Print for repair

600 million is the most modest figure in this story. In total, the Atomstroykompleks company intended to receive 3 billion rubles for the renovation of the Bank of Russia building in Yekaterinburg. This happened after the former deputy head of this company, Andrei Osokin, went to work at the Central Bank. Is there a conflict of interest and a violation of anti-corruption laws? Neither the leadership of the Central Bank nor law enforcement agencies seem to think so, and the fate of the money remains unclear.

The upcoming reconstruction of the building of the Ural Main Directorate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation became known at the beginning of 2021. The cost of a full range of works to renovate a nine-story building on the street. Serova, 38 in Yekaterinburg was estimated at 609 million rubles. During the work, it was planned to carry out internal redevelopment of the premises, replace the building’s engineering systems, including elevator equipment, perform fine finishing of the premises and reconstruct the facade, and equip the facility with all the necessary furniture and equipment, reported the press service of the Atomstroykompleks company, which won this contract. It was assumed that by 2023, the modernized building, which had not seen major renovations for all 25 years of its existence, would house the Central Bank’s IT departments.

However, 2023 is already drawing to a close, and nothing has been heard about housewarming. But it became known that the cost of the contract had mysteriously increased to an exorbitant 3 billion rubles. For comparison, the average market value per square meter of housing, approved by the Yekaterinburg mayor’s office for the third quarter of 2023, is 94,036 rubles. In 2020 prices, when the contract was being prepared, it was 72,600 rubles. The area of the building in question is 6.6 thousand square meters. Then, as they say, do the math for yourself, but the reconstruction turns out to be truly “golden.” And by the way, what stage she is at now is also unclear.

This story was brought to the attention of a former employee of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Dmitry Litvinov from Yekaterinburg. He believes that there was a conflict of interest when concluding the contract, which is a violation of anti-corruption laws. Its essence lies in the fact that the current head of the real estate department of the Ural Main Directorate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Andrey Osokin Previously, he worked as Deputy General Director of Atomstroykompleks. According to Litvinov, Osokin still has connections at his former place of work, and, in addition, the real estate department was created specifically for the reconstruction project of the building on Serova, 38. That is, before, according to Litvinov, this division did not exist in the Ural Main Directorate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. And Andrei Osokin headed it precisely thanks to his connections remaining in Atomstroykompleks, which was supposed to receive (and received) this “fat” contract.

According to the telegram channel of the economist Nikita Krichevskybefore concluding an agreement addressed to the head of the security department of the Ural State Administration of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Sergei Byzov An application was received for inspection of the Atomstroykompleks organization, which claims to fulfill the contract. A possible conflict of interest was reported to the head of the security department of the Ural State Administration of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Sergei Byzov and the head of the Ural State Administration of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Rustem Mardanov. Nevertheless, the agreement was concluded. On behalf of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation it was signed by the deputy Elvira Nabiullina Ruslan Vesterovskywho later became senior vice president of Sberbank.

It’s interesting how the numbers dance

Then it gets even more interesting. As we remember, the contract price was initially reported at 609 million rubles. However, the editors have at their disposal a task to design the reconstruction of the Bank of Russia building to accommodate the regional development center “Ekaterinburg” at the address Yekaterinburg, st. Serova, 38 (that is, we are talking about the same building). This document states that the cost of design work alone “in forecast prices as of the period of implementation” is 688.475 million rubles. The total contract amount reaches 3 billion rubles. Is it too big to renovate one building? For this money it would be possible not only to reconstruct, but to build from scratch not just one, but a complex of buildings in Yekaterinburg.

However, it seems that the reconstruction somehow did not work out. Nikita Krichevsky compared the dates: “

The design assignment was approved on August 20, 2020, registered on January 25, 2021. The documentation should have been ready in December 2021, therefore, payment for it was made. At the same time, the Prosecutor General’s Office claims that the contract was terminated on October 19, 2022. Where is the money, Zin?” – Krichevsky asked a sacramental question.

He called the very situation with the reconstruction of the Bank of Russia building in Yekaterinburg “a blurring of a muddy history.” And this seems to be true, since the project apparently froze at the draft stage. The editors have at their disposal a letter from the Prosecutor General’s Office signed by the Assistant Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Svetlana Parshina, in which, in particular, it is reported: “In connection with the improper fulfillment of JSC Corporation Atomstroycomplex of its contractual obligations, the Bank of Russia decided to unilaterally refuse to fulfill the contract from 10/19/2022. The contract has now been terminated.”

The publication “Business magazine. Ural managed to get a comment from the failed contract executor:

“The contract was terminated after the development of project documentation at the “project” stage was completed and a positive expert opinion was received. The Atomstroykompleks company does not participate in the stage of creating working documentation and performing construction and installation works.”.

A positive expert opinion does exist. Well, what next? Looks like that’s where it all ended? These assumptions are confirmed by Dmitry Litvinov from Yekaterinburg:

“As far as I know, there was no further action after the contract was terminated. All work is frozen. The contract has not been fulfilled. The overhaul, to put it politely, has probably been cancelled. In general, as everything stood before the agreement with Atomstroykompleks, that’s how it stands.”“, he said in a conversation with our correspondent.

There is a conflict, there is no interest

The story turns out to be really strange. But what is even more surprising is that it seems that neither law enforcement nor supervisory authorities are in a hurry to understand it and give an unambiguous answer to the question: was there a conflict of interest that resulted in a violation of anti-corruption legislation? Former employee of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Dmitry Litvinov is sure that this is so, and has been trying to attract the attention of law enforcement officers for two years. But the answers he receives are in the style of “true in form, but mockery in essence.” In particular, the above-mentioned letter from the Prosecutor General’s Office says about Andrei Osokin:

“I did not take part in the approval of financial documents related to settlements under the contract, and did not exercise authority to control or supervise the fulfillment of the terms of the contract. No circumstances have been identified indicating that the said person has a personal interest in the performance of official duties, which leads or may lead to a conflict of interest.”

A reasonable question arises: what, in this case, were generally included in the official duties of the head of the real estate department of the Ural Main Directorate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, if, according to the prosecutor’s office, he “was not, was not a member, did not participate” in a contract for 3 billion, directly related to his division? I would also like to know what work and for what amount was performed by Atomstroykompleks before the termination of the contract? And who will now (if anyone) continue the reconstruction? And, of course, the “same” question – where, exactly, are 3 billion rubles?

Nevertheless, it seems that this story is somehow being carefully hushed up. Judging by the documents at the disposal of the editors, as well as according to Dmitry Litvinov, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Sverdlovsk Region and the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Sverdlovsk Region did not give an actual answer on the status of the verification of his statements, and the statement transferred by jurisdiction (territoriality) to The Internal Affairs Directorate for the Central Administrative District of Moscow, at the time of writing this article, has been there for two months already – and no answer, no greeting. Although there are very specific deadlines within which citizens’ applications must be considered. It looks like economist Nikita Krichevsky was right:

“Under today’s conditions, this case has no chance of a competent investigation, much less imprisonment. The Central Bank squandered 300 billion dollars, and here are the “unfortunate” 3 billion rubles. Unless the leadership of the Central Bank falls under the law enforcement “locomotive”,” he assessed the prospects of this story in his Telegram channel.

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