Translated material
Apartments for old age
The investigation into cases against former leaders of the Russian Pension Fund has been completed
The Investigative Committee (IC) under the Ministry of Internal Affairs has completed the investigation of criminal cases against the former executive director of the Russian Pension Fund (PFR) Nikolai Cretu and the head of the legal department of the fund Zoya Selivanova. According to investigators, they, using government funds, transferred nine apartments to the ownership of the foundation’s employees. The amount of damage, according to investigators, amounted to more than 43.5 million rubles.Also in the dock will soon be the former head of the logistics department of the Main Directorate of Subordinate Organizations and Logistics of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, Zoya Kiryukhina. According to investigators, she abused her official powers by failing to “organize the reception and subsequent dispatch of personal computers and computing systems to the regional divisions of the Pension Fund of Russia.” As a result, according to investigators, damage was caused in the amount of about 3.76 million rubles.
Nikolai Cretu and Zoya Selivanova came to the attention of employees of the Department of Economic Security (DES) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Accounting Chamber (CA) back in the spring of last year. During numerous inspections, it was established that in 2004-2005, the former management of the fund entered into nine agreements for the purchase and sale of apartments with the department of investment programs for construction of Moscow at the expense of the state extra-budgetary fund provided for social development and capital construction. The inspectors found out that these agreements stipulated that the fund’s management would purchase nine apartments in luxury buildings for its especially valuable employees and rent them out under a social lease agreement for a long period. However, instead, having purchased housing, the management of the Pension Fund provided a package of documents to the Moscow Registration Chamber for registration of purchase and sale transactions.
Thus, the investigation established that almost the entire management of the fund lived in elite houses. In particular, apartments were received, among others, by the head of the legal department of the fund Zoya Selivanova, the chief accountant Natalya Petrova, the chairman of the audit commission Igor Berestov and Mr. Cretu himself. However, later, as it turned out, he refused the apartment, and another employee of the foundation took it. The total amount of the transaction amounted to more than 43.5 million rubles. During the checks, it turned out that eight out of nine contracts for the purchase of apartments were signed by Mr. Cretu.
Based on these materials, on October 31, 2007, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against Mr. Cretu and Ms. Selivanova under Art. 160-4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (misappropriation or embezzlement), taking from them a written undertaking not to leave. During the preliminary investigation, it was established that by their actions the accused violated the law, according to which purchased housing should have been provided to those in need only as official housing or under a social tenancy agreement, and not as property. The investigation also established that in order to give the appearance of legitimacy to the transactions for the illegal acquisition of two apartments, seven more apartments were illegally transferred to the ownership of fund employees who needed improved housing conditions. But unlike those on the waiting list, the accused chose apartments for themselves in an elite new building.
Now Mr. Cretu and Ms. Selivanova have begun studying the materials of the case, after which it will be sent to court.
As it turned out, this is the second case against Pension Fund officials, which will soon go to court. Recently, the Investigative Committee completed an investigation into former employee of the foundation Zoya Kiryukhina. The investigation established that in September 2006, government contracts were concluded between the Pension Fund of Russia and six companies for the supply of computers and computing systems for the needs of the fund in the amount of more than 940 million rubles. However, the companies were unable to provide the goods on time, which provided for the payment of a penalty under the contracts.
According to the investigation, due to the delay, the executors of government contracts sent letters to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation about their readiness to hand over the computers to the customer on the last day of delivery. They expected that, given the large volume of equipment, the procedure for accepting goods would last several days, and by the end of it, all the equipment would arrive and be presented to the fund commission. Investigators established that Ms. Kiryushkina should have received the goods and then distributed them to the regional branches of the fund.
However, as follows from the case materials, “the accused, using her official powers, out of personal interest, expressed in reducing the volume of her work in collecting commission members and organizing their travel to warehouses, in facilitating the procedure for accepting a large volume of goods in the shortest possible time, thereby demonstrating the highest results of its activities, accepted the specified equipment without a thorough recalculation of models and modifications, checking its configuration and quality, having completed in one day documents for acceptance of the goods by the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation and transferring them for storage to the executors of government contracts.”
According to the investigation, the official knew about the absence of some equipment in warehouses and the delay in its deliveries by four days, but still signed accounting documents and delivery notes containing deliberately false information. Thus, the investigation considered that by her actions Ms. Kiryukhina deprived the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation of the legal right to claim a penalty for failure to meet delivery deadlines. The other day she was charged in the final version under Art. 285-1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - abuse of official powers.