In Ulyanovsk, public activists are asking the administration of the President of the Russian Federation and supervisory authorities to check the legality, validity and necessity of purchasing a Volkswagen Multivan T7 long minivan worth 10.15 million rubles for the regional state autonomous institution – Dom.73 Corporation. The prosecutor’s office of the Ulyanovsk region has already started checking. The administration of the governor, after the appearance of information about the appeals, on the same day announced the cancellation of the purchase, although the notice of it still remains on the public procurement website. Officials explain the purchase as a “mistake”, promising that an internal audit will be carried out in the corporation. Legislative Assembly deputies do not believe that this was a mistake and intend to raise the issue with the relevant minister.

On Tuesday, Ulyanovsk public activist, independent lawyer and human rights activist Konstantin Tolkachev sent appeals to the Ulyanovsk Region Prosecutor’s Office, the Presidential Administration and the Government of the Russian Federation, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation, the regional headquarters of the ONF with a request to “check the legality, validity and necessity” of public procurement for the supply of a Volkswagen Multivan car T7 long with an initial (maximum) price of 10.15 million rubles. for the regional state autonomous institution (OSAU) “Corporation for the development of construction and infrastructure projects of the Ulyanovsk region” Dom.73 “”.

The vehicle purchase notice was posted on April 28 and updated on May 2. According to the notice, Dom.73 Corporation, in accordance with Federal Law No. 223, is requesting quotations for the supply of a Volkswagen Multivan T7 long (or equivalent) car with an initial (maximum) price of 10.15 million rubles. The deadline for submitting quotation bids is May 11. It is noted that the source of funding for the order is the funds received by the institution from income-generating activities. According to the requirements of the TOR, the car must be black, upholstered in Alcantara (Italian artificial suede), with climate control, a trip on-board computer, a driver fatigue recognition system, collision and lane departure avoidance systems, etc.

The governor’s administration reacted quickly to Mr. Tolkachev’s message: already on Tuesday evening, the governor’s press service reported that an inspection had been carried out on the fact, and “it turned out that this procurement information was posted erroneously: the management plans included a tender for renting such cars to receive federal delegations.” As the press service explained, “at present, the publication on procurement actions has been deleted, the management of the corporation has received a penalty and is conducting an internal check on the fact of placing false documentation.”

Meanwhile, in reality, as of Wednesday evening, tender documents remained posted on the public procurement website.

OGAU “Corporation for the Development of Construction and Infrastructure Projects of the Ulyanovsk Region” Dom.73 “” received its initial registration in 2015. The founder is the regional Ministry of Housing and Public Utilities and Construction. As noted on its website, the corporation is “aimed at implementing the state housing policy and administering the national project “Housing and Urban Environment”, also developing design documentation for capital construction facilities, selecting land for housing construction, assisting in the implementation of state programs, social and commercial residential projects. development, development of urban planning documentation for municipalities of the Ulyanovsk region”. According to Kartoteka.ru, the CEO of the corporation, a native of Baku, Vladislav Shubin, was appointed to this position in October 2021, before that he was a co-owner and owner of Center of Expertise LLC, Tvoya Stroyka LLC, Techno Star LLC and LLC “GK “Association””. According to Kartoteka.ru, Mr. Shubin still manages three associations of designers and builders in Moscow. The financial statements of the corporation are not publicly available, the Kartoteka.ru service reports that “the accounting statements of this organization were not found.”

It was not possible to find out from Vladislav Shubin why the corporation had such an expensive car and with what funds the company intended to buy it, it was not possible: during the day the general director was unavailable for comment. His deputy, Yevgeny Kazakov, who is directly involved in procurement issues, declined to comment, sending it back to the press service of the regional government.

In February last year, after the administration of the Melekessky district announced the purchase of a car for 3 million rubles, with the region’s debts of 100 million rubles, the governor of the Ulyanovsk region, Alexei Russkikh, vetoed the purchase of expensive equipment. Later, in March, the governor’s order was signed to ban the purchase of expensive equipment.

Mr. Tolkachev believes that the placement of the purchase of the Volkswagen Multivan “could not be a mistake.” “When preparing any purchase, even the smallest one, it is necessary to prepare and approve so many documents from the management that talking about how a car rental was confused with a purchase is simply ridiculous,” the lawyer said. He believes that it is “not serious” when the verification was entrusted to the organization itself, which itself posted information about the purchase, and “external supervisory authorities should check”. “Despite the announcement about the cancellation of the purchase, it is necessary to find out the reasons for such unjustified expenses in order to prevent this from happening in the future. In the meantime, I have the impression that nothing remains of the governor’s order to ban expensive equipment, and a lot of strange things are happening that we probably don’t even know about. There are a lot of questions. And there is a reason for the supervisory authorities to take a look at this,” Mr. Tolkachev said.

Dmitry Grachev, chairman of the committee for the construction of the regional legislature, also does not believe in the “mistake”. According to him, “there should be the closest attention to this fact”, “this is not a mistake, there was no mistake here, there is a sea of ​​documentation.” In his opinion, the chairman of the regional government and the control department of the governor’s administration should do the check. “It doesn’t fit in my head, how you can buy a car for a corporation for 10 million rubles, when you have to save on everything. My desk is littered with requests from social facilities in need of repair – libraries, schools. There, the sums are only hundreds of thousands of rubles, but they are told that there is no money. And here – a minivan for 10 million! At the same time, the ministers answer us every now and then, they say, there is nowhere to get money. So we will indicate where to get it, and I will ask this question to the governor at his report, ”said the deputy, promising that he intends to ask questions to the relevant minister at the next committee.

In the prosecutor’s office of the Ulyanovsk region, “Kommersant” was told that the department had already begun to check on the purchase of a minivan.