Novosibirsk Firm Director Accused of 13.5M Ruble Fraud

In the Novosibirsk Region, the head of a commercial organization has been charged with fraud. The defendant’s criminal case has been sent to court, the regional prosecutor’s office reported.

According to the investigation, the accused, while serving as the company’s director, entered into contracts with 13 educational institutions in the Karasuk Municipal District and one in the Krasnozersky District to replace automatic fire alarms and monitoring systems. However, he did not complete the work in full and also substituted some materials with cheaper alternatives.

«The customers, unaware that the work was not fully completed, signed the acceptance certificates without any objections and then transferred the funds to the company’s account,» the supervisory agency said.

It is indicated that as a result, the budgets of the district and regional administrations suffered damage totaling over 13.5 million rubles ($150,000). The crime was uncovered by operatives of the FSB Directorate for the Novosibirsk Region.

The criminal case of the Novosibirsk resident has been sent to the Karasuk District Court for consideration on the merits. The defendant is charged with five counts of fraud under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The prosecutor’s office released a video showing FSB officers. The footage shows security forces entering a building bearing the sign «LLC Fire Prevention Works Enterprise». The prosecutor’s office confirmed to NGS that it is LLC «PPR». According to Kontur.Focus, Nikolai Kolomytsin has been the company’s director since 2022. It was not possible to obtain a comment from the enterprise at this time.

At the end of January, it became known that officers of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Novosibirsk Region detained nine suspects in a series of staged traffic accidents.