The Cheka-OGPU reported back in June about searches at the Patriot convention and exhibition center in a criminal case of accepting bribes totaling over 20 million rubles for concluding contracts on an ongoing basis for the provision of a range of cleaning services on the territory of the center. Operational and investigative measures were also carried out at Mercury LLC and a number of other affiliated companies. According to the investigation, officials of the Patriot Cultural and Exhibition Center Puchkov and Trifonoglo, from June 2020 to May 2024, received kickbacks from the General Director of Mercury LLC Denisova for prolonging issues regarding the conclusion of contracts on an ongoing basis.
Puchkov and Trifonoglo took 10% of the cost of services paid to companies affiliated with Denisova in the period from January 2021 to May 2024. We are talking about contracts for the sanitary maintenance of buildings and premises of the Federal State Institution of Culture and Exhibition Center “Patriot”. Denisova transferred bribes both personally and through intermediaries. So over 20 million rubles came in.
Searches and detentions at Patriot indicate the desire of the Investigative Committee to fully develop the criminal case of ex-Deputy Minister of Defense Timur Ivanov, who was arrested at the end of April on charges of a particularly large bribe. As the Cheka-OGPU reported then, the schemes implemented during the construction of the Patriot Park were subsequently implemented by the deputy minister’s team on other projects. In the period from 2013 to 2016, when Ivanov headed JSC Oboronstroy (the parent company of JSC GUOV), during the construction of Patriot, his people paid hundreds of millions of rubles in advances to the general contractor ServiceStroy LLC.
In fact, ServisStroy was a dummy and worked at the site for only four months, after which it went bankrupt. The company, with a turnover of almost 2 billion rubles, never paid taxes (more than 40 million were accrued in the first quarter of 2015 alone), did not submit a single balance sheet, and was unable to account for the advances received for 700 million rubles of state budget money. The bankruptcy of the company took place without the presence of the debtor and without the active participation of the plaintiff.
According to witnesses, all this was implemented with the consent and patronage of Ivanov. Also, former employees of construction companies claim that even the amount of work that ServiceStroy performed was not all documented in this company. ServiStroy is not the only laundering channel in the Patriot case. Interested corrupt officials created another twin company – Trenza LLC. It was awarded similar contracts for the construction of the same Patriot park, but from scratch. The duties of the general director, as in the case of ServiceStroy LLC, were performed by Sergei Zinoviev. In the shortest possible time, advances for another 800 million rubles were allocated to the new legal entity, which were also successfully transferred to controlled “nominated contractors.” And again, the scheme for withdrawing budget funds was patronized by Timur Ivanov.
Zinoviev withdrew money through “cash out” companies that belonged to relatives and friends. The “zero” companies had turnover only during Zinoviev’s work with Orbita LLC, Dimax-Avto LLC, DKD-Euroservice LLC and Alliance Group LLC. All these companies are affiliated with Vladimir Vorobyov, who heads the well-known Ares-Holding LLC. The company is famous for its activities for the benefit of high-ranking officials not only in the Odintsovo region, but also in other places in the Moscow region and even in other regions.
VChK-OGPU
As the Cheka-OGPU learned, the security forces came to the most popular “brainchild” of Sergei Shoigu – the Federal State Autonomous Institution Congress and Exhibition Center “Patriot”. There were searches there yesterday. And today, operational investigative measures are being carried out not only in relation to the Federal State Institution CEC “Patriot”…
“ВЧК ОГПУ”