The leaders of JSC “Proton-PM” squandered budget money at the speed of a rocket

As it became known to Kommersant, the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation completed an investigation into a criminal case on embezzlement of budgetary funds intended for the reconstruction and technical re-equipment of Proton-PM PJSC. This enterprise produces liquid engines for launch vehicles. The defendants in the case are the ex-managing director of the joint-stock company Dmitry Shchenyatsky, his deputy Valery Goldobin, as well as senior employees of Solver LLC. The latter was a supplier of equipment for the Perm enterprise. In the final version of the indictment, all of them are charged with embezzlement. The defendants plead not guilty.

The criminal case, in which the former heads of Proton-PM PJSC (Perm) and the top management of Solver LLC, were accused, was initiated by the Main Investigative Committee of the ICR on November 17, 2021 under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (large-scale fraud committed by a group of persons by prior agreement).

In May last year, as part of the investigation, the ex-managing director of Proton-PM Dmitry Shchenyatsky, his deputy Valery Goldobin, as well as co-owners of the Voronezh LLC ICF Solver Elena Rogatova, the company’s general designer Radislav Birbraer and the company’s executive director Pavel Salikov.

According to the TFR, all these persons are involved in the theft of budget funds that were allocated to the Perm enterprise for the reconstruction of mechanical assembly, procurement and testing facilities.

First, the court sent Dmitry Shchenyatsky to a pre-trial detention center, and the rest of the accused were placed under house arrest. But in October, the measure of restraint for Mr. Shchenyatsky was softened. None of the detainees pleaded guilty.

JSC “Proton-PM” is part of the integrated structure of JSC “NPO Energomash” of the State Corporation “Roscosmos”. The company manufactures liquid-propellant engines for launch vehicles for various purposes. In addition, Proton-PM participates in the production of Ural GTPP and provides services for testing gas turbine units. Dmitry Shchenyatsky headed the enterprise from December 2014 to the end of December 2020.

In the final version of the prosecution, the actions of the defendants were qualified under Part 4 of Art. 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (appropriation or embezzlement on an especially large scale by a group of persons).

As follows from the court documents, according to the TFR, the defendants committed the crime between 2016 and 2019. In 2015, Solver LLC and Proton-PM signed three government contracts worth more than 750 million rubles. for the supply of metal-cutting equipment, including for the reconstruction of the production of RD-191 engines, which are equipped with the Angara launch vehicle. In 2017, a contract was signed for almost 196 million rubles, according to which Solver was to supply a heat treatment line. Almost all the equipment was intended for placement in the new building of the enterprise No. 58 at the Proton-PM country site.

The Investigative Committee itself does not comment on the case, but it follows from the court documents that the contract for the supply of the heat treatment line appears exactly in the materials of the criminal case, since employees of New Line Engineering LLC were interrogated as witnesses. In open sources, the company is mentioned as a software developer for an automated heat treatment complex, which, like building No. 58, was put into operation at the enterprise in 2019.

On April 11 and 14, the Basmanny Court of Moscow considered the petitions of the investigator to extend the terms of house arrest for all the accused. During the meetings, the representative of the ICR indicated that in the near future he intended to notify them of the completion of the investigative actions in the case. Then the procedure of acquaintance with the materials of the criminal case of the victims and the accused will be started.

None of the latter admitted guilt during the preliminary investigation, while some of them complained about red tape on the part of the employees of the investigative committee.

However, the Basmanny Court did not agree with these arguments, noting that since January last year, the investigation had charged them in a new edition, interrogated 36 people, and also received the conclusions of a technical examination. As a result, the court left all the accused at home until May 17.