St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov (Photo: Rostislav Koshelev/Interpress)

The Board of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation found serious violations in the activities of the North-Western Directorate for Construction, Reconstruction and Restoration. According to the press service of the joint venture, the directorate’s facilities lack purchased materials and equipment worth 332 million rubles, and the institution’s receivables have doubled. As a result, employees of the Investigative Committee, the Prosecutor's Office and the FSB will soon be introduced to the activities of the institution.

Directorate

The Federal State Institution “North-Western Directorate for Construction, Reconstruction and Restoration” performs functions related to the design, construction, reconstruction, operation and technical equipment of cultural heritage sites, which are under the operational management of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. Among the latest projects of the institution are the reconstruction of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, the Oranienbaum palace and park ensemble and the Great Menshikov Palace, the construction and reconstruction of objects of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Solovetsky State Historical, Architectural and Natural Museum Reserve", construction The collection center (repository) of the Ethnographic Museum, the construction of a new building of the Academic Maly Drama Theater - Theater of Europe, the construction of the second stage of the National Library.

Advances and debts

The supervisory agency recalled that in 2014-2015. The volume of funding for the directorate, taking into account balances from previous years, amounted to almost 4.9 billion rubles. Of these, 1.4 billion rubles are subsidies for the development of design estimates and major repairs of the monument (the building of the Main Kriegs Commissariat), 3.2 billion rubles are budget investments in 10 objects of the Federal Targeted Investment Program (FAIP) and almost 200 million rubles — subsidies for government assignments (work on organizing activities for construction, major repairs, reconstruction and restoration of cultural heritage sites).

During the audit of the management's spending of budgetary funds, numerous violations of financial discipline and current legislation were identified. The directorate's accounts receivable for investment expenses more than doubled during the audited period and as of January 1, 2016 amounted to almost 1.8 billion rubles. All debt is current and the reason for its annual growth is advances to contractors.

Thus, for the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory project, the directorate entered into a government contract with the contractor StroyFasad CJSC in the amount of 1.9 billion rubles, for which a 30% advance was paid. Subsequently, the design and estimate documentation was adjusted regarding the construction of a canteen and the abandonment of the construction of a fire-fighting tank. After this, ZAO StroyFasad refused to carry out the remaining 70% of the work due to the alleged impossibility of completing it. In turn, the directorate, in violation of the law, changed the volume and cost of the government contract to the amount of the advance payment (585 million rubles). For the remaining work, the directorate concluded two government contracts with BaltStroy JSC in the amount of 1.4 billion rubles. As a result, the volume of advances for the facility almost doubled - to 1.1 billion rubles. “As a result, the cost of the work increased by 37 million rubles, and the completion time increased by almost 300 days. Accounts receivable under these government contracts as of January 1, 2016 amounted to 470 million rubles,” noted auditor Alexander Filipenko.

The joint venture also found out that, in violation of the terms of the agreements on the transfer of powers of the state customer, the directorate had not previously agreed with the Ministry of Culture on the tender documentation for government contracts worth 3.4 billion rubles.

In violation of the legislation on the contract system, the directorate in November 2015 accepted and paid for actually unfulfilled work totaling 22 million rubles, including work on the arrangement of the maintenance yard of the Menshikov Palace (for 8 million rubles) and work on the installation of the attic floor of the Main Kriegs building. Commissariat (14 million rubles). Despite the fact that the directorate presented photographic materials on the progress of work, dated early March 2016, on this fact, which had signs of damage to the economic interests of the state in the amount of unfulfilled obligations, the board decided to send the materials to the Investigative Committee.

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Without equipment

The inspection also revealed the absence of equipment and materials at the facilities that were accepted and paid for by the directorate under government contracts (agreements) totaling 332.1 million rubles. So, at the Conservatory facility. Rimsky-Korsakov was missing ventilation equipment worth 231 million rubles, accepted according to the acts and paid for in December 2015, which, according to the directorate, was located in the warehouses of subcontractors. There were also no tiles at the site, 90 million rubles were spent on recreating them in December 2015. As the directorate reported, it was located at the manufacturer in Pskov.

Office equipment purchased in 2014 for the Menshikov Palace worth more than 11 million rubles was also not found during the inspection. According to the directorate, it is located by the user at one of the Peterhof facilities. However, the board decided to send a letter to the Prosecutor General's Office with a request to look into the situation.

Timid attempts

The joint venture was not satisfied with the management’s too timid attempts to return part of the money. Thus, in the previous two years, the institution issued penalties (fines) to contractors for failure to comply with deadlines for completing work under 14 government contracts (agreements) in the amount of 525.4 million rubles. “Despite the fact that during the period under review the contractors did not pay any of the claims raised, the management did not go to court to collect them,” stated A. Filipenko.

Among other violations of the legislation on the contract system, the College noted the unreasonable conclusion of contracts with a single supplier in the amount of 50 million rubles; as well as violation of the procedure for public discussion of large purchases.

The board decided to send a submission to the North-Western Directorate for Construction, Reconstruction and Restoration, information letters to Rosstat, the Ministry of Culture and the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia, as well as an appeal to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee. A report on the results of the control event will be sent to the chambers of the Federal Assembly and the FSB of Russia.

The North-Western Directorate for Construction, Reconstruction and Restoration reported, in turn, that all comments from the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation were “accepted for work.” “We are currently engaged in eliminating them, regardless of agreement or disagreement with them. Within the prescribed period, complete and competent answers will be prepared to all questions, which will be provided both to the Accounts Chamber and to all authorized bodies that request this information,” a representative of the institution told RBC St. Petersburg.
In the near future, the activities of the Directorate will be adjusted taking into account all the comments and conclusions of the Accounts Chamber, the RBC interlocutor added.

The largest “cultural” projects in St. Petersburg will be dealt with by the Investigative Committee and the FSB