Translated material
Antiseptic for investigation
The sister and subordinates of Vladimir Bryntsalov were brought into the case
The Investigative Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation announced yesterday that charges had been brought against a number of former top managers of Bryntsalov-A CJSC. The heads of various divisions of the company, Oleg Zharov, Sergei Novikov and Marat Mikhailov, as well as Tatyana Bryntsalova, the sister of the company’s founder, Vladimir Bryntsalov, came under suspicion. All of them are charged with two articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - 171-2 (illegal entrepreneurship) and 180-3 (illegal use of a trademark). The Ferein company itself was extremely surprised by this news, suggesting that it was about “some new criminal case, about which the management knows nothing,” and noted that “these people have not worked for a long time” in the company, and Ms. Bryntsalova is completely retired.Meanwhile, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that this case is by no means new ; it was initiated back in April 2006 based on materials from the Department of Economic Security (DES). Then detectives established that some employees of the Bryntsalov-A company allegedly sold large quantities of 95 percent alcohol under the guise of a medical antiseptic solution. In addition, according to investigators, the company released its medications for retail sale, for some reason packaging them in boxes of other brands, for example, “No-shpa”.
Immediately after the initiation of the case on the facts of the identified violations, investigators visited two large warehouses. “During the search, in addition to the seized goods prepared for sale, we managed to find a cache that contained black accounting, seals and a lot of other documentation,” law enforcement officials told Vremya Novostei. “Having studied all the seized evidence, we established that the pharmaceutical company began selling goods and packaging tablets under someone else’s brand name in 2004 and continued until the initiation of a criminal case.”
According to investigators, the suspects sold the medical antiseptic solution to everyone - from medical institutions to businessmen selling alcoholic beverages. Experts analyzed the seized “solution” and came to the conclusion that it was pure alcohol. According to the investigation, such goods were sold for 54 million rubles. And the batch that was seized during the search, prepared for sale, was valued by experts at hundreds of millions.
Already during the investigation, Tatyana Bryntsalova and three managers - Zharov, Novikov and Mikhailov - came under suspicion. “At the time of the initiation of the criminal case, Tatyana Alekseevna was listed as the director of Bryntsalov-A CJSC, then she retired for several months and returned in a new capacity - deputy director of the company,” the Ministry of Internal Affairs said. “We believe that she was, so to speak, a “gray eminence” at the company. One can sympathize with Mr. Mikhailov. He joined the company only in 2005, apparently did not get along with the management, and soon quit. But nevertheless, during his work, he, like the others, managed to put his signatures on several forms. We filed the initial charges in May-June of this year. The court chose a preventive measure for them in the form of a written undertaking not to leave. The investigation is still ongoing, but is close to completion; in the near future, all defendants in the case will be charged in the final version.”
The company itself yesterday was “simply outraged that yet another information appeared in the press about some alleged criminal case.” “We don’t understand at all what’s going on,” Nadezhda Gritsenko, head of the press service of the Ferein holding (which includes Bryntsalov-A), told Vremya Novostei. - This is a very strange situation, because none of the mentioned people who allegedly violated something have been working for us for a long time, and Tatyana Alekseevna (Bryntsalova - Ed. ) is generally retired. Sergey Novikov is an honest person, he is engaged in science and had nothing to do with sales. Maybe the last name was mixed up? This is another attack on “Verein”. And it’s clear why this happens. After all, this is not the first time that they have tried to denigrate our company. And then we have to wash away the dirty stains from ourselves. In the near future, we are going to launch 12 new drugs on the pharmaceutical market, and apparently someone wants to interfere with us. I have the impression that they took the case and fabricated it for some money. It’s becoming scary to live.”
General Director of Bryntsalov-A CJSC Nikolai Pinchuk also said that he knows nothing about the charges brought against former employees of the company. According to him, the enterprise is operating normally. In addition, the founder of the company himself (Vladimir Bryntsalov) is with his family in Sochi and, as Ms. Gritsenko explained, “if he had any reason to worry, he would have returned to Moscow a long time ago.”
Let us recall that earlier, Rosprirodnadzor, based on the results of numerous inspections, identified violations in the production of medicines at the Bryntsalov-A enterprises and demanded through the court to revoke its license. In January of this year, the court fined the pharmaceutical company 40 thousand rubles.
As reported by law enforcement agencies, this is one of three criminal cases initiated against employees of Bryntsalov-A CJSC. It is possible that other employees will also be charged soon.