Chief accountant of the Alexandrinsky theater. The troubles of the director of Alexandrinka: from Zenit Arena to Surgut

In St. Petersburg, the police, under the control of the prosecutor's office, are checking the purchases of the Alexandrinsky Theater for corruption. Its director, Grigory Popov, along with the former vice-governor of the city, Marat Oganesyan, appears as a defendant in the case of embezzlement during the construction of the Zenit Arena stadium. According to the investigation, Mr. Popov exercised “real management” of the company “Theater and Decoration Workshops” (JSC TDM) - it was with it that the general contractor for the construction of the stadium entered into an allegedly fictitious contract, which formed the basis of the criminal case. At the same time, during the years of Mr. Popov’s leadership of the theater, TDM received several orders from Alexandrinka with a total amount of more than 150 million rubles. Grigory Popov himself considers the suspicions unfounded.

State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Valery Rashkin (heads the capital city party committee) turned to the St. Petersburg prosecutor's office with a request to check the purchases of the Alexandrinsky Theater for corruption. He discovered that the theater under the leadership of Grigory Popov often entered into contracts with JSC Theater and Decoration Workshops. This company appears in a criminal case about theft during the construction of the St. Petersburg Zenit Arena stadium. According to the case materials, three years ago the general contractor for the construction of the stadium, the Transstroy company, entered into a contract with TDM for the supply of two video boards for 168 million rubles, and received 50 million rubles. advance payment, but did not fulfill the contract. The investigation believes that the “real management” of the TDM company was carried out by Mr. Popov.

Meanwhile, from 2013 to 2015, according to the Kommersant Kartoteka and SPARK-Interfax databases, the Alexandrinsky Theater concluded contracts with TDM JSC for a total amount of 156 million rubles. Legally, Grigory Popov is not connected with the company in any way, but its general director Vladimir Khalif and co-owners (in particular, Vladimir Struev and Sergey Chernobay) are listed, along with Mr. Popov, among the co-founders of a number of other companies. At the same time, the Alexandrinsky Theater concluded contracts with TDM until 2013, when it was headed by Mr. Popov.

What is stated in the appeal of deputy Rashkin, as St. Petersburg prosecutor Vladimir Litvinenko writes in his response to the communist (available to Kommersant), “indicates the actual existence of Grigory Popov’s affiliation with TDM JSC and may indicate his personal interest in placing purchases of the theater he heads from this company." According to the prosecutor’s letter, an investigation into possible corruption in Mr. Popov’s work is being carried out by the economic security department of the regional department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Grigory Popov told Kommersant that he never officially worked at TDM and was not the owner of the company, so there can be no talk of “real management” of it. He said that, due to his experience as a theater engineer, he acted as “a consultant to colleagues working at TDM, and precisely in this sense, an ideologist of the strategic development of the company.” Mr. Popov claims that from the moment he became director of the Alexandrinsky Theater, “for reasons of correct conduct of business,” he ceased to have anything to do with TDM. Mr. Popov explains purchases from TDM by the fact that this company was “the best in its business”: it supplied decorations not only to the Alexandrinka Theater, but also to other theaters - for example, the BDT, the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, the Mariinsky-2. Grigory Popov calls the investigation initiated against him a “witch hunt.”

Let us note that this is not the first time Valery Rashkin has shown interest in the director of the Alexandrinsky Theater. In April, he asked the Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky to relieve Grigory Popov from his post.

Maria Karpenko, St. Petersburg

Last summer, the investigative committee reported that employees of the Theater and Decoration Workshops (TDM) company, represented by Elena Kovaleva and Artem Kuspits, together with the director of the Alexandrinsky Theater Grigory Popov, acting as a guarantor, were suspected of embezzling more than 50 million rubles during the construction of the Zenit Arenas". It was this amount that was transferred for the supply of a video board for the football stadium. However, according to the Investigative Committee, the money was transferred to the accounts of shell companies and subsequently stolen.

Former vice-governor of St. Petersburg Marat Oganesyan (held in custody since October last year) and former deputy chairman of the construction committee Alexander Yanchik are also suspected of participating in fraud.

In the entire, as yet unfinished story, it is worth paying attention to the role of the person behind the TDM company itself: thanks to whose talent were specialists in installing equipment for theaters supposed to supply components for the most complex engineering facility?!

