Translated material
Stayed with their own
The verdict of the former leaders of the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund came into force
Yesterday, the Supreme Court (SC) of the Russian Federation heard a cassation appeal against the verdict in a high-profile corruption case of the ex-leaders of the Federal Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (FFOMS) - the former head of the fund, Andrei Taranov, and a group of his subordinates. The court upheld the sentence of the Moscow City Court to all convicted officials and replaced only one of the defendants - the head of the pharmaceutical company Protek, Vitaly Smerdov - with a suspended sentence. It also became known yesterday that one of the defendants in this case, former deputy head of the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund Dmitry Shilyaev, fled in an unknown direction in the summer and is currently on the wanted list.As follows from the verdict of the Moscow City Court, two deputy chairmen of the FFOMS from August 2005 to November 2006 received bribes from the management of territorial compulsory medical insurance funds, as well as from several pharmaceutical companies interested in the regions receiving subventions allocated for a certain period for specific purposes (in the case if not used they must be returned to the budget). This money was supposed to be used to conclude contracts for the supply of medications under the additional drug supply program (DLO).
The prosecution argued that the decision to allocate funds to a particular region was made only after a “kickback” to officials amounting to 3-5% of the subvention amount. Having received the money, Mr. Taranov's deputies allegedly then distributed it among the remaining members of the criminal group. For more than a year, FSB officers conducted audio and video surveillance of the officials, after which they were arrested in November 2006. The fund's management was charged with "abuse of power" and "taking a bribe." According to the investigation, there were more than 50 episodes of receiving bribes totaling about 27.7 million rubles. However, during the trial the prosecution lost a fair amount of weight - the jury found only 11 incidents proven, totaling about 9 million rubles.
A jury found nine of the 11 defendants guilty on July 30 last year. A not guilty verdict was issued to the head of the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund of Kalmykia, Danila Khakhlynov, who was accused of giving a bribe of 1.55 million rubles, and to the inspector of the Accounts Chamber, Nina Kholmina. According to investigators, she conducted an audit of the fund’s activities and, having identified violations, did not enter them into the report, but for $1.5 thousand included the data required by the fund’s management in the final act. According to the decision of the Moscow City Court on August 12, the former head of the fund, Andrei Taranov, was sentenced to seven years in a maximum security colony, his first deputy, Yuri Yakovlev, received nine years in a maximum security colony, and his other deputy, Natalya Klimova, received nine years in a general security colony. In addition, all three were deprived of the right to hold positions in the civil service for three years and had to pay a fine of 1 million rubles.
Two deputy heads of the FFOMS, Dmitry Usenko and Dmitry Shilyaev, received seven years in a maximum security colony, while Mr. Usenko was also fined 700 thousand rubles. The head of the control and audit department, Tatyana Markova, and the head of the financial and economic department, Nina Frolova, each received four years in prison. Vice-president of the Protek company Vitaly Smerdov, who was charged with giving a bribe of almost 2 million rubles, was sentenced to one and a half years in a penal colony. Shortly before the verdict was announced, the criminal case against the fund's chief accountant Galina Bykova was suspended. Right during one of the meetings, she became ill, and the official was hospitalized. Despite the fact that the jury found her guilty back in the summer, due to illness, she has still not been sentenced.
Yesterday's meeting in the Supreme Court began with a surprise - it turned out that Dmitry Shilyaev disappeared in an unknown direction last summer and has since been wanted. Mr. Shilyaev was the only one of the defendants who was not present in the courtroom when the verdict was announced. Shortly before his sentencing, while under recognizance not to leave the place, Mr. Shilyaev was hospitalized with a stroke. As representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office explained yesterday, Mr. Taranov's former deputy was put on the wanted list in the summer, after it became known that he was not in the hospital or at his place of residence. The defendant's lawyers were also absent from the courtroom, which is why Judge Alexey Shurygin was forced to announce a break for several hours until one of his defenders appeared in court.
Some time later, his lawyer Inna Galaganova arrived at the Supreme Court. However, her appearance did not shed any light on the mystery of the official’s disappearance. “I don't know where he is. He is seriously ill, in the hospital,” said Ms. Galaganova, explaining that after the end of the trial she did not maintain contact with her client. She also noted that a new agreement for the protection of Mr. Shilyaev had not been concluded with her. After listening to the lawyer, the court nevertheless appointed her to represent the interests of the escaped defendant.
In cassation appeals, some lawyers asked to cancel the sentence of their clients and send the case for a new trial, while other defenders asked for a mitigation of the punishment. Mr. Smerdov stated in his speech that he had already served eight months in a pre-trial detention center and asked the court to knock off the remaining term of his sentence. Mr. Taranov’s lawyers noted that the ex-head of the FFOMS has health problems and that he needs medical care. “Taranov is a second-degree disabled person, a participant in the liquidation of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and needs to be connected to a ventilator. We are not sure that this device can be placed in a prison,” said one of his lawyers. The convicted ex-head of the fund himself asked not to send the case for review. “I’m not sure that my health will allow me to survive another court hearing,” he said via video conference. “I clearly understand, both as a patient and as a doctor, that I physically cannot stand the re-examination of the case,” Ms. Klimova supported the request of the former boss. She reported that during the consideration of the case in the Moscow City Court she suffered several seizures, and asked the court to replace the remaining term of imprisonment with a suspended one.
Lawyer Anna Stavitskaya, representing the interests of Dmitry Usenko, noted a number of procedural violations committed during the trial. She emphasized that her client lacked only one vote for a not guilty verdict. “The jury hesitated and their decision may have been influenced by the inadmissible evidence presented by the prosecution,” Ms. Stavitskaya said. Medical documents were added to the case file, from which it follows that Mr. Usenko suffers from cancer, which must be treated and controlled. He himself said during the meeting on Thursday that he “had no personal interest or selfish motives in transferring the money.”
Representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office stated that “there are no grounds for reviewing the verdict of the Moscow City Court” and asked the court to reject the lawyers’ cassation appeal. The Supreme Court ultimately sided with the state prosecution and decided to uphold the sentence against the officials. Only the head of Protek had his remaining sentence in a penal colony replaced by a suspended sentence.