“Kommersant” became aware of the details of the criminal case against the former general director of JSC “Federal Passenger Company” Mikhail Akulov. The Ministry of Internal Affairs believes that, together with other defendants, one of whom is the former vice-president of the SOK group Vyacheslav Sheyanov, Mr. Akulov could be involved in the theft of more than 330 million rubles. in the implementation of projects related to the laundry service for passenger trains.
The Meshchansky District Court of Moscow, having granted the request of the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for two months, until March 30, arrested Mikhail Akulov, who is suspected of committing a crime under Part 4 of Art. 160 (embezzlement on an especially large scale) of the Criminal Code.
The defense of Mr. Akulov, according to Kommersant’s information, suggested limiting himself to house arrest, a bail for an amount that would suit the court, or a ban on certain actions.
At the same time, it was noted that the 62-year-old person involved is positively characterized, has the title of Honored Transport Worker of the Russian Federation and Honorary Railway Worker, and has been working in the structures of the current Russian Railways since the 80s of the last century.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs countered all these arguments by saying that the suspect is charged with committing a serious crime, for which up to ten years of imprisonment are provided, and having connections in the leadership of Russian Railways, he can put pressure on witnesses, as well as adjust his position with as yet unidentified accomplices.
In the near future, the former top manager of Russian Railways will be in quarantine, and then he will obviously be transferred to the special block of the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center.
The materials available to Kommersant state that embezzlement using the official position committed by a group of persons by prior agreement, in addition to Mr. Akulov, can be involved in both “unidentified” and persons established by the investigation. Among the latter are Andrey Voronin, general director of SVZhD MekhLaundry LLC, and Vyacheslav Sheyanov, a well-known Samara businessman, who is the beneficiary of this company. He worked for a long time in various commercial banks. In 2001–2003, he held the position of First Vice President of CJSC SOK Group of Companies, where he oversaw work on technical re-equipment and development of promising types of products. He was the actual coordinator in work with AvtoVAZ on putting into production components for the Lada-Kalina platform. Engaged in various business projects. The entrepreneur planned to create a network of laundry services that served the structures of the Russian Railways for washing bed linen used on trains. However, the project for the construction of a modern laundry complex in Yekaterinburg was never implemented, after which the contract with the company of Vyacheslav Sheyanov was terminated.
The crimes incriminated to Mikhail Akulov are precisely related to laundries, for which he, being the general director of JSC Federal Passenger Company (from April 2010 to January 2016), squandered, according to investigators, its funds.
In 2010, according to the criminal case, Messrs. Akulov, Sheyanov and Voronin “in pursuance of a single criminal intent” provided certain advantages to OOO Laundromat SVZhD.
Without tender procedures, an agreement was signed with OOO for the supply of removable soft goods to passenger cars of the Ural and South Ural branches of OAO FPC. According to it, more than 1.4 billion rubles were allocated for linen, which was to be washed, ironed and packed on the rented equipment of the LLC, and thanks to significant discounts, the laundry received an additional 72.252 million rubles, which experts, and then the investigation, consider wasted.
In 2012, according to the materials of the investigation, Mr. Akulov, instead of terminating contracts with the LLC that failed to cope with its duties, at the request of his subordinates, lobbied for the signing of a new contract with him. This time it was about joint investments in the amount of 360.7 million rubles. (258 million accounted for the FPC), which were supposed to be spent on the construction of a new building for the SVZHD mechanized laundry with an area of 2.2 thousand square meters. m in Yekaterinburg.
The building was not erected, and the money, according to investigators, was stolen. In total, the damage from the activities of Mr. Akulov amounted to 330 million rubles. However, according to Kommersant, the investigation continues to check him for involvement in other crimes, and is also looking for his alleged accomplices. Measures of restraint for Messrs. Sheyanov and Voronin have not yet been chosen. Kommersant has no comments from the defense and RZD.