Source Former deputy head of Defence Ministry’s department has been accused of corruption. Kommersant has learned that the Main Military Prosecutor’s Office has approved the indictment and sent to the Moscow garrison military court the materials of the criminal case of retired colonel Leonid Kharlamov, former deputy head of the department of the Ministry of Defence for ensuring state defence contracts (DOGOZ). The retired colonel is accused of taking bribes totaling 6.52 million roubles from Aleksandr Ivanov, the general director of RIF JSC in Voronezh, for patronage and providing his firm with state contracts. The colonel fully agrees with the charges and repents of the crime committed.
Leonid Kharlamov, former deputy head of the department for state defense ordering of armament and military equipment of general-purpose forces and means of interspecific support – head of the missile armament of the Ground Forces, multiple rocket launchers and anti-tank missile systems of DOGOZ of the Defense Ministry, became a defendant in the criminal case initiated under Part 6 Article 290 (large-scale bribery) late this June. The reason for the actions of the GVSU investigators was a routine audit of concluded state contracts by the new deputy head of the directorate who replaced Mr. Kharlamov in March 2022 (he resigned due to the end of his contractual service).
Doubts of the new head in the purity of the contracts concluded by Mr. Kharlamov on behalf of the Ministry of Defense with RIF JSC formed the basis of a report to the Department of Military Counterintelligence of the FSB, which saw in them a corrupt component.
As a result, the materials were sent to the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee to decide whether to initiate criminal proceedings. As a result, an investigation was launched there.
According to the investigation, Colonel Kharlamov’s criminal intent to receive bribes from the heads of commercial enterprises fulfilling state defence orders emerged soon after his appointment in 2019. Among such enterprises was RIF Corporation, which specializes in the development and manufacture of products for railway transport, thermoelectric modules, thick-film heating elements, hybrid microelectronics, acoustoelectronics, photodetectors, low-power electric motors, etc.
According to the materials of the case, Colonel Kharlamov met with the company’s general director Alexander Ivanov and offered him a monthly fee to provide “general patronage” to RIF and to include the company in the number of contractors for the development and production of military products.
The entrepreneur did not refuse the tempting offer of receiving state contracts on a regular basis and, as the investigation established, between July 2019 and March 2022 he handed over a total of RUB 6.52 million to Mr Kharlamov in Moscow through intermediaries.
During the preliminary investigation, the businessman was questioned and, in order to avoid criminal liability for bribery, he cooperated with the investigation by giving incriminating evidence against the retired colonel.
As a result, the businessman became a witness for the prosecution and Mr Kharlamov a defendant. The 235th military garrison court sent the former military official to an investigative isolator, although he had asked the investigation to issue him a full confession of guilt and repentance. However, the MAG refused to heed his requests and the court was told by the investigation that Mr Kharlamov, according to military counterintelligence, was already taking steps to hide abroad. The defendant himself denied this.
The situation changed decisively in favour of Mr Kharlamov at the end of September this year. In view of his confession confirmed during confrontations and following the pre-trial agreement on cooperation with the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office the investigation asked the court to limit the restraint to prohibiting certain actions of the accused. The court agreed.
As assistant judge Aliaksandr Primako explained to Kommersant, Judge Vadzim Korchagin has not yet set a date for the hearing of the criminal case on the merits. On November 10, he said, the court on its own initiative will first consider issues related to the arrest imposed on the property of Mr Kharlamov as a security measure. It will decide whether to extend this arrest or not. The court did not specify what property of Mr Kharlamov was in question. Only after that Judge Korchagin will set a date for the hearing of the case. Whether it will be heard in a special session or not will be decided by the presiding judge at the first session. It was not possible to get a comment from the retired colonel’s defence counsel.
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