Saratov Officials Charged in Cyclotron Purchase Case

The Saratov Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case on abuse of office in the purchase of a cyclotron complex for cancer diagnosis and production of radiopharmaceuticals worth over 140 million rubles ($1.41 million at current rates). The case was opened on the instructions of Saratov Region Prosecutor Sergei Filipenko based on a verification by the supervisory authority.

In April 2020, the regional capital construction department entered into a state contract with OOO Romex-Kuban for the construction of the regional clinical oncology center with a contract value of 6.3 billion rubles ($63 million at current rates). The contract included a clause for the purchase of equipment «Cyclotron complex with shielding PETtrace 880, GE Healthcare» worth over 140.9 million rubles ($1.41 million at current rates).

Romex-Kuban has been in existence since 1998, with construction as its main activity. Its financial results for 2024: revenue of 18 billion rubles ($180 million at current rates) with net profit of 131 million rubles ($1.31 million at current rates). The number of employees that year was 566. The sole founder and general director is Aleksei Vasilyevich Prokopenko from Krasnodar Krai. He is the head of three companies with total revenue of 18 billion rubles ($180 million at current rates) and profit of 515 million rubles ($5.15 million at current rates) in 2024. Moreover, he is the founder or co-founder of 88 companies with revenue of 47 billion rubles ($470 million at current rates) and net profit of 5.3 billion rubles ($53 million at current rates).

As «Business Vector» wrote in 2020, before the construction of the oncology center, Romex-Kuban had no experience building medical facilities, but the firm was part of the investment and development holding Romex Group. At that time, it was building residential complexes in Krasnodar, Anapa, Novorossiysk, and Tuapse, and also investing in real estate and commercial medicine. Its assets also included OOO «Klinika Yekaterininskaya» (Catherine«s Clinic).

This is a network of seven private multi-specialty clinics offering full-cycle care. At that time, 5% of the clinic was co-owned by Alexei«s brother, Sergei Prokopenko, a deputy of the Krasnodar Regional Duma from United Russia. Now his stake is owned by his brother Alexei. In 2024, the clinic generated revenue of 5.9 billion rubles ($59 million at current rates) and net profit of 1.9 billion rubles ($19 million at current rates). Currently, all stakes in the clinic are under encumbrance.

In March 2023, the contractor reported the impossibility of supplying this equipment and proposed replacing it or excluding it from the state contract. Then a certain organization involved in medical equipment supply offered to equip the center with a «MiniTrace Qilin cyclotron» by the end of 2023. A law enforcement source told 164.RU that the name of this organization is OOO «High Quality Medical Equipment» (VKMT).

VKMT is a St. Petersburg company established in 2015. Its main activity is wholesale trade of pharmaceutical products. Since 2016, it has been headed by local director Konstantin Chizhikov. In 2024, revenue fell from 2 billion rubles ($20 million at current rates) to 1.1 billion rubles ($11 million at current rates), and net profit decreased from 189 million rubles ($1.89 million at current rates) to 64 million rubles ($640,000 at current rates). The number of employees in the year before last was reduced from 55 to 40.

The company is entirely owned by St. Petersburg businesswoman Angela Gronskaya. She is also the founder of OOO «VKMT-Service» with modest revenue of 68 million rubles ($680,000 at current rates) and profit of 10 million rubles ($100,000 at current rates) in 2024. This firm is engaged in repair of electronic and optical equipment. We were unable to find any connection between these firms and the Kuban holding.

According to the prosecutor«s office, the specified equipment is an analog of the contractually stipulated «Cyclotron complex with shielding PETtrace 880, GE Healthcare» and was in stock at the company»s warehouse. However, the capital construction department unilaterally excluded the replacement of the cyclotron with an analog from the scope of work under the state contract.

«As a result, the State Healthcare Institution »Regional Clinical Oncology Center« has still not been equipped with the necessary equipment, leading to the impossibility of operating the radiochemical laboratory and a significant violation of the rights of patients receiving medical care,» the supervisory authority believes.

Based on the results of the prosecutor«s inspection, the Investigative Committee opened a case under Part 1 of Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on abuse of office. As reported by the regional investigative committee, the case is being handled by the investigative department for the Kirovsky District of Saratov.