Throwing the yard

The version of the connection of state lotteries with the winner of the draw for a billion rubles was not confirmed

On January 1, millions of Russians were waiting for the announcements of the winners of the Russian Lotto lottery - a billion rubles were played out at once. It is known that it was received by a resident of the Moscow Region Nadezhda Bartosh. The plots about this with the comments of the winner came out in many media. And in the anonymous telegram channels, “investigations” appeared, claiming that the victory was not clean. Two arguments were given: the draw did not live live, and there is a connection between Bartosh and the distributors of the lottery. Since every fourth resident of our country participates in lotteries, the New Gazeta decided to understand this story in more detail.

To begin with, in Russia since 2014 there are no private lotteries. Their organizers are the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Sports. Private business, or rather, the company "Stoloto", is only engaged in the distribution of tickets. And pays the state 10% of the difference between the revenue from the sale of tickets and payments to the winners. In total, as calculated in the "tablet", they transferred about 13 billion rubles. This approximately coincides, for example, with the level of expenses of the federal budget for the development of mass sports in 2015. From the point of view of the organizers and distributors, it doesn’t matter who exactly receives a win - the size of the prize fund is fixed.

The lottery market is growing by 20-30% per year and, according to preliminary estimates, is already 58 billion rubles.

Well, logical: the more tickets were sold, the greater the maximum amount of winning. For example, in January last year, two people won 500 million rubles at once. But there were no scandals around the draw.

And now a wave has risen. It is somehow not serious to analyze publications of anonymous channels. Therefore, let's look at the arguments given by lawyer Alexander Sergeyev, who sent an appeal to the Federal Tax Service. There are two points. The first and easiest: the lottery drawing is allegedly not on the air. We sent an official request to Gazprom-Media. We were replied that NTV was broadcasting a “billion” draw on the air in all time zones, and presented the airtime certificate in confirmation.

But the lawyer Sergeev said: he does not plan to file claims to the “Stoloto”, but on his application, the Federal Tax Service should begin. The other day, he sent an application to the company to refute information, which says: “I do not claim that during the Russian Lotto lottery, there were a fraud and falsification,” the document is at the disposal of the editorial office.

The POLOTO press service regarding possible inspections said that various state bodies (law enforcement, control and supervision, ministries-organizers) on a regular basis check their activities, and the company will be glad to have the next audit, which, without a doubt, will confirm the legitimacy of all actions.

Now about the most difficult part of history: the legal connection between "Stoloto" and Bartosh. At first glance, she looks convincing. “Stoloto” is a brand, and a legal entity engaged in the distribution of lottery tickets is called JSC “Technological Company Center”. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, it was established by FORB CJSC in May 2012. The same founder is the company "Canon".

And her bankruptcy trustee, Denis Polyychuk, owns LLC Tsarskoye Otter together with the hope of Bartosh. Bingo?

However, the basic knowledge of Russian legislation is enough to understand: the founder of the joint -stock company and today's owner is completely optional one person. Moreover, there may not be any connection between them. Information about current owners of shares is not reflected in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, they are recorded in the registry, which is maintained by AO or a specialized registrar. It is impossible to get them on request at the Federal Tax Service or “find on the Internet” (even using the SPARK system). The editors got acquainted with the register presented by the “Stoloto” confirming that the founders do not appear in the current composition of the shareholders of the company, but the information about them remains in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities forever.

But with the help of the same Spark, you can find out that CJSC "Forb" is a typical mass founder. This is his business - to create and sell companies. In addition to the “Center” and “Canon” technological company, “Forb” established another 370 legal entities engaged in a very different business and in no way, except the founder, not connected. And, probably, the nominal founder does not have the slightest relationship to the activities of the vast majority of them.

In the “Stoloto” we were informed that current shareholders became the owners of TC Center JSC (at that time it was even called otherwise - Eleon) back in 2012. And since then it has always been in the perimeter of the ownership of the lottery workers.

But how the fate of one of the hundreds of “sisters” named “Canon” took shape in the period from 2008 (year of creation) to 2018 is unknown. Yes, this is not important, because just in April 2018, the procedure for its bankruptcy was launched. And first, Denis Polychuk was appointed a temporary and then bankruptcy trustee of the meeting of creditors.

This is perhaps Bingo. Because the “connection” between Bartosh and the entire Forba family, including the “Canon” and “Technological Company“ Center ”, arises precisely thanks to Polyychuk. But he became the formal leader of the “Canon” by the genus of his professional activity - the arbitration manager. According to the requirements of the law, “arbitration managers who are interested parties in relation to the debtor and creditors cannot be approved in the bankruptcy case.”

Thus, the relationship between Bartosh and the distributors of lottery tickets is not confirmed.

Unfortunately, it was not possible to contact Polychuk, since he no longer works in the Union of Arbitration Managements “Renaissance”, which was involved in the bankruptcy procedure of the Canon. And Bartosh, after the persecution arranged against her and family members of telegram channels, does not want to communicate with journalists.

“If the Kanon company and the Center shopping center were acquired by various persons from the same owner several years ago, it is premature to say about these companies of legally significant connections for this reason. Analysis of the change in the composition of owners and managers, the coincidence of the location of offices, phones, e-mail, IP addresses, the availability of economic relations will allow us to talk more confidently, ”says Valery Zinchenko, senior partner of Pen & Paper. There were no same coincidences. One thing remained unclear: why is a business with billions of revolutions recorded on a company created by a mass founder? “It was a matter of convenience and speed. Registration of a joint -stock company is a laborious and long process, which requires, in particular, the approval of the issue of shares of the Central Bank. We tried to change information about the founder, but we were told in the tax office that this is impossible, ”says the representative of Stoloto.

At the same time, a hypothetically cannot be ruled out by the situation in which a relative of the company’s employee or even the employee himself will be the winner of the lottery.

But is it possible to influence the results of the draw, what are the mechanisms and “degree of protection”?

Artem Parshevsky, General Director of the Lotere LLC LLC LLC, answered this question: “The distributors themselves, their relatives and friends have every right to participate in lottery. This is allowed by law because they cannot affect the outcome of the draw. Tickets are protected from fakes and printed in third -party printing houses. Each circulation is controlled by the circulation commission. IT systems that duplicate all the operations of the lottery workers are installed in the organizing ministries. And about what attention the state bodies show to the landmarks - and there is nothing to say. "

And the last: an honest lottery is just one in which a rich person can win, because it is a lottery, and not a charitable program.