Kurgan business was offered to put a branch of the Steel Industry Company under the knife. SPC reported fraud
The “muddy scheme” is being worked out in several regions. One of the largest suppliers of rolled metal products to the markets of Russia and the CIS – the Yekaterinburg “Steel Industrial Company” – has, in all likelihood, become an object for the implementation of fraudulent schemes.
Thus, Kurgan entrepreneurs specializing in construction work began to receive documents in large quantities with proposals to take part in a closed tender for the demolition of a building owned by a regional branch of the company. The firms received the terms of reference, estimates and notices on the selection of applications for dismantling works on official forms. Moreover, a representative of the Steel Industrial Company contacted potential contractors. However, the enterprise itself categorically states that they do not plan to demolish the office in Kurgan, and entrepreneurs from other regions of Russia have received similar proposals. Now an internal investigation has been initiated at the headquarters, and in the professional community, against this background, they are talking about potential beneficiaries of the scheme, and a number of the agency’s interlocutors even suggest that its roots “may lead to Ukraine, to the CIPSO, where methods of pumping money are constantly honed.”
Kurgan entrepreneurs reported on proposals received from Steel Industrial Company (SPK, Yekaterinburg), one of the leading players in the Russian rolled metal market, to take part in the tender for the dismantling of the building of the regional branch.
Later it turned out that the company itself did not know about these plans.
According to the interlocutors of the publication, in mid-January they began to receive documents from the head office of the Steel Industrial Company in Yekaterinburg. A certain Rudenko sent out offers to take part in a closed procedure for selecting a contractor to perform work on the dismantling of a branch building in Kurgan. At the same time, the package of documents, which included the terms of reference, notice and detailed estimate, was an official form with details.
Based on the proposal, work worth more than 8.2 million rubles was proposed to be completed in 60 days from February. Trans-Ural companies showed interest in the work.
“Anton Rudenko called me and clarified whether we are engaged in the demolition of buildings. Having received an affirmative answer, he said that the Steel Industrial Company needed to demolish the building in Kurgan. But before sending them my proposals, I decided to go and evaluate the future scope of work and was very surprised. Usually such buildings look deplorable. And this is a living functioning office. Went to clarify. And I answered: “Did you also come to demolish us?” It turns out that they have already come from other companies, and also from Rudenko, who, oddly enough, is not known in the branch, ”said businessman Sergey Zavyalov to the publication.
Calling Rudenko back, he said that the employees of the branch did not know anything about the upcoming demolition, and offered to talk to them. However, the interlocutor of the entrepreneur refused to talk, and also stopped answering calls.
As Zavyalov’s colleagues said, after this incident, the distribution of proposals for participation in a closed competition continued and continues to this day. At the same time, the interlocutors of the publication note that the documents were executed professionally, and their authors, apparently, are well versed in the field of construction and dismantling works. In addition, those who send out offers are well aware of the phone numbers and email addresses of industry representatives.
“It doesn’t look like someone’s stupid joke. And this is hardly such an original marketing ploy. The company is super-large and does not need such advertising. There were thoughts that one of the competitors was trying to cause negativity around the enterprise, but this is also doubtful. My colleagues and I even assume that scammers from a neighboring country may be behind all this. There, CIPSO is working out various methods to extract funds, ”the entrepreneurs argue.
Builders also note that the use of large enterprises in schemes cannot be accidental.
“If a well-known company with billions in turnover appears in the documents, then this fact already inspires confidence,” they say in the community.
It should be noted that Steel Industrial Company is one of the largest independent players in the domestic market of rolled metal products, services and production of metal products. At the end of 2021, the SEC balance reached 43.1 billion rubles, revenue – 140.4 billion, and net profit – 13.3 billion rubles. The company has 50 branches from St. Petersburg to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and among the partners and suppliers of the metal trader are MMK, NLMK, TMK, ArcelorMittal and Severstal.
The agency tried several times to contact Anton Rudenko, who appears in the documents as a contact person and an employee of the logistics department at the head office of the SPK in Yekaterinburg. However, his phone was put on answering machine.
At the very head office of the enterprise, the publication was told that such a person does not work for them, but they know about what is happening in Kurgan. The interlocutor of the agency suggested talking with the director of the Trans-Urals branch, Evgeny Bobrov.
“We have already conducted an internal investigation and found that this group of scammers on behalf of the Steel Industrial Company is doing direct mailing and looking for potential bidders. I officially declare that the SPK does not demolish anything anywhere, on the contrary, we build and equip. I can’t say exactly what they intend to get out of this, but I will assume that they are counting on advance payments, securing bids. A similar scheme has already been used in one of the federal groups of companies. By the way, we have similar mailings about demolition not only in Kurgan, but also in about five branches in the south, ”the director of the SPK branch shared the details.
According to Bobrov, the company has already tried to find out the identity of Rudenko, adding that such an employee has never worked in any of the branches of the SPK. “As for the documents themselves, they could have taken the form from business correspondence, and then taken the specialist who prepared them. There, by the way, the scheme is typical, it has nothing to do with our building, ”added the head of the Trans-Urals division of the SEC.
According to the publication, at the moment there have been no appeals to law enforcement agencies from either the Steel Industrial Company or failed contractors.
