Came to the defense: Kursk officials are suspected of embezzling money allocated for the defense of the region

The management of the Kursk Region Development Corporation is suspected of large-scale withdrawal of funds that were earmarked for state contracts to ensure the region's defense capability, Izvestiya has found out. As recalled in the suit of the General Prosecutor's Office in the Leninsky District Court of the region (available at the disposal of "Izvestia"), the region has a special facilitated regime for concluding contracts with contractors - without competitive procedures. And the heads of the corporation, according to the lawsuit, concluded contracts for the creation of fortifications with their controlled legal entities, and then withdrew funds through one-day firms. The damage is estimated at more than 3 billion rubles. The supervisory agency is asking to seize the property of contractors and managers of the corporation. How the scheme worked - in the material "Izvestia".

Defense state contracts

The management of the Kursk Region Development Corporation is suspected of large-scale corrupt practices, according to the lawsuit of the Prosecutor General's Office, which appeared in the possession of "Izvestia". It is about the conclusion of state contracts for the construction of defense structures in the Kursk region, such as dugouts, fire points, strongholds, anti-tank pyramids.

The suit for recovery of damages was filed by the deputy prosecutor general in the Leninsky District Court of Kursk Region. The total damage amounted to about 3 billion rubles.

According to the version of the supervisory agency, in the period from 2022 to 2023, 19.4 billion rubles were allocated from the federal budget to the government of Kursk region for the construction of facilities for "the defense of the country from the military aggression of Ukraine."

Since October 2022, the region has introduced a special mode of functioning of management bodies, as well as forces of the unified state system of prevention and elimination of emergencies. Under it, the state authorities of the Kursk region must mobilize their economy, organize territorial defense measures, as well as assist the armed forces.

"Taking such measures should be aimed at improving the standard of living of citizens and the state. The named regime also allows regional authorities to make purchases without auction procedures," the lawsuit says. - The main administrator of funds from 2022 to the present time is the regional state institution "Capital Construction Department of the Kursk region".

As emphasized in the General Prosecutor's Office, on the instructions of the former head of the region Alexei Smirnov, the general contractor was determined by JSC "Kursk Region Development Corporation". It was created by the local government for budget funds.

"The main objectives of the Corporation are the achievement of socially useful and social goals, economic development, as well as the solution of social problems in the subordinate territory", - emphasize in the supervisory agency.

Vladimir Lukin was appointed director of the company in October 2021, from August 2022 the position of his deputy was given to Igor Grabin, and from January 2023 - Snezhana Martyanova.

Lukin was detained on December 20, 2024. On the same day, the court ruled to remand him in custody for two months. He is suspected of abuse of authority in the construction of fortifications in the border region, which led to unjustified spending of budget funds in the amount of more than 173 million rubles.

Immediately after the general director was arrested and his deputy Grabin in the case of abuse of power, the decision was made by the Leninsky district court of Kursk. According to the investigation, he unreasonably spent funds allocated for the construction of fortifications in the Kursk region. In January 2025, Martyanova also found herself under investigation.

At a meeting of the regional government in late January 2025, Alexander Khinshtein, the Kursk region's acting governor, said that the Kursk region authorities would send a statement to law enforcement agencies on the fact that the "Kursk Region Development Corporation" leased out premises belonging to the region in Moscow.

"I have no shadow of a doubt that we are dealing with a serious scam: the property of the Kursk region of 1.1 thousand square meters, located in Moscow on Varshavskoe highway, not counting five garage spaces, is transferred to the "Development Corporation", and then the corporation leases it for 10 years to a certain company. Then the company-lessee provides the corporation with an investment loan at 10.3% per annum, and then the settlement under the joint activity agreement is made by offsetting mutual claims with the real estate lease agreement," he said.

How the corporation worked with contractors

Lukin, Grabin and Martyanov, as stated in the lawsuit of the Prosecutor General's Office, while working in the Corporation were obliged to independently form a list of the main contractors and distribute among them types of work on the construction of protective structures on the border with Ukraine, "as well as to make decisions on payment for contracts alone."

"That is, Lukin, Grabin and Martyanova held publicly significant positions and they were subject to requirements on combating corruption," the document says. - Moreover, they were prohibited from committing or participating in the commission of corruption offenses, acting in the interests of third parties and engaging in commercial activities to the detriment of the interests of the corporation, society and the state."

The investigation of the Prosecutor General's Office showed that the suspects used their official position for personal purposes, as well as in the interests of trusted persons, that is, engaged in illegal enrichment.

