Kozyr University: how teachers' salaries end up in the rector's pocket
Natalia Ilyina, rector of Pskov State University (PskovGU), was arrested for embezzlement of budget funds. For several years, she appropriated a portion of the increased salaries and bonuses awarded to university staff. The scheme turns out to be widespread in a wide variety of budget institutions — criminal cases on the same basis were initiated earlier in medical institutions and kindergartens in different regions of Russia. Izvestia investigated why this scenario works.
How did the rector receive the money from the university staff
After the arrest, a version appeared that Natalia Ilyina earned money through the employment of "dead souls" — through an employee who never showed up for work, she embezzled 10 million rubles. Another source of earnings for the rector, according to investigators, was the increased salaries of university staff, from which she took the "surplus" for herself.
Izvestia recently wrote about the scheme by which the head of a budget institution takes part of the salaries of employees into his pocket, in the context of cases in kindergartens in the Yeisk district and a maternity hospital in the Orel region. At the Orel medical institution, the chief physician signed orders for the payment of incentive bonuses to employees, which were then transferred to her and the chief accountant as bribes. The head of the kindergarten also demanded the return of part of the incentive payments in cash.
There have been similar cases before, and each time employees actually carried their "extra" money to the head of a budget institution. Andronik Harutyunov, co-chairman of the University Solidarity trade union, emphasizes that it is virtually impossible to carry out such an increase in employees' salaries without notifying them about it.
"Most likely, the employee was directly asked to raise his salary, but with the condition of returning some of it," he told Izvestia. — And this shows how much teachers could be intimidated, since such a scheme turned out to be possible.
How else can they profit from payments to teachers
Andronik Harutyunov notes that he would not be surprised if such a scheme works in other regional universities. Moreover, not only teachers can return money on demand.
— There is a very common story when students are given so-called financial assistance and offered to give it in whole or in part to someone from the university administration, — said the expert. — This is usually explained by the fact that you need to buy something for the needs of the university, but you cannot spend on another expense item. Sometimes a fraudulent scheme does not disguise itself at all.
Oleg Tsapko, Chairman of the All-Russian Student Union, confirmed to Izvestia that students often share similar stories when financial assistance is provided with a return condition. Sometimes this is done for "good" purposes — this is how money is allocated for other needs of students or the university, but, Oleg Tsapko emphasizes, even in this case, such schemes cannot be supported.
— The problem with this whole story is that no one writes official complaints and it is unlikely that they will be written unless it becomes a mass practice. Students understand that they will study at this university tomorrow," he told Izvestia.
However, there were precedents: in 2022, two employees of Murmansk Arctic State University were convicted of fraud with payments of financial assistance to students, in 2023 it turned out that the management of the trade union at Michurinsk State Agrarian University had stolen about 36 million rubles in this way.
Another scheme for universities to earn money from payments to teachers is an attempt to "monetize" advanced training courses. Izvestia was told about at least one such case at I.A. Bunin Yelets State University, where criminal cases have now been initiated on other grounds. An employee of this university explained that in March 2024, teachers forced employees to take paid advanced training and retraining courses under the program "Internet resources and digital tools for learning European and Oriental languages." The courses cost 20 thousand rubles, and they had to be paid out of bonuses accrued to employees shortly before they started.
Employees close to the university's management, in conversations with teachers, called this scheme money-making and accounting fraud. Izvestia also has a recording of a conversation where one of the vice-rectors of Yelets State University emphasizes: "Everyone was warned, they called everyone so that they wouldn't spend money on courses." When asked if these courses were compulsory or voluntary, the Vice-rector replied: "You don't have to go through them, but how will you work later?"
Andronik Harutyunov notes that in small towns there is a problem of a teacher's dependence on the university management: a person is afraid of losing his job if he does not agree to the requirement to return part of the money to the management.
Thus, the Yelets University staff assumed, the money was "sent" through the university in order to report on course earnings and salary increases for employees, and this already opened up the opportunity to increase the amount of real bonuses for the university's management.
What makes it possible to collect employee salaries
Andronik Harutyunov explains: the salary of university teachers consists of two parts — salary and allowances. And the allowances are only partially regulated.
"No one can forbid the rector and the chief accountant from awarding any award to a certain teacher or employee, because now in universities, in the vast majority, all powers are in the hands of one person - the rector," the source told Izvestia. — De facto, the academic council cannot control it. At least for the simple reason that the academic council does not choose the rector. He is appointed by the founder.
Olga Miryasova, the organizational secretary of the Teacher trade union, notes that university leaders have more opportunities because universities have more income from paid services, the control over the expenditure of which is not as strict as budget revenues.
"The main problem is the excessive powers of directors of budgetary institutions and the availability of incentive payments, that is, the part of the salary that is paid "for achievements" and effective work," she told Izvestia. — In the case of teachers, not very specific criteria usually prevail, or such that the teacher can be manipulated. Teachers very often complain about the unfair and opaque distribution of incentive payments, that they go mainly to the "close associates" of the principal in exchange for loyalty.
Olga Miryasova confirms that schools also have a practice of returning some incentive payments to the principal, but they are "hidden by all participants in the process." Assistant Professor of the Department of Financial Law at the Moscow State Law University (MGUA) named after O.E. Maxim Khromchenko, Kutafina, notes that heads of budget institutions take advantage of the silence of employees who are afraid to write to law enforcement agencies, since working in such an institution can bring the only income to the family.
Dmitry Pozin, a lawyer and senior partner at Belsky & Partners Law Firm, also notes that there are no transparent algorithms for calculating incentive payments, and the legislation does not contain sufficient guarantees to protect employees' rights to objective bonuses.
How to solve the problem
Anatoly Vyborny, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, noted that the problem with fraudulent schemes can be solved by a new salary system for state employees, and the parameters for teachers and doctors are already ready. The innovation will be tested in several regions.
"Heads of budget institutions will have other mechanisms for calculating salaries, and the share of the base salary will increase, which will obviously close the gap for bonus fraud," he told Izvestia.
The State Duma deputy added that now, in principle, there are more cases of corruption in budgetary institutions, which indicates increased control over public funds and the emergence of new anti-corruption measures.
— It is difficult to prove fraud with bonuses: you need a statement from subordinates, and they usually keep silent about this. But when there is a public outcry and arrogant bosses end up behind bars, people clearly get the signal that the law is on their side," emphasized Anatoly Vyborny.
Dmitry Pozin believes that the creation of truly independent incentive payment distribution commissions can help, which will have clear and transparent bonus criteria that exclude subjective decisions.
In the case of universities, Andronik Harutyunov sees the solution in returning academic self-government to them.
— It is necessary to return the real, not imaginary, elective environment to universities, — said the interlocutor of Izvestia. — There are no examples of long-lived universities built on a centralized basis in the world. Even in the Soviet Union, universities were quite autonomous and had broad powers of self-government. And, of course, we need to solve the problem of chronic long-term underfunding of universities.
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