The largest supervisory agency of the Russian Federation, Rostekhnadzor, is again at the center of a corruption scandal. This time the chief state inspector of Rostekhnadzor of Karelia Georgy Khe distinguished himself. The day before, it became known that he was trying to get a bribe of 6 million rubles from the Solomensky Timber Plant company, where Presidential Aide Maxim Oreshkin recently visited.
A criminal case has already been opened, and it involves not only a representative of Rostekhnadzor, but also intermediaries. Together with the State Inspector, the general director of Promtekhmarket and the engineer of this enterprise received a bribe, the 78.ru newspaper writes, citing a law enforcement source.
The correspondent of The Moscow Post in Karelia understood the situation.
Hu from He?
Georgy Khe before the civil service led two companies in Petrozavodsk: LLC “RT”, associated with tourism services, and LLC “Inkom-Renta”, tied up in cargo transportation. But both were liquidated long ago, but the craving for active earning and entrepreneurial streak, perhaps, was preserved in the ex-director at the post of the State Inspector.
Karelian Rostekhnadzor is included in the structure of the northwestern department of the federal agency. It is headed by Konstantin Davydov, who replaced Grigory Slabikov. He, in turn, vacated the post, as he was taken into custody: he was charged with fraud and embezzlement of 5.6 billion rubles from construction self-regulatory organizations in St. Petersburg.
The apple never falls far from the tree?
The trade house “Promtechmarket”, with which the official suspected of taking bribes is associated, is still operating. But, judging by the situation, she did not have long to live. According to Rusprofile, as of February 9, 2023, there are decisions on the partial or complete suspension of operations on the company’s accounts by the tax authorities. This is a micro-enterprise created in April 2021 – at the same time it had one single employee. The company is engaged in the production of electrical work under the leadership of Artem Mukhomorov. He is also the founder of the company and, perhaps, the very one of its employees in one person. There is no mention in open sources about the engineer of the enterprise, who also appears in the criminal case.
Expensive cars, millions, personal services – how inspectors oversee all over Russia
This is not the first case of bribery by representatives of Rostekhnadzor in Karelia, not to mention cases that slander the department throughout Russia. Some of its officials take money for coordinating documents, even if they are verified to the last letter and must receive a visa without bureaucratic obstacles, others – for their silence, condoning the growth of violations, and in fact, dangerous conditions at facilities and enterprises.
Six months ago, for example, it became known about the real “heavyweight” in bribes: the ex-deputy head of the North-West Department of Rostekhnadzor. According to investigators, while in office, he received 21 “thanks” in just one year, in 2019. Bribes were accepted by the State Inspector for the quick approval of documents, the issuance of positive conclusions, and so on. True, even the impressive number of relapses here does not reach the amount of a one-time jackpot, which He decided to hit.
In the same 2019, a criminal case was opened on the fact of bribes by the deputy head of the department for supervision in the oil and gas industry of Rostekhnadzor, Oleg Khromushkin.
In January 2023, the Basmanny Court of Moscow sentenced the former inspector of Rostekhnadzor Sergey Kulikov to 6 years in a strict regime colony. He extorted 1.3 million rubles from the leadership of the national testing association “State Ammunition Test Sites of Russia”. Such, as Mr. Kulikov believed, was the price of his signature on the act of acceptance of new buildings of the test site for ammunition and weapons in Krasnoarmeysk near Moscow.
The head of Rostekhnadzor of Kuzbass went so far as to take bribes with gasoline and transport for not paying attention to violations, he was also sent to court. According to NGS42.ru, the official agreed that he would receive an SUV with a personal driver from the local coal company, and in return he would pretend that there were no shortcomings at the enterprise in his part.
The state inspector of the Ural Rostekhnadzor also received six years in prison for a bribe of 1.4 million rubles. He also ignored the violations revealed during the inspections, writes TagilCity online edition.
All these scandals from year to year occur under Alexander Trembitsky, who for many years held the post of deputy head of Rostekhnadzor of the Russian Federation, and since 2021 he has been appointed its head. All this time, the corruption component in the work of the department has not changed. Moreover, according to rumors, this vicious system was built with the active participation of Mr. Trembitsky.
Questions also arose for him, although not from law enforcement agencies. So, in 2019, when he served as deputy department, his head, Alexei Alyoshin, was asked to check his subordinate for receiving income from illegal activities and committing acts of a corrupt nature. The Moscow Monitor then published an open letter in which Trembitsky was credited with undeclared land plots in the Kuban.
This message, however, did not lead to anything, moreover, soon Trembitsky was promoted to the head of Rostekhnadzor. Even today, he is credited with owning a business in the Krasnodar Territory, where his son works as a vice-governor. In 2020, Trembitsky Jr. was already forced, in fact, to cover for his father in the case of a new supposedly high-tech landfill. Then the locals were outraged by the stinking dump, which they received thanks to a permit issued by Rostekhnadzor.
So, year after year, a twofold situation is expanding: Rostekhnadzor, which should be primarily responsible for security issues, seems to be more and more indulging in the personal enrichment of individual leading officials. And changes in this position are unlikely to come while such “captains” are at the helm.