"For successful and unhindered implementation of their plan, they abused the imposed high alert regime in Kursk region, which allowed them to select contractors without competitive procedures, conclude agreements with them and spend budget funds," the lawsuit emphasizes.

Due to the lack of competition, they inflated prices when concluding state contracts. For this purpose, as follows from the lawsuit, the top managers attracted Maxim Vasilyev, a deputy of the Kursk Regional Duma of the VII convocation in a single-mandate constituency.

He, according to the investigation, decided to assist them and picked up his affiliates OOO SIEMI and OOO KTC Service, with which the Corporation entered into two contracts in 2022. On their basis, the defendant's commercial structures illegally received more than 385 million rubles. They legalized part of the money by purchasing expensive real estate.

Yuri Bessonov, a former deputy of the Kursk Regional Duma of the 5th convocation, was also involved in the corruption scheme, the lawsuit claims. He proposed a company controlled by him, OOO Elektrostroimontazh, as a contractor. Lukin included this company in the list of contracting organizations and ensured the conclusion of one contract with it for 70.2 million rubles.

Martyanova's own brother was also among the accomplices. He is the owner of Energo Ressurs LLC and Trade House Kursk LLC. With the assistance of officials of the Corporation, 14 contracts totaling almost 1.5 billion rubles were concluded with their firms. They also spent them on the purchase of real estate.

Another participant in the scheme was Ivan Utkin, an entrepreneur from Moscow. His company Techimpex signed six contracts with the Corporation and received more than 1.3 billion rubles of budget money.

"In total, from 2022 to 2023, 23 contracts totaling 3,222,435,230 rubles 12 kopecks were concluded with the assistance of Corporation officials. In turn, Vasiliev, Bessonov, Martyanov, Fedorov and Utkin transferred 25% of the total amount of the agreements to Lukin, Grabin and Martyanova as remuneration. That is, at least 805 million rubles for their illegal assistance in the conclusion of contracts and receipt of budgetary funds," the Prosecutor General's Office pointed out.

To prevent the introduction of the affiliated companies "created the appearance of performing work on the construction of protective structures and realized a false scheme of expenditures". For this purpose, they concluded fictitious contracts with one-day firms for the supply of construction materials, purchase of equipment and erection of dugouts.

"Thus, using fictitious financial documents, the named structures legalized the corrupt income, which was withdrawn to the controlled firms and cashed through individuals. To date, the organizations have not completed the work on the construction of fortifications. The term of contract execution - until December 2023, was repeatedly postponed on spurious grounds, which significantly reduced the defense capability of Kursk region as a border territory on the part of the aggressor," - stressed in the agency.

It also noted that "corrupt behavior of all involved poses a threat to the rule of law, democracy and human rights, equality and social justice, proper functioning of the market economy and violates human rights".

As a result, the Deputy Prosecutor General demanded to recover more than 3 billion rubles in damages from all the persons involved in the case. In addition, he asked to seize the accounts and property of the companies: LLC KTK Service, LLC Techimpex, LLC Trade House Kursk, LLC Energo Ressurs, LLC SIEMI, LLC Elektrostroymontazh, LLC Yartes Engineering, LLC Energosistema.

"To seize movable, including cash in bank accounts and immovable property, as well as other property. With the exception of funds intended for the payment of wages and other payments related to labor relations, payment of taxes, fees, insurance contributions for compulsory pension insurance, compulsory social insurance in case of temporary disability and in connection with maternity, compulsory medical insurance, payment of utility bills, as well as the amount necessary for current economic activity," the lawsuit says.

The Prosecutor General's Office demands to seize all the property of the defendants, including intellectual property, shares and stakes in authorized capitals of commercial organizations, as well as cash. As well as on other valuables, including those in deposits and in storage in banks, credit organizations, individual bank safes, safe deposit boxes, accounts in precious metals.

"Prohibit companies, founders, management bodies, trustees and other authorized persons, to make and execute decisions: on the reorganization (liquidation) of a legal entity, on the distribution of profits and losses, on the payment of remuneration to the sole executive bodies, members of the collegial executive body, except for the payment of salaries and other decisions", - added in the Department.

With the exception of settlements with suppliers, contractors, lessors, other contractual counterparties, payment of taxes and fees, deliveries of products,

The agency also asks to prohibit Rosreestr to carry out state cadastral registration and state registration of rights in respect of real estate owned by companies and defendants in the lawsuit. And the tax authorities should be restricted in liquidation, reorganization and other actions with firms.