Cashback bonus: how kindergartens and hospitals profit from incentive payments
In the Orel region, a criminal case is being considered for abuse of office against the former chief physician of the maternity hospital, in Yeysk — against the leadership of kindergarten No. 31. These cases, which are not related to each other, nevertheless have very similar circumstances: managers issued incentive payments to their employees, and then demanded that some of them be returned. The scheme, as it turns out, is long—standing and working - ever since an effective contract was introduced in budget institutions, unscrupulous heads of kindergartens, schools, clinics, etc. have found ways to make money. For more information, see the Izvestia article.
What kind of frauds did the heads and head doctors fall for
About the criminal case against the former chief physician of the maternity hospital in the Orel region reported at the end of February in the regional SU of the UK. The case is being investigated under paragraph "e" of Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Abuse of official authority out of selfish or other personal interest").
The investigation indicates that from 2018 to 2023, the suspect "violated the requirements of current organizational and administrative documents and, without approval from the regional health department, signed orders to pay incentive bonuses to 52 maternity hospital staff in the amount of over 8 million 800 thousand rubles."
According to preliminary data, these funds were transferred back by employees, but already "as bribes to the deputy chief physician and the chief accountant of the institution."
So far, we are talking about the former chief physician Lyudmila Tarasova, her deputy Svetlana Kostina and chief accountant Inna Krivoruchko, but the SU IC explained to Izvestia that other defendants may appear in the case.
In 2023, a similar situation developed in Tolyatti, where an investigation was conducted against the chief physician of the city polyclinic No. 2. He charged 15 employees incentive payments, some of which they returned to the head in cash.The total amount of stolen funds then exceeded 1.6 million rubles. In May 2022, on the same grounds, in the dock попал ex-chief physician of Pospelikhinskaya CRH in the Altai Territory.
And in February, a similar case unfolded in the Krasnodar Territory, but related to a kindergarten. According to media reports, in kindergarten No. 31 Yeysk red-handed when transferring money Officials of the preschool were detained, and a criminal case on bribery was opened. It is alleged that the manager demanded to return part of the incentive payments in cash.
Lydia Brown, head of the Yeysk Education Department, declined to comment to Izvestia on the situation in kindergarten No. 31, saying that "information... he is in law enforcement agencies." The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Krasnodar Territory confirmed that employees of the Department of Economic security and anti-corruption of the OMVD in the Yeisk district were involved in the support of this case, but it is under investigation by the investigative unit of the SU IC of Russia in the Krasnodar Territory.
An employee of kindergarten No. 31, on condition of anonymity, told Izvestia that the institution did have a scheme for awarding large bonuses, which were almost entirely transferred to management. In return, employees were promised a "quiet life" or improved working conditions. She claims that a similar scheme works in all kindergartens in the city, "but in smaller volumes." At the same time, some of the money raised actually goes to cover the needs of the kindergarten: the purchase of chairs, the decoration of the hall, because there is often not enough budget funding for this.
Izvestia sent a request to the regional SU of the IC.
Three more criminal cases in Yeysk district
Alexander Baturinets, a deputy of the Yeisk district Council, claims that the scale of fraud is allegedly much wider.In confirmation, he points to other criminal cases that were in the area a few years ago. The scheme is the same.
In March 2021, a criminal case was opened in the village of Sovetsky in the Yeisk district against the former head of kindergarten No. 24. She demanded from 11 kindergarten employees to transfer to her a part of the money accrued as a bonus, allegedly overstated.I received 240 thousand rubles in three years. In April 2021, the head of kindergarten No. 6 in Yeysk came under investigation — according to the same scheme, she received more than 100 thousand rubles from employees. In May 2022, the court found the former head of kindergarten No. 20 in the village of Stepnoy guilty for the same scheme.
However, all these managers received not very serious punishments, mostly suspended sentences and fines. The story of Marina Lukyanets, who has been the head of kindergarten No. 27 in Yeysk since 2018, turned out to be indicative in this regard. Prior to that, she was twice put on trial as the head of kindergarten No. 15, which she led from 2012 to 2017. In June 2017, the Yeisk City Court рассматривал her case is just about for the same reasons. The investigation then confirmed her guilt that she withheld part of the incentive payments.
The case file says that this money was withdrawn from employees in order to "purchase a water heater, as well as to carry out various repairs on the territory of the kindergarten." At the same time, the employees transferred the funds directly into the hands of Marina Lukyanets in her office. Moreover, in connection with these levies in the media there was a appeal from the kindergarten staff.
