Contractual offerings: Patriot managers received 9 years for bribes

Andrei Puchkov, chief accountant of the Patriot Military-Patriotic Park, and Ivan Trifonoglo, head of the procurement department, systematically received bribes for helping interested parties win government contracts, the Investigative Committee told Izvestia. On March 4, the court sentenced each of Patriot's managers to nine years in a high-security penal colony. In total, over three years, Puchkov and Trifonoglo received bribes worth 27.5 million rubles from businessmen. The details of the case are in the Izvestia article.

What were the Patriot employees convicted for

A court has sentenced ex-employees of the Central Military-Patriotic Park of Culture and Recreation "Patriot" to nine years in a high-security penal colony for multi-million dollar bribes. They received funds for three years from entrepreneurs who wanted to conclude state contracts with the park.

We are talking about the chief accountant of the park, Andrey Puchkov, and the head of the procurement department, Ivan Trifonoglo, whose duties included monitoring the conclusion and execution of contracts.

According to the investigation, the defendants agreed with the employees of IP Kuvaeva O.V. for bribes to ensure victory in competitions for maintenance and sanitary maintenance of buildings and structures of the Patriot. Through their efforts, entrepreneurs have signed over ten multimillion-dollar contracts with the Ministry of Defense, the Investigative Committee reported.

— Puchkov and Trifonoglo agreed with the entrepreneurs that they would help them become executors of state contracts, and in the process of concluding each contract, they were helped in this and received money for it, the Investigative Committee told Izvestia. — Businessmen affiliated with the defendants serviced the entire park — exhibits, monuments, equipment, stands.

Such patronage lasted from 2021 to 2024, during which time the defendants received a total of 27.5 million rubles from sole proprietors. The amount of the fine to which the court sentenced them turned out to be only half a million rubles less — 27 million rubles.

The court also imposed a ban on convicted Patriot employees from engaging in certain activities for the next 10 years.

Puchkov and Trifonoglo were detained in October 2024. Military investigators charged them with accepting a particularly large bribe while fulfilling government contracts (Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In relation to Puchkov, a preventive measure was chosen in the form of detention, Trifonoglo — in the form of house arrest. The property of the accused has been seized. In particular, Puchkov's BMW X5 car was arrested, the Investigative Committee reported.

Following in the footsteps of General Popov

This is not the first corruption scandal that has unfolded around Patriot Park. In August last year, the court arrested former Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov, who was responsible for the operation and development of the park.

The general is accused of fraud on a particularly large scale. According to investigators, at the expense of the Patriot, Popov organized the supply of "various material assets" to his suburban area near Krasnogorsk. He also built a house and landscaped the area around it, presumably also using budget funds.

As Izvestia found out, the general owns a private house of almost 300 square meters, which is located on about three hectares, and other real estate in prestigious areas of Moscow, the Moscow Region and the Krasnodar Territory. Their total cost is more than 500 million rubles.Two months before his arrest, on June 17, 2024, Popov was relieved of his post as Deputy Defense minister, which he had held for 11 years, and dismissed from military service. A source told Izvestia that General Popov oversaw the construction of the National Defense Management Center, the Patriot Park and the Main Temple of the Armed Forces.

Competitive procedures

The park is a Federal state autonomous institution with a founder represented by the Ministry of Defense, Alexey Gavrishev, head of AVG Legal, explained to Izvestia.

— Such institutions conduct public procurement through budget allocations, — said the lawyer. — It is difficult to go through the competitive selection procedure for the supply of services for such government customers, so sometimes applicants give bribes to persons who are members of the competition commissions. In this case, such persons turned out to be convicts.

Article 290 of the Criminal Code provides for the possibility of imposing a fine in the amount of up to one hundred times the amount of the bribe, the lawyer explained. But what exactly the fine will be, the court decides based on the circumstances of the case and the degree of guilt of the defendants.

— The fine imposed on the convicts turned out to be significant, since the amount of the bribe is also significant, the lawyer said.

Since entrepreneurs paid bribes for the opportunity to conclude a contract, it means that it was very "tasty" and probably competitive, suggested Alexander Stroganov, head of the law firm Center for Public Procurement, in a conversation with Izvestia.

— It was probably about contracts worth several hundred million rubles, since people were willing to pay such money in the form of a bribe for them, — the lawyer noted. — 27 million rubles were put into the case, but in fact the bribe could have been more.

The contract was ordered by the Ministry of Defense, and law enforcement agencies set particularly difficult conditions for competitive procedures, he noted.

— Joining this agency as a contractor for the contract is a very good foundation for the future, as entrepreneurs perceive it, — said Alexander Stroganov. — In my memory, many people entered into such contracts at a loss to themselves in order to become one of the department's partners.

Crimes in the field of military service, he added, are assessed more harshly and more seriously than those committed "in civilian life." The imputed part of the article on bribery involves from eight to 15 years in prison. Therefore, despite the external severity of the term, they received almost the lower limit, the lawyer concluded.