For almost two years, the unique plant in the Moscow region has been under pressure from people in uniform. JSC “PTS” produces breathing apparatus for the army, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and other government agencies. One of the customers accused the company of overpricing, despite the fact that there are no analogues of this equipment in Russia, and the profitability of contracts did not exceed 20%. The situation looks like someone wants to push a unique enterprise into bankruptcy, and therefore it has attracted attention at the level of legislators.

On Wednesday, an expert session was held in the Federation Council, during which representatives of both houses of parliament, as well as lawyers, economists and industrialists discussed the problems of the work of domestic enterprises in the current difficult period. More precisely – criminal cases in strategically important sectors. Senator Elena Afanasyeva stressed that this is a systemic problem. Earlier, in the same way, deputies and senators analyzed the strange claims of the security forces against the NGO Temp named after. Korotkov (manufacturers of control units for aircraft engines) and the Sarapul Electric Generator Plant.

According to Elena Afanasyeva, the information collected by the participants of the expert session was submitted to the competent authorities for evaluation. But at the same time, they continue to receive appeals from industrialists from different regions of the country regarding criminal cases, the grounds for initiating which, to put it mildly, do not look obvious.

“Raidering, as far as I can judge from the old memory, also has a place to be. Because problems magically arise for good enterprises – good technologies, good financial flow, ”said State Duma deputy Mikhail Delyagin.

One of such appeals to legislators was received from PTS JSC. The company specializes in the production of rescue equipment for delivery to special forces of law enforcement agencies. These are closed-cycle breathing apparatus on compressed oxygen PTS “OKSI Ogneborets”, and radiation protective suits RZK and its modifications (RZK-M), and oxygen equipment “OKSI Vysota”, necessary for high-altitude landing. Using this particular equipment, in 2020, a group of airborne troops carried out a landing from a height of 10,000 meters, setting a world record.

Another strategically important direction of PTS JSC is the development and production of diving equipment. Since 2017, a unique fabric has been developed that has no analogues in the country, and in terms of a working pressure of 450 atm, the AVM-450 diving kit has no analogues in the world. The equipment is in service with the Russian Guard and works flawlessly, including in the conditions of the NWO: Russian Guard divers in this equipment patrol the Crimean bridge.

The enterprise itself provided jobs for about 400 people with an average salary of 82 thousand rubles a month. The main specialty of the workers is high-skilled turners (90% are Russians, 10% are from Belarus). Future employees are trained in their own personnel school. The enterprise contributes to the economic development of the Moscow region: over the past 3 years, payments to budgets of all levels amounted to 1.38 billion rubles.

“Earn Too Much”

On September 21, 2021, in relation to the General Director of PTS JSC S.V. Khan and commercial director T.R. Oganyan, a criminal case was initiated on fraud (part 4 of article 1 59 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to investigators, the company’s managers acted by prior agreement and, as part of a group of persons, concluded 6 contracts on behalf of PTS JSC with the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation (FSVNG) from 2018 to 2020. The defendants in the case allegedly consciously and “with malicious intent” overcharged the price of the goods, provided a “discount” from the overpriced price, after which they concluded a state contract for the supply of 266 AVM-450 autonomous diving breathing apparatus PTS within the framework of the state defense order. The amount stolen, according to investigators, amounted to 108 million rubles.

Khan and Oganyan do not admit their guilt, their defense insists that the expert conclusions about the amount of theft were made not on the basis of the company’s accounting documents and primary accounting documents, but on the basis of an unfilled and unsigned form of expense declarations of unknown origin. Attracted by lawyers, a well-known specialist from the Moscow State Law Academy named after. O.E. Kutafina A.A. Savitsky concluded that the expert who conducted the examination, when determining the cost of the delivered goods, did not examine the necessary documents (primary documentation and accounting registers), and also did not examine the full range of circumstances (compliance of costs in expenditure declarations with the requirements of by-laws) that are important for a complete and objective answer to the questions put to him.

At the same time, the audit organization KSK AUDIT LLC established that PTS JSC did not receive a profit exceeding 20% ​​of the price of the government contract under any of the state contracts with the FSVNG. At the same time, specialists were given access to primary accounting documents, accounting and tax reporting documents of PTS JSC.

