The owner of “T-Platform” jumped off the punishment

The Meshchansky Court of Moscow issued a verdict in a criminal case on fraud in the supply of more than 9.3 thousand computers under a state contract for the needs of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. The main defendants are the former head of the communications department of the information technology department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Alexander Alexandrov, and the owner and CEO of the T-Platform company, Vsevolod Opanasenko. In addition, the ex-policeman was charged with fake employment at the Voronezh University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Despite the fact that in the debate the prosecutor asked for impressive terms for the defendants, the court limited itself to those that they had already served in a pre-trial detention center and under house arrest. At the same time, they must pay off the lawsuit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the amount of 357 million rubles. Another defendant, Oksana Bokova, the former head of the university department, who, according to investigators, helped Alexander Alexandrov with a false registration for a job at the university, was fined by the court.

The Meshchansky Court of the capital considered this criminal case for three years. During the debate, the state prosecution asked that the defendants be found guilty of particularly large-scale and large-scale fraud (parts 3 and 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and sentence Alexander Alexandrov to ten years in prison, Vsevolod Opanasenko – nine years, Oksana Bokova – four years. In addition, according to the prosecutor’s office, the court had to satisfy the claim of the Ministry of Internal Affairs against Alexander Alexandrov and Vsevolod Opanasenko in the amount of 357 million rubles.

The petty-bourgeois court, having found the defendants guilty, nevertheless considered that they deserved a much more lenient punishment than the prosecutor’s office had requested.

The owner of the T-Platform company, Vsevolod Opanasenko, was sentenced to two years and four months in a penal colony and a fine of 300,000 rubles. The same punishment was received by the ex-head of the communications department of the department of information technologies for communications and information protection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Alexander Alexandrov. At the same time, both have already served their terms in a pre-trial detention center and under house arrest. The court also changed the measure of restraint for the former policeman and businessman – from a ban on certain actions to a written undertaking not to leave, under which they will remain until the verdict enters into force.

The court fined the ex-head of the department of the Voronezh University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Oksana Bokova in the amount of 200 thousand rubles. At the same time, the court did not deprive the former policemen of their ranks.

In addition, the court fully satisfied the civil claim of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was recognized as the injured party in the case, obliging Vsevolod Opanasenko and Alexander Alexandrov to pay jointly and severally the amount specified in the demand. The court also exacted 122 thousand rubles from Colonel Aleksandrov. according to the civil suit of the second victim – the Voronezh Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

During the investigation of the case, various property of the defendants was arrested for a total amount of more than 200 million rubles.

As Kommersant previously told, the criminal case against Alexander Alexandrov and Vsevolod Opanasenko, as well as Oksana Bokova, was initiated in March 2019 and consists of two episodes. The main one is related to the fulfillment by the T-Platform company of two contracts for the supply of automated workstations to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They are used to pass exams by drivers in almost all regional divisions of MREO, as well as to ensure operational and service activities. As follows from the materials of the investigation, contracts between the firm of Vsevolod Opanasenko and the Ministry of Internal Affairs were concluded in 2016 and 2018, and their total value exceeded 357 million rubles. As part of the fulfillment of obligations, T-Platform delivered more than 9.3 thousand computers, assuring the customer that all of them correspond to the terms of reference, were created on the basis of the Baikal-T1 processor and from Russian components.

However, as it turned out during the investigation, Depo Electronics LLC was the actual executor of government contracts. Fulfilling the order, it purchased components in China, then assembled equipment from them that was supplied to the police department. At the same time, it was said in the case, Vsevolod Opanasenko persuaded Alexander Alexandrov to turn a blind eye to contract violations and accept equipment that did not meet the requirements.

During the investigation of the case, Boris Titov, Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs under the President of the Russian Federation, actively spoke out in defense of Vsevolod Opanasenko, pointing out that the “fact of the charge” causes him “great doubts.”

The second episode of the investigation concerns the fictitious employment of Colonel Aleksandrov at the Voronezh University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the materials of the case, the head of the department Oksana Bokova participated in its design.