The bets are in: how wages were stolen in the administration of the Vasileostrovsky district

Izvestia found out new details of the multi-episode anti-corruption case with “dead souls” in the administration of the Vasileostrovsky district of St. Petersburg. The police found that the heads of the administration at different periods of time received salaries for dozens of employees fictitiously employed in government institutions subordinate to the administration. Several former officials are already involved in the case.

Beginning of the investigation

The starting point of the investigation was a criminal case under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, initiated in November last year against a certain Vener Yakubov, whom the police convicted of fraud. The damage to the budget for this episode alone amounted to slightly less than 1.5 million rubles. According to investigators, the man, with the help of unidentified accomplices from among officials of the Vasileostrovsky district administration, in July 2020 officially got a job as a senior inspector of the department of youth and interaction with public organizations. In fact, he did not begin to perform his duties and did not visit his workplace on Bolshoy Prospekt in St. Petersburg. But the salary was dripping onto the card – on average about 50 thousand rubles. But Venus got, according to the investigation, no more than 25%. The remaining amount (an average of 37 thousand rubles) went to the alleged accomplices. This is confirmed by the history of the defendant’s banking transactions – they were carried out twice a month for the 2.5 years that the man was registered in the department. It is known that Vener made transfers to Zoya Bystrova, at that time the head of the department for work with youth of the administration. The amount of funds transferred to her amounted to slightly more than 1.1 million rubles for the entire period.

Effective search

Later, an investigation revealed new facts of abuse. During searches in municipal buildings for fraud, an inspection report of the Vasileostrovsky District Integrated Center, initiated by the administration back in 2017, was found. Among other violations, auditors identified a large number of fictitiously employed employees. The police seized a document in which they found traces of substitution of sheets, significant differences from the original version and the absence of an official seal. The investigation believes that this may be a case of falsification in order to conceal theft.

According to St. Petersburg media reports and Izvestia’s source, 103 fictitiously employed employees were in the past in various departments associated with the district administration. However, an explanation was published on the official page of the Vasileostrovsky district of St. Petersburg on the social network.

Photo: TASS/Vladimir Gerdo

“The administration <...> does not have information about the alleged identification of about a hundred fictitiously employed employees at the moment. In particular, we do not have such information from law enforcement agencies <...> Earlier, in 2017, by order of the district administration, an inspection was carried out at the Integrated Center of the Vasileostrovsky District, which revealed violations and for which response measures were taken, including – personnel.” The press release also states that the administration is aware of only one employment situation about which “reasonable questions have arisen.”

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Izvestia’s source reported that the former director of this institution, Taisiya Pastukhova, was interrogated in the case of the Integrated Center. Probably, the personnel decision referred to in the text of the administration’s press release concerned her specifically. She worked in the structure from 2004 to 2017 and even participated in municipal elections. It is possible that some of the “dead souls” registered with the administration during its leadership of the center.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Alexander Galperin

It is curious that even before joining the municipal service, Pastukhova was involved in an investigation related to theft of property and official forgery. How the case ended is unknown.

Teamwork

Zoya Bystrova, whose accounts appear in the investigation, was the immediate, albeit formal boss of citizen Yakubov, and has headed the youth policy department since 2014. She was part of the team of the former head of the district administration, Eduard Ilyin, who is currently accused of abuse of power and fraud on a particularly large scale. The recent head of the administration was arrested in absentia because he fled the country – this was preceded by his resignation amid a series of anti-corruption revelations.

Photo: vk.com/ilin_vo

Ilyin’s troubles began in 2022 – he and his subordinates were suspected of a number of schemes involving kickbacks when concluding contracts. In particular, competitions for cleaning district clinics were won by strictly defined companies that provided services at an inflated price. According to investigators, Ilyin’s deputy, Igor Ponomarev, was involved in this corruption scheme. The preliminary amount of thefts, according to security officials, amounted to 77 million rubles. Ponomarev was arrested in September. According to a similar scenario, tenders for the security of state-owned medical institutions were played out with his participation, investigators believe. The discussion was about providing social facilities with comprehensive security systems. According to investigators, the damage from Ponomarev’s actions in these episodes amounted to more than 11 million rubles.