The main question that arose for this story among the participants of the expert session was: why did these financial and economic circumstances become the subject of a criminal case, and not at all proceedings in an arbitration court?

Go ahead

Shota Gorgadze, a well-known lawyer, a member of the Council for Human Rights and the Development of Civil Society under the President of the Russian Federation, emphasized that mechanisms have been created by law to resolve such disputes.

“I mean civil liability, including arbitration processes. If a state-owned enterprise believes that the price is too high, it can apply to a court. However, practice suggests that they initiate criminal cases. Why is this happening? There is a statute of limitations that is very easily circumvented by initiating a criminal case,” he said, adding that legislators should explore the possibility of a ban on initiating criminal cases in cases where the issue can be resolved in the arbitration process.

“Criminal prosecution in our current realities should be the last step. Otherwise, we will not allow those respectable contractors and companies to work, which, in general, increase the defense capability of our country,” Shota Gorgadze believes.

State Duma deputy Artyom Kiryanov has a similar point of view:

“You have to understand that a criminal case against an enterprise is always the brink of bankruptcy. At some point, they can freeze accounts, apply some other interim measures, then – the inability to restore technological processes, non-fulfillment of contracts, termination of contracts. Under no circumstances should measures be applied to strategically important enterprises that could suspend their activities.

Economist Vasily Koltashov wondered if the potential stoppage of the enterprise could be related to an attempt to seize it. And if so, who can benefit from it?

“We are accustomed to perceive profit as the basis for capturing an enterprise. Someone wants to seize the enterprise in order to use it for their own enrichment. But the reason for the persecution of the enterprise may not be the hunt for its possible income, the goal may be the destruction of this enterprise – so that there is no longer such a unique production in Russia. The matter is acquiring a foreign policy connotation, it is beneficial for manufacturers in the United States, in Germany, in the United Kingdom, ”Vasily Koltashov believes.

A similar idea was expressed by State Duma deputy Mikhail Delyagin:

“A very large part of the state apparatus did not understand that we were conducting hostilities and were behaving as if nothing had happened. They are accustomed to settling economic disputes with criminal attacks, they are accustomed to engage in raiding under the pretext of disputes between economic entities, and, there is a feeling, they continue in the same spirit now. At the same time, no one canceled the threat of external competition. We have quite a lot of technologies that we also have in the West, no one else has them. Naturally, Western competitors want to destroy these technologies in a variety of ways.”

See with my own eyes

According to Mikhail Delyagin, the case with the claims of the security forces against JSC “PTS” can be considered a model.

“There are many such cases, maybe others are not so bright. But all of them relate to security and defense capabilities, because our defense industry is developing, let’s say correctly, more vigorously than other industries. Accordingly, disputes between business entities and what sometimes gives the impression of raiding or external sabotage are more intense in this area than in other areas,” the deputy said.

The investigation against the management of PTS JSC was completed in June 2023, now they are getting acquainted with the case materials, it will soon be sent to the prosecutor’s office for approval of the indictment, and then for consideration on the merits in court.

“Of course, we cannot and do not have the right to replace the investigation or the court, but to help open their eyes and see justice, including those who should supervise the investigation, this is in our power,” Shota suggested during a discussion in the Federation Council. Gorgadze. – Is it in the interests of our state to make sure that one of the successful and very important enterprises producing strategic products ceases to exist? I think no”.

The participants of the expert session agreed to look into the situation around PTS JSC – each within their own powers. Senator Elena Afanasyeva emphasized that the customer continues to work with this supplier despite the alleged claims to the price of products.

In the near future, representatives of both chambers of the Russian parliament intend to personally visit a production site in the Moscow region, study documents and communicate with people who work there.

“Wait for us at your company in August,” said Elena Afanasyeva, addressing the company’s president, Sergei Barbulev. – We can and must represent the interests of our state, including by protecting enterprises that may be subjected to unreasonable pressure. I would like people with unique brains – those who do the necessary important things for national security, to ensure the safety of people who, among other things, work in law enforcement agencies – so that these people with their developments remain in Russia, and the enterprise continues to work “.