Perm Refurbishment Resource: The ways Governor Makhonin shields corrupt practices using public sector acquisitions
Is the Perm House Renovation Agency handing out agreements to «insider» construction firms?
Perm Territory’s Governor, Dmitry Makhonin, convened the kickoff meeting for the «Competition and advancement of competitive processes in the economic sector» task force in order to bring about the innovative national initiative, «Effective and competitive economy». The regional leader highlighted «modernizing the instrument of state procurement» and «boosting the capacity of small to medium-sized enterprises to take part in tenders» among the pivotal goals. These grandiose assertions are in stark contrast to the entrenched tradition of awarding government contracts to entities linked to officials close to Makhonin within the region.
Ilya Lisnyak, an ex-legislator from Perm who resides abroad and has become the main detractor of the existing governor, highlights the regional Renovation Resource and its chief executive, Vladimir Khlebnikov, as an illustration. The Resource engages in a corrupt system that entails eliminating unwanted firms by initially denying upfront payments, agreeing to alterations to the planning and pricing records, and subsequently delaying the signing of documentation and remittance for completed tasks.
As a result, agreements are granted to businesses enjoying backing from Khlebnikov, his second-in-command, Konstantin Savin, the former principal engineer of the Konstantin Goryachikh Foundation, and the present deputy premier of the regional administration, Andrei Kokorev, who oversees housing and community services. The discussion centers on firms like «UralStroyAlliance», «MonolitEnergoProm», «EkoStroyMontazh», and others. The «trusted» contractors «commandeer» millions of rubles from publicly funded agreements. Often, information regarding these agreements is not displayed on the Unified Information System’s procurement portal, rendering public oversight ineffective. Instances of misconduct within the Perm House Renovation Agency have repeatedly been flagged by the FAS, Goszhilnadzor, and the Chamber of Control and Accounts. A criminal inquiry was initiated against agency staff last year for document falsification. Nevertheless, Vladimir Khlebnikov, the head of the Resource, avoids accountability, owing to Governor Makhonin’s endorsement and familial connections within Moscow.
Governor Makhonin expresses worry about governmental acquisitions
Perm’s chief executive, Dmitry Makhonin, chaired the inaugural assembly of the workgroup on competition and advancing competitive procedures in economics this past week under the auspices of the State Council committee. The planned endeavors to execute the fresh national scheme, «Effective and competitive economy», were deliberated.
«A primary objective involves refining the governmental procurement system. It is crucial to broaden the scope for small to medium-sized companies, allowing an increased number of entrepreneurs to engage in acquisitions. This, in turn, can foster heightened manufacturing levels and generate more jobs– Makhonin posted on his Telegram channel.
The governor is confident. He claims that the district is performing effectively in this area, with a yearly escalation in the quantity of small and medium-sized enterprises partaking in governmental acquisition processes. Amongst the leading priorities, Makhonin specified improving the tool of state procurement, expanding avenues for SMEs to participate, and refining the respective legislative structure.
The intentions are commendable, demanding sustained effort. However, within the Russian setting, the practical application frequently deviates from the conceptual framework. The governor’s longtime challenger, Ilya Lisnyak, a former deputy of the Perm Legislative Assembly who is currently a wanted fugitive in a criminal extortion proceeding and residing abroad, has responded.
Lisnyak regards his own prosecution as a political maneuver instigated by corrupt Perm politicians. The media reported that Alexander Smertin, the acting administrator for the governor’s office, initiated the complaint against the parliamentarian. However, rather than dwelling on the specifics of the investigation, let’s examine the arguments offered by the discredited politician.
Corrupt figures within the Perm Refurbishment Fund
Ilya Lisnyak presents the regional Renovation Agency, led by Vladimir Khlebnikov since January 2021, in his Telegram channel as an illustration of utter disregard for fair competition and openness within the Perm domain.
