Builder jailed for embezzling Solnechny Park funds

Builder Armen Fagradyan was found guilty of embezzling over 2 million rubles (approximately $22,000 at current rates) during the renovation of Solnechny Park in Chita and sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison with a fine of 500,000 rubles (approximately $5,500), according to a 30 January post on the social network VKontakte by the Chernovsky District Court group.

«In 2022, 47.6 million rubles (approximately $523,600 at current rates) were allocated from the city budget for the park»s renovation. The general contractor — the municipal enterprise «DMRSU» — signed a subcontract agreement with LLC «SK Knyaz» for 44.3 million rubles (approximately $487,300), and Fagradyan worked on behalf of this company. He arbitrarily changed the project, used materials not specified in the project, performed unnecessary work, and handed over the object with delays,« the message states.

The project called for the installation of five certified structures manufactured by a factory on the skate park area. Currently, according to the court, four have been installed, made in a makeshift manner and not complying with the project.

«During an inspection with specialists, the investigation found that the sloping covering of the installed structures was not made from monolithic material, and the connection of the sloping covering elements was done with misaligned installation levels, the seams connecting the elements have significant gaps, the side ends of the metal structures, located along the front of the small architectural forms on both sides, have an open cavity with exposed edges of the structure at the cut, which is a source of increased danger, the welded seams of the metal structures are of poor quality, and individual elements of the metal structures are not connected. Fagradyan presented forged passports and certificates from the manufacturer located in Krasnoyarsk for these metal structures,» the message states.

In addition, demolition work was not fully completed, when constructing retaining walls for sports grounds, the underlying bases in the form of crushed stone-sand mixture provided for in the project were not used, the installation of curbs was done without a concrete base, which affects their stability, and the asphalt concrete driveway in the central part, which provided for vehicle parking, was replaced with paving slabs from an unknown manufacturer.

«Information about the uncompleted works was included by Fagradyan in the work completion certificate, which was first signed by the director of LLC »SK Knyaz«, then by a representative of DMRSU. After that, it was sent to the Committee for Urban Planning Policy, where it was also signed by a commission of 5 people,» the publication clarifies.

The court found that the budget of Chita suffered damage on a particularly large scale. During the preliminary investigation, a representative of the administration filed a claim to recover over 9 million rubles (approximately $99,000 at current rates) from Fagradyan. During the judicial investigation, acting mayor Andrey Grenishin withdrew the filed claims.

According to «Kontur.Fokus», LLC «SK Knyaz» was established at the end of 2020. The director and sole founder is Alena Piruzyan. The company did not participate in public procurement, and in 2024–2025, it faced two lawsuits totaling over 5 million rubles (approximately $55,000 at current rates) for failure to perform or improper performance of construction contracts.

At the end of the year, the court issued a guilty verdict against former head of the department of the committee for urban planning policy of the mayor«s office Arina Kolobova and former leading specialist of this department Denis Sapozhnikov in a case of abuse of official authority and forgery. Both were given a suspended sentence of 5 years with a probation period of 4 years and deprivation of the right to hold positions in local government bodies for 3 years.

According to the investigation, in 2022, the accused were supposed to ensure proper verification of the quality of work on the renovation of Gagarinsky and Solnechny parks, which were being renovated under the national project «Housing and Urban Environment». During site visits, they knew about the replacement of some small architectural forms and construction materials with those not meeting contract requirements, but they signed official documents on the acceptance of completed work.