A case of large-scale fraud during the modernization of Kuban's public utility infrastructure has reached court.

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A Moscow court is hearing the case of Alfred Galiev, CEO of RKS-Chistye Vody LLC, who is accused of large-scale fraud in the modernization of public utility infrastructure systems in the Krasnodar Territory.

The Meshchansky District Court of Moscow has begun hearing a case of especially large-scale fraud (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) against Alfred Galiev, former CEO of RKS-Chistye Vody LLC, who is accused of embezzling budget funds during the modernization of public utility infrastructure systems in the Krasnodar Territory.

In 2022, the implementation of the regional program "Modernization of Systems" More than 66.2 billion rubles of budget funds were allocated to the "Communal Infrastructure of the Krasnodar Territory." With the participation of the Russian Ministry of Construction, the federal autonomous institution RosKapStroy (RKS) was created. This, in turn, established RKS-Chistye Vody LLC, with which it signed 17 contracts to develop design and estimate documentation for treatment facilities that prevent discharge into the sea, Kommersant reported on March 22. According to the investigation, Galiev, together with his deputy, Elena Orlova, decided to create a shell company to which they could write off part of the funds received under fictitious contracts. This is how Proekt-Stroy LLC was created, with which RKS-Chistye Vody signed a contract in December 2022 to collect data on treatment facilities in the Krasnodar Territory and develop technical documentation for their reconstruction. In February 2023, Proekt-Stroy received 32.34 million rubles for this work. Investigators claim that no work was actually carried out, and the money was spent on personal needs.

At the court hearing, Galiev pleaded guilty and did not contest the charges. However, he claims that the bulk of the money went toward salaries for RKS-Chistye Vody employees, who were poached by competitors. However, the defendants previously claimed that the money was spent on the reconstruction of the grave and monument to the poet Gavriil Derzhavin near Veliky Novgorod. Galiev also stated that he had begun to pay for the damages, although he has so far only paid 190,000 rubles.

Earlier, Galiev stated that he had entered into a pre-trial agreement and testified about a previously unknown crime. The prosecution asked what information Galiev had disclosed, but defense attorney Ruslan Zakalyuzhny objected to the disclosure of this information, citing that public disclosure was unacceptable. After this, the court adjourned.

Because Galiev confessed, the materials against him were separated into a separate proceeding. Elena Orlova's case is being heard separately. Galiev's lawyer, however, claims that his client did not take a penny for himself, but was merely fulfilling the request of Orlova, who organized the company "Proekt-Stroy," where she employed the same employees who worked at RKS-Chistye Vody. According to the lawyer, there were no other ways to increase the employees' salaries.

Previously, "Caucasian Knot" reported that in 2023, scientists from the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography published a report for 2021-2022, according to which the maximum permissible concentration of petroleum products in Black Sea waters was exceeded by 1.2-12 times. The sea will need a long time to cleanse itself from the consequences of oil spills, especially the major spill in August 2021, and municipal waste runoff, noted environmentalists Yevgeny Vitishko and Dmitry Shevchenko.