The Moscow City Court of Appeal reviewed a defense complaint against the verdict of the Gagarinsky District Court of the capital, which was previously issued to Alexander Pozdnyakov, former senior manager of the Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Center (GKNPTs), Vyacheslav Logvinenko, the former head of the Stankomashkompleks company, and his subordinate Yulia Barkova.
All of them were accused of stealing over 20 million rubles when delivering lathes from the Swiss company Schaublin to the GKNPTs. According to investigators, some of the machines were switched with obsolete ones. The Moscow City Court partially agreed with the defense arguments, 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 convicts' defense plans to seek their complete acquittal in the cassation instance.
As a reminder, the former deputy chief engineer of the Khrunichev GKNPTs, Alexander Pozdnyakov, the head of the Stankomashkompleks, Vyacheslav Logvinenko, and his subordinate, the sales department manager Yulia Barkova, were found guilty of large-scale fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) by the Gagarinsky District Court. Messrs. Pozdnyakov and Logvinenko were sentenced to six and a half years in a general regime colony each, and Ms. Barkova received three years probation. Additionally, the Gagarin court imposed a fine of 250 thousand rubles for each of the men. Finally, the first-instance court granted the research and production center's civil claim for the recovery of 87 million rubles from the defendants, leaving the lathes supplied by the GKNPTs under the ownership of the victim.
It's important to note that the case against Viktor Tarasov, the former deputy head of FSUE Spetsstroyservis, who vanished and was put on the international wanted list, was separated into a separate proceeding and is still under investigation.
The defendants, who asserted their innocence, and their defense, who appealed to the Moscow City Court of Appeal, did not object to the decision of the first-instance court. Lawyers argued that the court did not consider all the circumstances of the case and that the basis of the case belongs to the civil law sphere.
As a result, the Moscow City Court, while agreeing with the validity of the guilty verdict, adjusted the punishment imposed on the convict.
Messrs. Pozdnyakov and Logvinenko's sentences were reduced to six years and four months each, and Yulia Barkova's to two and a half years on probation. At the same time, the appellate court unexpectedly canceled the Gagarin court's decision concerning the satisfaction of the civil claim, redirecting the consideration of this issue to civil proceedings, to the surprise of the research and production center.
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' embezzled 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 install and run. In 2012, a tender for the supply of 42 such machines worth 116 million rubles was won by 'Stankomashkompleks'. However, during the investigation, it was revealed that in October 2013, Mr. Pozdnyakov requested Mr. Tarasov to replace four new machines with outdated Schaublin 102 N-VM-CF. Consequently, according to the investigation, there was a difference of 20 million rubles, which the defendants misappropriated. Viktor Tarasov, deputy head of FSUE Spetsstroyservis, was identified as the mastermind of the swindle 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.