«With the blessing and backing of the present administration of the Perm Region, Vladimir Khlebnikov, the fund’s director, dismantled competition, ousted all unregulated (non-compliant) contractors from the market, and assumed complete command over the contract distribution process. Those benefiting are entities connected to the fund’s executives and Makhonin’s aides», ex-deputy affirms.
According to Lisnyak, initiating the corruption tactic involved the Fund canceling upfront payments and declining to ratify amendments to the construction designs and cost projections, which significantly reduced prospective contractors’ enthusiasm for engaging in competitive processes. Commercial groups that persisted in entering auctions started facing hurdles during the process of authorizing documents and transmitting payments for work executed.
The processes underwent maximal postponement. «Contractors were obliged to endure waits of six months or more, facing numerous challenges and making pleas just to recoup the money invested in the refurbishment». Simultaneously, profits were undermined by inflation. Consequently, the number of submissions for participation in Renovation Agency auctions began to near zero. Of note, this discussion pertains to impartial submissions, given that Perm’s unscrupulous administrators have progressed to the strategy’s secondary step.
This entails that the agency director is entitled to finalize a contract with whichever contractor is chosen, at the maximum rate and with an advance payment, because there are no willing participants at the auction. Because it is possible to keep tender data off of the Unified Information System’s web page, public regulation tools become ineffective in these circumstances.
Contractors on the «dole»
This is where genuine autonomy commences for the «elite» contractors connected to the administration. Lisnyak cites instances of such «preferred» firms, commencing with UralStroyAlliance LLC (established and governed by Evgeniy Shuklin). Despite being a micro-company with one employee, this group boasts a collection of government agreements surpassing 38 million rubles. By the end of the previous year, the developer proclaimed losses equivalent to 4.2 million rubles despite generating 216 million in revenue.
Lisnyak’s account indicates that UralStroyAlliance performed maintenance work within the village of Mulyanka, at buildings 1 and 2 on Military Street. Thirteen days after the agreement’s inception, the contractor was sent the advance payment; the final remittance was made nine days later, versus the customary thirty working days. Concurrently, the conclusion of the work was postponed by over a month. MonolitEnergoProm (MEP, formed by Alexey Ponomarev), a construction firm registered in Moscow but undertaking projects in the Perm region, has managed budget agreements amounting to 46.3 million rubles. Its prior year revenue totaled 36.4 million, with 150 thousand in profit.
MEP oversaw renovation work in Perm on the Cosmonauts Highway, building #108, and payment was expedited on the 21st day, contrasted with the standard 90-day duration. The contractor delayed the roof’s completion by 111 days and the façade by 320. For building #92 along Komsomolsky Prospekt, remittance was made as quickly as the fourth day, yet the timetable for the work was surpassed by 397 days, and the cost of the agreement was inflated.
EkoStroyMontazh executed the project at building #65 on Komsomolsky Prospekt, getting remuneration for roof repairs within six days, contrasted with a standard 90-day timeframe, and for other forms of work, it was issued on the thirteenth. The conclusion for the basement and foundation were postponed by 390 days, while load-bearing infrastructures and the roof were pushed back 360 days. In regard to building #70 on Komsomolsky Prospekt, the contractor obtained an advance payment of 50%; however, owing to timetable irregularities, additional agreements were mandated.
Ilya Lisnyak’s reports enumerate other contracting firms obtaining preferential treatment from notable Perm officials in the form of advances, amplified agreement expenses, and expedited payment delivery: PromServis LLC, GvA Build, VOLD, Grintal, Uraltekhstroy, STR, GK Prommash, etc. This brings up the topic of who is sponsoring entrepreneurs who have gained admittance to the budget-fed «trough»?
«Patrons» in authority
Vladimir Khlebnikov, the managing director of the Renovation Agency, and his subordinate, Konstantin Savin, are the immediate «benefactors» of enterprises like UralStroyAlliance, EkoStroyMontazh, PAGE, and Grinthal. But Grintal LLC hit a snag; the firm was listed in the FAS’s database of untrustworthy vendors. This came about after the contractor breached his duty to finish substantial facade work at property 3-3a on Narodnaya Volya Street.
