We built, built and finally built...at the court's verdict

The contractor who carried out the major renovation of the Strela Theater received not only budget money for this, but also two years probation

This has never happened before, and here it is again. The latest Zhukov government procurement tour ended in a criminal case for fraud, however, by a strange coincidence, not a single official was harmed as a result of this fascinating story; a verdict in the criminal case was handed down against the contractor.

In the fall of 2017, a major renovation of the Strela Theater began, which had been talked about for years. The Zhukovsky administration entered into a contract with Alrusstroy LLC to carry out major repairs of the building of the cultural heritage site “Complex of a former sanatorium for tuberculosis patients,” where the Strela Theater has been located for many years. The cost of the work amounted to 141,772,699 rubles.

Prior to this, the company managed to win an auction for the manufacture and installation of two steles with landscaping of the adjacent territory for 22.8 million rubles.

During the overhaul, officials at all levels reported on the progress achieved in the field of Strela repairs. In August 2018, the head of the city, Andrei Voytyuk, told reporters that he had checked the progress of work on the restoration of the Strela Theater: “The contractor is meeting the deadlines, the work is being carried out in good faith.” The engineer of the construction control service, Tatyana Kovaleva, was also optimistic when she told the Aviagrad newspaper about the progress of the work.

In March 2019, a commission from the city’s Public Chamber visited the work site. According to its representatives, after inspecting the building, they came to the general opinion that “renovations at the Strela Theater are being carried out quite successfully and at a rapid pace.” “We are satisfied with the renovation work currently underway at the Strela Theater. The builders managed to combine modern safety requirements with the historical appearance of the architectural monument,” Vladimir Trubnikov, Chairman of the Culture Commission of the Public Chamber, shared his impressions on the OP’s social media account. In September of the same year, even Governor Andrei Vorobyov spoke about the overhaul: “We carried out a major overhaul at the Strela Theater in Zhukovsky - the building is over a hundred years old, and it has become very dilapidated. We have preserved the historical appearance: columns in the neoclassical style and stucco molding of the Stalinist Empire style. But all the “stuffing” in the theater is now modern,” the governor wrote on his Instagram page. However, between these two events, the Zhukovsky Chamber of Control and Accounts managed to conduct an examination of the work performed, the results of which are indicated in the act dated 07/01/2019. According to this document, work that was actually uncompleted and work that did not comply with the terms of the municipal contract were identified, as a result of which the administration of the city of Zhukovsky suffered material damage in the amount of 324,726.47 rubles.

Based on the inspection of the KSP, the city administration filed a claim for recovery of unjust enrichment in the arbitration court, but the claim was rejected. In April 2020, the administration submitted a statement to the Department of Internal Affairs of Russia for the city. Zhukovsky to organize an investigation into improper execution of a municipal contract, as well as the possible theft of budget funds.

As part of the inspection, the investigative police authorities established in the work acceptance certificates an inflated volume of land work, the actual failure to complete certain types of work when replacing communications, and that the materials used did not correspond to those stated in the estimate and did not undergo additional approval with the customer. As a result, criminal case No. 1-177/2021 was initiated against the General Director of Alrusstroy LLC M.A. Bokhmata according to Part 3 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Fraud on a large scale). The accused did not admit guilt, insisting that he performed additional work for a large amount.

On January 18, 2022, the Zhukovsky city court rendered a verdict in this case - M.A. Bokhmat was sentenced to two years of probation and compensation for damage caused in the amount of 324,726.47 rubles.

And this is just the excess of the performers under one of the three contracts concluded by the city administration with Alrusstroy LLC. Perhaps, if the Chamber of Control and Accounts had “picked” the steles or the landscaping of the courtyard of houses 16,18,20 on the street. Mayakovsky, no less interesting details would have emerged. And this is not the main question in this whole story. It is quite strange that neither auditors, nor law enforcement agencies, nor the court were interested in the second party to the municipal contract, which regularly signed certificates of completion of work, controlled all stages of work and paid budget money. Everyone is equal before the law, but some are in the shadows. Because damage in the form of theft of budget funds can be caused by anyone, but in the current paradigm “Caesar’s wife is above suspicion.” This is justice and stability in modern Russia.