The former head of a defense company was suspected of transferring assets to his son

In Izhevsk, Vladimir Grodetsky, the former general director of Izhmash OJSC, the largest Russian developer and manufacturer of automatic combat weapons, was detained and transferred to Moscow. He was accused of stealing 35.3 million rubles belonging to Sarapul Radio Plant OJSC, and is suspected of stealing another 5 billion rubles. at Izhmash. Thanks to Mr. Grodetsky, many assets belonging to the company came under the control of his son. Mr. Grodetsky himself claims that he did not commit anything criminal.

Former General Director of OJSC Izhmash Vladimir Grodetsky
Photo: Dmitry Azarov, Kommersant / buy photo

According to Kommersant, the ex-general director of Izhmash, who was fired in May 2011 for disrupting a state defense order, was detained by FSB officers yesterday morning in Izhevsk. Then, an investigator from the Main Investigation Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow, who arrived along with the security officers, charged Vladimir Grodetsky with committing a crime under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud on an especially large scale committed by an organized group). After this, the detainee was sent by plane to Moscow and placed in a temporary detention center. In the near future, the investigation will petition the Tverskoy District Court for his detention.

What was Vladimir Grodetsky accused of?

According to Kommersant, the criminal case in which Mr. Grodetsky became a defendant was initiated at the request of the Rostec state corporation on November 22 last year. Initially, the investigation was conducted against “unidentified persons.” According to the investigation, Vladimir Grodetsky, after being elected as a member of the board of directors of Sarapul Radio Plant OJSC in June 2006, developed a criminal scheme with the aim of “illegally enriching” its participants.

In accordance with this scheme, Mr. Grodetsky’s accomplices, unidentified by the investigation, on his instructions, prepared various financial documents, according to which the Sarapul Radio Plant (SRZ) was supposed to pay for the components allegedly purchased by him. And on the basis of these agreements, the radio plant transferred money to small Moscow banks, where accounts were opened for the companies indicated in these payments.

Thus, on March 1, 2007, SRZ transferred more than 1.2 million rubles. Unidzhi LLC, March 15, 3.5 million rubles. LLC Interstroyservis and another 3.4 million rubles left. were transferred to Russtyle LLC, and 3.6 million rubles. received by Europolis LLC. After this, the plant transferred several tens of millions of rubles to the companies Vega Plus, Promkontrakt, Unitechno, Breeze, Listern and Ritm. At the same time, the investigation is confident that all recipients of the money were “one-day” companies that did not conduct any commercial activities, and the funds received into their accounts were cashed and transferred to the accused Grodetsky. The damage from these actions, according to investigators, exceeded 35.3 million rubles. Let us note that the radio plant, through the arbitration court, succeeded in declaring only one payment illegal. However, he was unable to recover money from the defendant: the company disappeared.

Mr. Grodetsky himself did not admit guilt, saying that he did not understand at all what he was charged with. At the same time, he noted during interrogation that he did not even remember whether he was elected or not to the board of directors of the Sarapul Radio Plant. However, in the financial statements posted on the official website of the enterprise, one can easily find references to the fact that he was a member of the council and even made certain decisions.

At the same time, as noted in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the investigation does not intend to limit itself to one episode, suspecting that in addition to the withdrawal of funds to the shipyard, there was also a similar scheme for the purchase of components at inflated prices with subsequent kickbacks, payment for allegedly carried out research and development work, which were actually carried out by radio factory workers. Such schemes, the Ministry of Internal Affairs notes, were included in the cost of military products that were produced at the shipyard as part of the state defense order, increasing the cost of products by 20–30%.

In turn, Rostec reported that materials relating to the activities of Mr. Grodetsky as general director of Izhmash were also transferred to law enforcement agencies. According to them, in December 2007, through a chain of controlled organizations, he entered into a deal to sell a 100% stake in SintezProjectFinance LLC to a Cypriot company for 70 thousand rubles. Meanwhile, the cost of the building in Reserve Passage in Moscow, owned by a joint-stock company associated with Izhmash, at the time of the transaction was more than 72 million rubles. And it went to Mr. Grodetsky’s son Denis. In addition, Grodetsky Jr., thanks to his father, became the owner of the Izhmash subsidiary CJSC DOZ Izhmash (woodworking plant). Moreover, the company’s shares were paid for with promissory notes from Stroyfin LLC, “which is not listed in the state register of legal entities.” Also, the corporation noted, the former top manager founded Deryabin Arms LLC, which was headed by his son. Large quantities of hunting weapons were shipped to this company at reduced prices from Izhmash. It was then sold “with a markup of 200–300% of the selling price.” Izhmash's lost revenue from these contracts is estimated at 200 million rubles. in year.

In the period from 2005 to 2011, with the participation of Mr. Grodetsky, large blocks of shares in six subsidiaries and affiliates were withdrawn from Izhmash, which ultimately came under the control of persons affiliated with him. And the Palace of Culture, a sanatorium, a hotel, an athletics arena and the Izhmash commercial center were sold to pay off fictitiously created debts at reduced prices. The total damage from Mr. Grodetsky’s activities in the Rostec state corporation is estimated at 5 billion rubles.

As the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported, on all these facts, employees of the GUEBiPK are conducting checks, based on the results of which procedural decisions will be made.

Vladislav Trifonov, Egor Popov

Izhmash was disarmed for a large sum