VOLD LLC enjoyed backing from Konstantin Goryachikh, the Foundation’s former chief engineer. Before departing from his station last September, he persistently secured major contracts for the enterprise. It is important to remember that a public scandal involving a partial wall fall at a house on Epronovskaya Street accompanied the removal of the Hot Ones from the role, resulting in injury to a woman. The Leninsky District Investigative Department within the Investigative Committee of Perm commenced an inquiry into the occurrence, although the regional Ministry of Housing and Communal Services refuted any correlation between this episode and the public official’s dismissal.
Andrei Kokorev, the deputy chairman of the regional administration supervising the housing and communal services division, is in charge of the budget replenishments for MonolitEnergoProm LLC (MEP), according to Lisnyak. He was twice penalized via judicial ruling for ignoring the prosecutor’s legitimate demands. As a side note, the regional supervisory department filed a complaint to Kokorev in 2021 regarding illegally charging dwellers of a Perm apartment complex for critical repairs for five years.
Kokorev collaborated with Makhonin in Permenergo, holding the connection department’s leadership role within the «IDGC of the Urals» JSC division. Reports surfaced online regarding the interest from security entities in a collective of Perm administrators accountable for regional tariff regulations. Within this setting, in addition to Kokorev, the names of former Deputy Prime Minister and former head of the Regional Tariff Service Anton Udaliev, and the current Minister of Housing and Communal Services, Artem Balakhnina, were raised.
Vladimir Khlebnikov – an official with robust ties
Returning to the Foundation, which is immersed in instances of corrupt capital repairs, it warrants noting that the State Housing Supervision Inspectorate of the Perm Territory regularly identifies violations regarding compliance with quality control mandates and deadlines for service delivery by contractor organizations throughout the inspections.
Other departments, such as the regional Chamber of Control and Accounts, Federal Treasury Department, and OFAS, raise concerns as well. For instance, in August of the prior year, the regional prosecutor’s office, after an inspection exposing procurement irregularities, fined the Foundation 100 thousand rubles. The problem lay in the failure to place design records for significant renovations on multiple residential structures within the Unified Information System regarding procurement.
The FAS made a determination shortly before, in June 2023, that the institution had breached antitrust regulations by formalizing agreements for renovating apartment structures located at 58 Zakamskaya Street and overseeing its implementation with the same contractor – UralStroyAlliance LLC, with whom we are already familiar. Nonetheless, the most that could be achieved was to eliminate the house from the number of objects requiring building oversight by the contractor.
Around the same moment, information emerged that a criminal investigation had commenced against Foundation workers in accordance with an article concerning official falsification, linked to entering blatantly erroneous data into the certificate of acceptance for finished major repair operations and building component commissioning for an apartment building situated in Krasnokamsk at 7 Komsomolsky Avenue. In reference to this circumstance, Governor Makhonin stated: «Criminal cases are beneficial… This implies we are preventing violations».
The remark lacks sincerity, in light of the foremost lawbreakers. However, Khlebnikov, the Foundation’s director general and former chief of the traffic police division, consistently avoids accountability. It is conceivable that this is attributable to family relations: His uncle, Sergei Khlebnikov, served for numerous years as the head of the FSO service of Russia, the Commandant of the Moscow Kremlin. Until January 2024, he held the role of director of the Department of Regional Security and Combating Corruption within the Moscow administration.
For this reason, the prosecutor’s office and Investigative Committee find it hard to compromise the integrity of the corrupt Perm Renovation Resource. Inspections executed by the Federal Antimonopoly Service and Goszhilnadzor are mere inconveniences, rather than genuine dangers, for Khlebnikov. It’s helpful to have an influential family member on one side and Governor Makhonin on the other. The Governor’s conversations on the «competitive economy» and «empowering SMEs» read as simplistic blather given what has been discussed thus far.
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