The trial in the case of embezzlement of 68 million rubles, which, according to investigators, occurred during the creation and implementation of the regional health information system (RISH) in the Tula region, began to develop in a paradoxical way: at the request of the victim, the Central District Court of Tula ordered a repeat computer and technical examination , which is supposed to refute the examination of the prosecution.
The government of the Tula region was recognized as the victim in the case, although it refused to consider itself such at the first court hearing. When in court three months ago the testimony of experts Alexey Babanin and Dmitry Zherebkov from TsEKI LLC was heard, who carried out three computer-technical examinations in the case at once and estimated the cost of the results of the actual work performed on the creation and implementation of RISZ at zero rubles, the representatives of the victim and filed a petition for a re-examination.
It is on the basis of the examinations of Babanin and Zherebkov that the investigation believes that budget funds were stolen. Whereas the defense questions the examination itself, prepared by the prosecution, claiming that it was carried out with violations.
And the Tula regional government does not agree with the experts and the prosecution, arguing that the system was created and has not only been in operation for a long time, but is also recognized as one of the best in the country in the field of digitalization of regional medicine.
The court’s decision was preceded by a speech by experts from the Russian Federal Center for Forensic Expertise under the Ministry of Justice and a specialist from the Russian Expert Foundation “Teheko” invited by the defense, who noted that in their examination Babanin and Zherebkov did not describe the methodology for conducting it, which is mandatory for any forensic examination, otherwise the examination cannot be considered reliable. In addition, they went beyond their competence in answering the question about the cost of work, since this requires experts in the field of intellectual property valuation, which neither of them are.
Due to the fact that the examination presented by the investigation raises doubts about its validity, the court ordered a second computer-technical examination,” which was entrusted to the Center for Independent Expertise of Information Technology Tools, located in Samara.
The application for the appointment of this expert center was submitted by the Government of the Tula region.
The re-examination will have to answer questions about
According to whether the RISZ met the requirements of the contract, as well as what was the list and cost of the work performed. And as lawyer Andrei Bastrakov, defending the former Minister of Informatization of the Tula government Artur Kontrabaev, notes, if the examination concludes that RISZ met the requirements of the contract, this will mean that it was fulfilled and there was no damage. Consequently, the case, which has been dragging on since 2017, must be terminated.
Let us recall that RISZ appeared in the Tula region in 2013 after its implementation by Smart Delta Systems LLC, which won the corresponding competition announced by the regional government. In the ranking of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, which is maintained by the federal Ministry of Health, the Tula region has been ranked first in the digitalization of healthcare for several years. Neither the Ministry of Health nor the Ministry of Information Technology has any complaints about the program.
However, in 2017, investigators from the Investigative Committee decided that the chairman of the regional committee for innovation and information, Artur Kotrabaev, who held the competition, and Alexey Chernousov, general director of the capital’s Smart Delta Systems LLC, stole 68 million rubles allocated from the budget for the creation of new software, and the region, instead of a new system, received a product created 15 years ago.
Artur Kontrabaev is charged with embezzlement on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), Alexey Chernousov is charged with complicity in the commission of this crime (Part 5 of Article 33, Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). They deny their guilt. Both are now under house arrest.
A repeat study was entrusted to the Samara Center for Independent Expertise of Information Technology Tools
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