The meeting of the Central District Court culminated in a curious legal embarrassment…

A curious legal embarrassment capped the meeting of the Central District Court of Tula, where, after the New Year’s break, the consideration of a very controversial case that had been dragging on for more than six months on charges against the ex-Minister of Informatization of the Tula Region and the head of an IT company – a contractor for a number of government contracts – continued. Artur Kontrabaev and Alexey Chernousov are charged with theft from the budget of almost 70 million rubles (Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), intended for the modernization of regional healthcare.

What speaks most eloquently in this case is the transcript of the meeting.

Direct speech

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State Prosecutor (G.): Explain your testimony to the extent that you do not agree with the amount of damage. What damage do you think was caused? What caused the damage?

Representative of the injured party (P.): I, as a representative of the government of the Tula region, have repeatedly stated my position and submitted a petition during interrogations at the Investigative Committee. It was possible that perhaps some work within the framework of the contract had not been completed; they asked to appoint an additional examination as part of the investigation of the criminal case, which I, as a representative of the injured party, was refused. …
G.: What is your position, is there damage or no damage?

P: I can’t answer this question. I believe that examinations do not provide a complete answer to this question. Therefore, as part of the investigation of the criminal case, we asked to appoint and ordered an examination ourselves, and, in principle, we plan to also apply for the appointment of an appropriate examination within the framework of the now judicial proceedings.

According to the defense, the examination on which the indictment is based was carried out illiterately, with many violations, interrogations of witnesses were carried out as carbon copies, the accusation was far-fetched, no one considered financial losses, if any. “What then is the task of the court and the prosecution? – lawyers ask. “Should we destroy the healthcare system of the Tula region in terms of software, or should we still restore justice?” They can be understood. Since 2013, according to a representative of the regional government, the region has been a clear leader: the local health information system is one of the best among other subjects of the Federation.
https://legal.report/tulskoe-delo-bez-poterpevshih/