Vitaly Chernov did not keep the gunpowder dry
The businessman unsuccessfully participated in large-scale sawing and theft of money for the modernization of the plant for the production of gunpowder and shells in the corporation of Sergei Chemezov.
The Dorogomilovsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Vitaly Chernov, the general director of Stroyinvestproekt, to seven years in prison. The businessman was found guilty of embezzling more than 67 million rubles allocated as part of the implementation of the federal program “Development of the military-industrial complex of the Russian Federation in 2011-2020.” Budgetary funds were stolen during the modernization of the JSC “Plant of plastics” in the Chelyabinsk region, which is part of Rostec, which produces shells and industrial explosives.
The district court considered the criminal case of Vitaly Chernov for more than a year and a half. As a result, he agreed with the arguments of the state prosecution from the Moscow prosecutor’s office, finding the former general director of Stroyinvestproekt guilty of especially large embezzlement (part 4 of article 160 of the Criminal Code) and fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code) – fraud with money allocated under implementation of the federal program “Development of the military-industrial complex of the Russian Federation in 2011-2020”.
At the same time, the district court, due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, released Vitaly Chernov from serving a six-year sentence for embezzlement. However, the businessman was sentenced to seven years in a penal colony and a half-million fine under the second article of the charge. After the announcement of the verdict, the convict, who was under house arrest, was taken into custody in the courtroom.
The investigation considered Vitaly Chernov to be the organizer of the theft of part of the funds allocated for the modernization of JSC Plastic Plant, which is part of Rostec. The modernization of the defense enterprise, which specializes in the production of ammunition for tank guns, naval guns, field artillery, mortars and unguided rockets for aviation, was funded by the federal program for the development of the defense industry.
It was assumed that part of the funds was stolen in Moscow, even before being transferred to the Chelyabinsk region.
Therefore, initially, since May 2018, employees of the investigative unit of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the North-Western District of the capital were investigating the circumstances of the crime. Moreover, for almost a year the investigation was conducted against unidentified persons, but on April 3, 2019, the general director of Stroyinvestproekt was detained, he was charged with fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code). After that, the case materials were transferred to the fourth department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, which is investigating crimes committed at special facilities.
As follows from the materials of the case, on September 24, 2014, Plant of Plastics OJSC, located in the city of Kopeysk, Chelyabinsk Region, entered into a subcontract agreement with Federal State Unitary Enterprise Spetsstroytekhnologii, established under Spetsstroy of Russia. The agreement provided for the performance by the unitary enterprise of various works in the amount of 371.6 million rubles. However, having entered into an agreement with the management of Kronos LLC, it follows from the case file, Vitaly Chernov began to negotiate with the management of the subcontractor on the participation of this private company in the modernization of the defense plant.
Although the negotiations ended successfully, as follows from the case file, the businessman did not intend and was not able to fulfill the agreements concluded.
And after the Federal State Unitary Enterprise transferred 89 million rubles to the Kronos accounts, most of them, at the direction of Vitaly Chernov, follows from the case materials, ended up on the account of Stroyinvestproekt LLC controlled by him. The subcontract concluded between the companies on September 25, 2014 acted as a justification for the transfer. According to the case file, the agreement was drawn up “in order to veil” the theft of budgetary funds, since the work at the Chelyabinsk enterprise was only partially completed, and the damage exceeded 67 million rubles.
The businessman pleaded not guilty, and his defense intends to appeal the verdict.
