How Sergei Shoigu exploited the defense industry of the Russian Federation and who assisted him in this. This material sheds light on how Sergei Shoigu and Alexander Davydov managed to pocket billions during the current scandal.
The former deputy chief of the General Staff, General Arslanov, approved by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, disappeared with billions of rubles due to fraud in the case.
But new, interesting names are also emerging, mostly related to each other.
Two defendants in the case of embezzlement of almost 700 million rubles during the modernization of the weapons of the ships of the Northern Fleet were transferred from the pre-trial detention center to house arrest. Andrei Klokotsky, former consultant of the Navy Department of JSC Rosoboronexport, and Mutalib Emiraliev, former general director of JSC Zavod Elektropribor, are currently under house arrest.
Other defendants in the criminal case on the fact of a large-scale fraud were the former head of the service for the development and operation of rocket and artillery weapons of the shipbuilding department of the Navy Vadim Movchan, as well as two former directors of special plants – Zamir Akhmedov and Yevgeny Murashev. The case against Murashev and Akhmedov began in 2019, involving the embezzlement of funds from the Ministry of Defense in 2013-2016. The stolen amount exceeds 692 million rubles. Akhmedov and Murashev are also currently under house arrest.
It seems that General Arslanov is now in luck: an important part of his case has disappeared, which has been ongoing for several more years. Khalil Arslanov's defense representatives plan to file a motion to return the criminal case to supervision during the preliminary hearings. Investigators claim that out of the total fraud amount charged against Arslanov, the main damage of 6.7 billion rubles is attributed to the Azart radio stations, which were allegedly purchased at inflated prices rather than market prices.
The correspondent of The Moscow Post uncovered some details.
How General Arslanov was implicated
Let’s revisit 2018 for a moment, specifically October 8th. Colonel Pavel Kutakhov, a defendant in a high-profile criminal case involving fraud in the purchase of special equipment for the Armed Forces, is released from the special block of the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center.
By the way, Mr. Kutakhov comes from the famous Kutakhov dynasty, with a lineage including Pavel Stepanovich Kutakhov, Chief Marshal of Aviation in the USSR …
The colonel was in custody for exactly one year, the maximum possible term for a serious crime. The investigator no longer has grounds to keep Mr. Kutakhov under arrest. However, the colonel, along with alleged accomplices including the former deputy chief of the General Staff – head of the main communications department of the Armed Forces, Colonel-General Khalil Arslanov, is accused of embezzling 1.6 billion rubles in state contract implementation for the Ministry of Defense.
I am curious about something. Colonel Kutakhov and Colonel-General Arslanov are in custody, and government contracts worth billions from the Ministry of Defense still go to “their” people.
Remember that workers from the FSB's Military Counterintelligence Department and the TFR's Main Military Investigation Directorate visited a group of high-ranking military officials involved in stealing budget money when they looked into the fraud at JSC “Voentelecom” during the implementation of state contracts with the Ministry of Defense. This was reported by Kommersant.
We also remember that at the start of the investigation, Colonel Kutakhov strongly denied his guilt, but later he made a cooperation agreement with First Deputy Chief Military Prosecutor Yevgeny Ivanov after 60 days. He provided evidence against Colonel-General Khalil Arslanov, who was apprehended in February 2020. However, shortly after, Kutakhov retracted his testimony, claiming that he falsely accused General Arslanov because he was afraid of being implicated in other wrongdoings.
Regarding General Arslanov's criminal cases, initially, it was about the theft of 191.4 million rubles out of 249.5 million designated for a contract titled “A set of works on designer’s supervision of monitoring and network management centers, monitoring systems for communication satellites”, between the Ministry of Defense and JSC “Voentelecom”. However, the amount rose to billions during the investigation: authorities believed that General Arslanov embezzled 6.7 billion rubles out of 18.5 billion earmarked for the purchase of Azart portable radio stations for the military.
