’s bid had to meet all the requirements of the auction documentation, among which it was mandatory to have a valid air operator certificate for aerial work.

Perhaps the reason for the “delay” in the appearance of information in open bases is that the certificate of the operator performing aviation work of Mobil Avia LLC was canceled. The document that states this is publicly available on the Web.

Moreover, it turns out that the company was deprived of the air operator certificate back in 2020. Mobil Avia LLC tried to challenge this decision of the order of the Central MTU of the Federal Air Transport Agency in court, but it was refused to satisfy these requirements.

As follows from the case file, the Federal Air Transport Agency received an appeal from citizen A.A. Markalov dated March 18, 2020 No. M-1673 with information about possible gross violations of the requirements of the air legislation of the Russian Federation by Mobil Avia LLC. Judging by the decision of the Federal Air Transport Agency, this information was confirmed.

How a company that does not have this document was admitted to trading this time is a big question.

However, the following fact draws attention to itself. None of the aforementioned already concluded contracts of the company with a total value of almost 50 million rubles was completed – in each of the cases their action was terminated. Those. none of them were completed to the end?

For Kobzev there and back

The company Mobil Avia LLC itself was founded in Lobnya, Moscow Region, in 2015. But she began to participate in public procurement only in 2019. Why? Perhaps because it was in this year that the current governor, Igor Kobzev, was appointed Deputy Minister of the Russian Emergencies Ministry – the chief state inspector of the Russian Federation for fire supervision.

Just that year (and a year later) fierce fires raged in the country. The need for the services provided by “Mobile Avia” was as high as ever.

And it was in this year 2019 that the company began to receive at least some money. If in 2018 she barely earned 1.5 million rubles, then by the end of 2019 – already 6.9 million rubles, and in 2020 – 26 million rubles. Further, its profits only increased with an increase in the number of government contracts.

Moreover, the first contracts were with FBU “Avialesookhrana” – a structure that was directly subordinate to the Ministry of Emergency Situations and was supervised by the chief state inspector of the Russian Federation for fire supervision – Igor Kobzev. Next – YNAO, where the most severe fires raged, the Ministry of Emergency Situations had special control over this region.

And then Mr. Kobzev turned from the deputy head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations into the governor of the Irkutsk region. And the money under government contracts, as they say, fell down, as if from a cornucopia.

Coincidence? As the classic said: “we do not think.” And if there is a corruption interest of the authorities with connections in the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Federal Air Transport Agency (and Kobzev has them), then a violation of the air legislation of the Russian Federation here can hardly get in the way.

Apparently, the owner of Mobil Avia LLC can be almost a nominal figure behind which Kobzev’s people can stand. As you know, Kobzev himself has already worked in the Moscow region since 2016. First, in the position of the first deputy head of the Central Regional Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, then – acting. head of the center.

Not the first time

At the same time, Mobil Avia LLC is not the first company that Yuri Kirsanov was related to. From 2017 to 2018, he worked as the director of another S Brock airline (the owner is Andrey Kipriyanov). The main type of occupation is cargo transportation, and there also turned out to be a large number of state contracts for a total amount of almost 30 million rubles.

In the first place is GAU RT “Avialesookhrana” (10.3 million), subordinate to the Republic of Tuva and closely interacting with the Ministry of Emergency Situations. But in the second and third places – AU “Leskhoz of the Irkutsk region” and OGBU “Irkutskavialesokhrana”. The structures of the very region headed by Igor Kobzev.

Despite the fact that the main activity is freight transportation, “S Brock” was also engaged in forest aviation work. And also, apparently, did not really respect the current legislation.

According to the authors of the website aex.ru, allegedly in 2018 it was established that S-Brok LLC, under contracts with the GAU RT Avialesookhrana, carried out forest aviation work on An-2 aircraft with aviation forestry officers on board to patrol the territory of the Republic of Tyva in order to detecting and extinguishing forest fires.

In violation of the requirements of the law, the aircraft was refueled with motor gasoline instead of aviation fuel; the functions of the aircraft commander were performed by a person who did not have a valid pilot’s license. This could pose a threat to the life and safety of the pilots, and not only them.

As a result, the prosecutor’s office opened a criminal case under part 1 of article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (providing services that do not meet the requirements for the safety of life and health of consumers).

But even before that, claims to the tenders that the office won were made by Tyvinskoye OFAS Russia. It turned out that information on tenders between “S Brock” and GAU RT “Avialesookhrana”, namely the concluded contracts and reporting on them, were not placed on time, the provisions of the legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of procurement were violated.

Perhaps this was done to hide the necessary information from S Brock’s competitors and play along with the right supplier. The director of “S Brock” at that time was just Yuri Kirsanov. Are there too many coincidences? After that, the office was closed, and its director, Yuri Kirsanov, with a possible submission of Kobzev’s command, switched to Mobil Avia LLC?

Returning to the Irkutsk region, if Igor Kobzev could be involved in some kind of corruption schemes, then he obviously did not do it with his own hands. The protection of forests and natural resources is the profile topic of the deputy chairman of the government of the Irkutsk region, Vladimir Chitorkin, who was appointed by him – he oversees the Ministry of the Forestry Complex, which he previously led.

And he, surprisingly, at the end of 2021 turned out to be the richest official of the Irkutsk government, having earned 15 million rubles in 2020. Could some of this money have gone to Chitorkin from state contracts for the protection of forests? It seems that the protection of the natural resources of our Motherland is a very, very profitable business.