Space scam: The court arrested top managers of Rostec and Roscosmos
Until October 3 of this year, the Babushkinsky District Court of Moscow arrested the ex-general director of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation (part of Roscosmos) Vladimir Solntsev, company managers Alexander and Stepan Prokhorov, general director of the Istok Research and Production Enterprise named after. Shokin (part of Rostec) Alexander Borisov.
All defendants in the case are suspected of fraud on an especially large scale in the supply of electronic components for the module of the International Space Station (ISS).
Alexander Borisov in court
Vladimir Solntsev in court
The arrested Vladimir Solntsev worked at RSC Energia until May 2018, that is, until Dmitry Rogozin was appointed head of Roscosmos. The new manager asked the head of the Accounts Chamber, Alexei Kudrin, to conduct an audit of the subsidiary, however, characteristically, this was ultimately done by the corporation’s internal audit service. Which discovered the invoice, which became the basis for the accusation of the former head of Energia and his companions.
According to investigators, purchases of components for electronic components were carried out at inflated prices. Under Solntsev, Stepan Prokhorov held the position of deputy general director of the corporation, Alexander Prokhorov was the purchasing director of the Experimental Engineering Plant of RSC Energia, Alexander Borisov was the general director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise NPP Istok, which produced microwave electronics for communication complexes. As a result of the actions of this “team,” according to a preliminary estimate, 1 billion 72 million rubles were stolen.
“I never heard in the accusation what I did wrong,” Vladimir Solnetsev commented on the court decision. – To date, the contract has not been completed, although the delivery was made on time, the investigation has some kind of bias because we did our job. The influence of Roscosmos in the pressure on the old team is clearly visible.”
It should be noted that this is not the first high-profile scandal of this kind related to the Russian space industry. In 2017, the rocket and space plant at the Khrunichev Center was involved in a case of theft of 20 million rubles; in 2019, the ex-head of NPO Tekhnomash, Dmitry Panov, was accused of theft of 50 million rubles; and this year, the deputy the general director of the same enterprise, Roman Khokhlov.
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