The head of the department herself stated in court that she had made the decision to withhold the bonus because these educators "were not worthy of receiving bonus payments." The total amount of damage caused was estimated at 63,557 rubles, Marina Lukyanets paid a court fine and compensated for the damage, and the case against her was closed. And another criminal case concerning the write-off of the shortage was just прекращено in due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
Alexander Baturinets considers a large number of criminal cases similar to each other to be part of a single scheme in which the leadership of the Department of Education may allegedly be involved. Lydia Brown, however, told Izvestia that his allegations were "based on his personal dislike" for the education department and personally for her. Alexander Baturinets told Izvestia that he had sent several applications to the local Interior Ministry with a request to organize inspections, which, however, did not lead to anything.
Earlier, Lydia Brown, reacting in her social networks to Baturinets' accusations, stated that most of the criminal cases concerned the period when another person was in charge of the department. This is not entirely true — part of the episodes that are described in court decisions in cases against kindergarten managers No.20 and №6, they accurately touched upon the period when Lydia Brown was the head of education in the district.
She was appointed in October 2019. Her predecessor Tatiana Kudinova She was convicted of being given money by kindergarten heads, school principals, and other subordinate organizations. It was claimed that she was detained with an amount of 400 thousand rubles. However, it has not been announced who transferred the money or why. Moreover, she избежала serious punishment, although there was уволена due to the "loss of trust".
Curiously, the scheme is not limited to Yeisk alone. in February last year, for similar reasons the head of a kindergarten in the Kalininsky district of this region, Krasnodar Territory, was charged.
How to arrange fraud in kindergartens
The grounds for fraud, according to Alexander Baturinets, are laid down in the regulations on the remuneration of kindergarten workers. Using the example of kindergarten No. 31, he pointed out several aspects that may indicate the possibility of using such a scheme.
Its regulation stipulates that at least 50% of the incentive wage fund should be distributed based on the employee's performance. This means that another 50% can be distributed by the kindergarten head, without relying on any indicators. At the same time, the distribution of payments should be handled by a commission consisting of at least five people, but the regulations on its work are prescribed in such a way that only those who have been working at the institution for a long time can enter it.
Another point pointed out by the deputy is that there is no limit on the maximum amount of the bonus. And bonuses based on the results of work for the quarter and year are carried out by decision of the head of the institution. The criteria for assigning payments are not specified.
Alexander Baturinets argues that all these points are taken from the standard salary regulation, which is issued by the Department of Education. At the same time federal recommendations, which clearly define the performance criteria on which incentive payments depend, are allegedly ignored.
Kirill Vasiliev, a lawyer at the Teacher trade union, told Izvestia that there are two main schemes for embezzlement of funds in Russian educational budget institutions: the employment of fictitious employees and receiving salaries for them; or just the return of part of the bonuses to the management by the employees of the institution — under duress or collusion.
— The opaque distribution of the incentive fund is a problem for many institutions, since it is very easy to create commissions from "their own" or even make a fictitious commission," he said. — The administration has no obligations to include this or that person, it all depends on the local act of the institution — the school or kindergarten. Although an active team or trade union in a school can achieve a normal commission and a normal set of criteria.
According to Kirill Vasiliev, incentive criteria often include impossible conditions or those that can be "drawn" with the help of the administration, which leads to an extremely uneven distribution of wages within the institution. But in itself, the uneven distribution of the incentive part is still wrong to call corruption, the lawyer believes.
— However, bonuses from the wage fund are budget money, and all these funds should be distributed according to criteria. In this, it is worth agreeing with the conclusions of the Yeisk deputy, — Kirill Vasiliev notes. — There is no law directly stating that the director cannot single-handedly issue bonuses from budget funds, but this is indirectly confirmed by Government Decree No. 922 of 12/24/2007 and Resolution of the Constitutional Court No. 32P of 06/15/2023, where this is discussed in the reasoning part.
The situation is the same in medical institutions, says Andrey Konoval, co-chairman of the union of healthcare workers Action. According to him, in the early 2010s, an "effective contract" was introduced, according to which the salary depends on the performance of the employee, the department and the institution itself. In theory, the system was not so bad, but it provided an opportunity for arbitrariness, he believes. The commission, which includes people controlled by the employer, is responsible for the distribution of incentive payments.
— We believe that these "floating" incentive payments should be reduced," he told Izvestia. — Actually, it's coming to this now. If the Russian government rigidly sets large salaries and fixed allowances, then the salaries will already be their area of responsibility. Until now, the federal authorities could say that the problem was at the regional level. But responsibility should be more transparent.
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