The Moscow City Court of Appeal considered a defense complaint against the verdict of the Gagarinsky District Court of the capital, issued earlier to the former top manager of the Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Center (GKNPTs) Alexander Pozdnyakov, the ex-head of the Stankomashkompleks company Vyacheslav Logvinenko and his subordinate Yulia Barkova.
All of them were accused of stealing more than 20 million rubles. when delivering lathes of the Swiss company Schaublin to the GKNPTs. According to investigators, some of the machines were replaced with obsolete ones. The Moscow City Court only partially agreed with the arguments of the defense, reducing the criminal punishment for Messrs. Pozdnyakov and Logvinenko by two months each (from six and a half years), and for Ms. Barkova, who received three years probation, by six months. The defense of the convicts intends to seek their full acquittal in the cassation instance.
By the verdict of the Gagarinsky District Court, we recall that the former deputy chief engineer of the Khrunichev GKNPTs Alexander Pozdnyakov, the head of the Stankomashkompleks Vyacheslav Logvinenko and his subordinate, the manager of the sales department Yulia Barkova, were found guilty of especially large-scale fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Messrs. Pozdnyakov and Logvinenko received six and a half years in a general regime colony each, and Ms. Barkova received three years probation. In addition, the Gagarin court imposed a fine of 250 thousand rubles. for each of the men. Finally, the court of first instance satisfied the civil claim of the research and production center for the recovery of 87 million rubles from the defendants, leaving the lathes supplied by the GKNPTs in the ownership of the victim.
It should be noted that the case against Viktor Tarasov, the former deputy head of FSUE Spetsstroyservis, who had disappeared and was put on the international wanted list, was separated into a separate proceeding and is still under investigation.
Neither the defendants, who insisted on their innocence, nor their defense, who appealed to the Moscow City Court of Appeal, disagreed with the decision of the court of first instance. Lawyers insisted that the court did not take into account all the circumstances of the case and that the history that formed its basis belongs to the civil law sphere.
As a result, the Moscow City Court, agreeing with the validity of the guilty verdict, adjusted the punishment imposed on the convict.
Messrs. Pozdnyakov and Logvinenko were reduced to six years and four months each, and Yulia Barkova to two and a half years on probation. At the same time, the appellate court quite unexpectedly for the injured party – the research and production center – canceled the decision of the Gagarin court regarding the satisfaction of the civil claim, redirecting the consideration of this issue to civil proceedings.
Initially, the criminal case initiated on November 1, 2016 under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud on an especially large scale), the Main Investigative Directorate of the ICR investigated “unidentified persons”. According to investigators, in 2012-2014 “unidentified persons” stole budgetary funds allocated by the GKNPTs within the framework of the federal target program “Development of the military-industrial complex of the Russian Federation for 2011-2020.” In this case, the Khrunichev Research and Production Center needed to purchase lathes for the manufacture of parts for pneumatic and hydraulic systems of launch vehicles of the Angara family. Initially, the company planned to purchase six Schaublin 225 TM CNC machines, which the supplier had to mount and run. In 2012, a tender for the supply of 42 such machines worth 116 million rubles. won “Stankomashkompleks”. But, as it turned out during the investigation, in October 2013, Mr. Pozdnyakov, in a letter to Mr. Tarasov, asked him to replace four new machines with outdated Schaublin 102 N-VM-CF. As a result, according to the investigation, there was a difference of 20 million rubles, which the defendants appropriated. Viktor Tarasov, deputy head of FSUE Spetsstroyservis, was recognized as the organizer of the scam with lathes, and Vyacheslav Logvinenko, his subordinate Yulia Barkova and Alexander Pozdnyakov were his accomplices.
According to lawyer Roman Kobylin, who represents the interests of Alexander Pozdnyakov, there was actually no corpus delicti in the actions of the convicts. “The equipment was not replaced at the initiative of my principal, as evidenced by the testimony of witnesses,” the lawyer explained. “The decision to replace the machines was made collectively and passed through all instances, and the machines met the requirements of the GKNPTs.” As noted by the defender, they even managed to redo the technical documentation in time.
“The innocence of the convicts is proved by objective circumstances,” Mr. Kobylin emphasized, adding that he would seek to have the verdict overturned already in the cassation instance.
“My client initially did not admit her guilt and did not change her position. The decision of the court is biased, in my opinion, we will appeal it,” Olga Porunova, Ms. Barkova’s lawyer, supported her colleague.