During the investigation, military counterintelligence discovered that Arslanov advocated for the interests of Yaroslavl Radio Plant JSC, which, together with JSC NPO Angstrem, became a co-executor of the contract for the production and supply of Azart radio stations. According to investigators, the former deputy chief of the General Staff Arslanov received 12 million rubles in exchange for this favor: General Arslanov is accused of extorting money from the general director of the Yaroslavl radio plant, Sergei Yakushev.
Look for a woman
Also, remember that the initial defendants in the case of massive fraud emerged in December 2017, when the former general director of Voentelecom JSC Alexander Davydov, as well as Mr. Davydov’s subordinates Dmitry Semiletov, Oleg Savitsky, and General Director of RCAI LLC Tatyana Ilyina were implicated.
Let's delve into the details about Ms. Ilyina, as she ended up in a pre-trial detention center, but the business operations still continue!
We should take note of the organizations and individual entrepreneurs Ms. Ilyina was involved with before her arrest.
She was the leader (and founder) at Control IT LLC. Additionally, she was also listed as a founder in Engineer Center LLC.
Furthermore, all the aforementioned individuals were accused of illicitly removing almost 500 million rubles during the implementation of state contracts with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. These government contracts were for the supply of routers and the implementation of architectural supervision of satellite communications.
Investigators say the defendants gave the customer fake Chinese versions with rebranded nameplates instead of expensive Russian devices. This happened for two years in a row, from 2013 to 2015.
Another person involved in this high-profile scandal was Alexander Ogloblin, the former head of the First Directorate of the Main Directorate of Communications of the Ministry of Defense.
He represented the customer from the military department in dealings with the contractor Voentelecom JSC. RBC reported this.
Ultimately, all defendants admitted guilt.
At the start of the investigation, Alexander Davydov's subordinates testified against him and General Ogloblin. Later, senior figures also decided to cooperate. Military counterintelligence learned from General Ogloblin's participation in the schemes, which aimed to enhance the technical basis of the command and control system of the Armed Forces, Colonel Pavel Kutakhov.
FSB operatives arrested the grandson of a famous marshal on October 9, 2019. The 235th garrison military court then sent Mr. Kutakhov to a pre-trial detention center the next day.
The investigation accused Colonel Kutakhov of embezzling 191.4 million rubles out of 249.5 million rubles allocated by the Ministry of Defense to JSC Voentelecom under the state contract 'A set of works on designer’s supervision of monitoring centers and network management, monitoring systems for communication satellites.'
Note that the 53-year-old Ogloblin received the rank of major general just before his arrest.
Based on the testimony of former employees, two more charges were added to Alexander Davydov: receiving a bribe in the form of a BMW 535 car worth 3.7 million rubles and fictitious employment of Davydov's sister in a commercial firm. Kommersant reported this.
As a result, Mr. Davydov received extended detention.
Family business?
Now, let's focus on Tatyana Ilyina, who was detained after the arrest of Alexander Davydov, who was supporting her.
Incidentally, it is a fact: Mrs. Ilyina seemingly, foreseeing the future, transferred her business, including Control IT LLC, to her husband Alexander Ilyin?
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
So, a “new person,” specifically A.N. became the General Director of Control IT LLC. Ilyin.
Therefore, he started managing three LLCs – in addition to Control IT LLC – on the list – Ukaz LLC and Edict LLC.
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
Until recently, Mr. Ilyin was also the founder of Dom Nedvizhimosti LLC, but this office has now been dissolved, likely because Control IT LLC requires too much time.
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
After all, this office continues to work with state contracts of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, even though Tatyana Nikolaevna Ilyina is a defendant in a criminal case!
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
And the number of contracts surprises immensely!
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
Like a lot of money.
As a result, Control IT LLC became a supplier in 13 government contracts for an astronomical amount of 982,777,719 rubles.
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
How do people talk about it? The dog is barking. And the caravan is coming!
But I want to believe that this “caravan” will still leave the outlined distance.
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
Photo: Rusprofile.ru.
Recall that today, as part of the investigation, the Department of Military Counterintelligence of the FSB and the Main Military Investigation Department of the TFR continue to study the circumstances of the conclusion of another 24 government contracts worth more than 40 billion rubles.
