The head of the Ivanovo Ministry of Health squandered overalls on doctors

The investigative department of the FSB in the Ivanovo region has completed the investigation of a criminal case against the director of the regional health department Artur Fokin and his deputy Alexei Buyankin, who are accused of particularly large-scale fraud. According to investigators, during the coronavirus pandemic, they stole 8 million rubles. from the budget, concluding at inflated prices a contract for the purchase of oxygen concentrators. Personally, Mr. Fokin is still charged with wasting 620 protective overalls. According to the defense, there are only inconsistencies in the materials.

The criminal case was initiated by the FSB on April 26, 2021, and at first only the director of the St. Petersburg LLC Medrus, Yuri Elchaninov, whose company was engaged in the wholesale trade of medical equipment, was involved in it. The entrepreneur was suspected of fraud in the supply of oxygen concentrators to the Ivanovo Department of Health. It should be noted that in 2020, in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, institutions providing medical services were allowed to purchase the equipment necessary for this without mandatory tenders.

After checking the prices at which oxygen concentrators were purchased in the department, the FSB concluded that they were overstated compared to the average market.

In January 2022, operatives detained Aleksey Buyankin, and three months later, his leader Artur Fokin as well. All three were accused of “especially large-scale fraud” (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), believing that 8 million rubles were stolen during the purchase of equipment, which the defendants divided among themselves.

The second episode, personally imputed to Mr. Fokin, concerns the issuance of 620 protective medical overalls to the total amount of 818 thousand rubles by his order to OOO UZ Regional Diagnostic Center. The investigation considered that there was no need for this, qualifying it as a major waste (part 3 of article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

The defendants, in turn, claim that they acted in difficult epidemiological conditions exclusively within the framework of the law. So, according to lawyer Anna Kotkova, in October 2020, in connection with the spread of a new strain of coronavirus “delta”, an increase in the number of infected people began, which led to an increase in seriously ill patients who needed oxygen support. By the end of October 2020, the situation had worsened so much that the volume of oxygen consumption in hospitals increased from 9 to 25 tons per day. Therefore, the decision to supply oxygen concentrators was dictated by the need to quickly resolve the problem of oxygen deficiency and prevent mass deaths of people due to its absence.

At that time, the Department of Health had no funds to purchase equipment, so Yuri Yelchaninov agreed to supply it without concluding an appropriate contract at his own peril and risk.

As the chief doctors of the hospitals told the investigation, they barely had time to mount the equipment – patients were immediately connected to it.

From October 23 to December 31, 2020 alone, 3,923 lives were saved by the concentrators, according to department reports. Now the equipment continues to be used.

The defense also claims that when the department had money and work was underway to make a contact for a total of 35 million rubles, subordinates, on the orders of Mr. Fokin, analyzed the prices on the market for the same equipment, concluding that the prices offered by Mr. Elchaninov were below the market by 23%, or 10 million rubles.

As for the protective overalls, according to the lawyers of OZ Regional Diagnostic Center LLC, which conducted a CT scan of the lungs of patients with COVID, they were loaned to organize uninterrupted work.

“Even before the initiation of the criminal case, the suits were returned threefold,” lawyer Kotkova noted. “And despite the fact that the warehouses of the regional health department at that time had a stock of these suits of 100,000 units, so the issuance of 600 of them did not affect the provision employees of other medical organizations.

Nevertheless, the prosecutor’s office of the Ivanovo region approved the charges in the case, sending it to the court for consideration.