Since last summer, as soon as the press began writing about fraud in the supply of video boards, in all materials on this topic the director of the Alexandrinsky Theater was named as the ultimate beneficiary of the TDM company. There were simply no St. Petersburg media who would not write about this: Zaks.ru, S-Petersburg.ru, DP.ru. Fontanka... Izvestia spoke about the same thing. Over the past 6-8 months since the appearance of these publications, Grigory Popov has made no attempt to challenge this statement. Despite the fact that in a July interview he called himself simply “a theatrical engineer who, due to experience, became the leader and ideologist of TDM.” And the investigative committee itself calls him the de facto leader.

“When you need, as they say, “to shake your name,” I help my colleagues,” he commented on his participation in the activities of this company. At the same time, he is a guarantor for many of its contracts worth more than 32 million euros. By the way, the director of the TDM company himself did not even come under suspicion of embezzling money during the construction of the Zenit Arena. Although he is a witness in the case, he is more of a nominal witness.

You could read about the multimillion-dollar adventures of the TDM company quite recently through links in search engines: the ill-fated video board for 50 million seems like just seeds in comparison with the schemes in which this company was involved. Now there is practically nothing about it in Yandex, and Google makes a remark in its search results.

Has the Minister of Culture finally found himself “under the hood”?

According to a correspondent, a high-profile corruption scandal broke out in St. Petersburg. The director of the Alexandrinsky Theater Grigory Popov is suspected by the prosecutor's office and the police of a corruption conspiracy.

Popov is accused in a case of theft during the construction of the Zenit Arena stadium. According to investigators, Mr. Popov exercised “real management” of the company « « (JSC TDM) - it was with her that the general contractor for the construction of the stadium concluded an allegedly fictitious contract, which formed the basis of the criminal case.

At the same time, during the years of Mr. Popov's leadership of the theater, TDM received several orders from Alexandrinka with a total amount of more than 150 million rubles.

Three years ago, the general contractor for the construction of the stadium was the company « Transstroy « entered into a contract with TDM for the supply of two video boards for 168 million rubles, received 50 million rubles. advance payment, but did not fulfill the contract. According to investigators, it was Mr. Popov who led this process.

Grigory Popov.

Although formally Grigory Popov has nothing to do with the TDM company, in fact he is its close partner through his close people, in particular, through the general director of the company Vladimir Khalif and its co-owners Vladimir Struev and Sergei Chernobay.

And that is not all. It turned out that the Alexandria Theater had a fairly close business relationship with TDM for many years, including when Mr. Popov was the head of the company.

Is Oganesyan also in business?

To the company's machinations « Theater and decoration workshops « , according to security officials, the now former vice-governor of the northern capital, Marat Oganesyan, is involved. The case concerns the installation of a scoreboard at the new St. Petersburg football stadium.

The vice-governor, under the threat of suspending payment for work performed, forced the general director of Inzhtransstroy Vitaly Lazutkin to conclude a contract with the company « Theater and decoration workshops « for 168 million rubles, 50 million of which were transferred in the form of an advance and stolen through affiliated companies STK and Promelektrika SPb.

If Oganesyan was responsible for the strategy, then the technical part, according to the investigation, was carried out by the director of Alexandrinka Grigory Popov (in fact, he controlled TDM).

Searches.

Repeated searches were carried out regarding thefts during the construction of the stadium on Krestovskaya Island in St. Petersburg. According to their results, the first leaders of TDM were included in the development of the security forces.

In particular, the financier of JSC Theater and Decoration Workshops, Elena Kovaleva, and the director of Stage Technology Construction, Artem Kuspits, were taken under arrest.

Grigory Popov was also interrogated by the investigation, however, the matter did not go further than interrogations. The director of Alexandrinka remained at large. It must be said that searches related to the theater industry of the city on the Neva have simply become a regular occurrence.

The role of Medinsky.

So, a few months ago, FSB operatives searched the North-Western Directorate for Construction, Reconstruction and Restoration of the Ministry of Culture (St. Petersburg business center "Lenizdat" on the Fontanka embankment)

The reason was a criminal case regarding the disappearance of the design budget for the new stage of the Theater of Europe. The FSB was interested in how a structure under the direct supervision of Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky managed to withdraw several tens of millions of rubles.

In 2013, the Ministry of Culture signed a contract to design the stage of the Academic Small Drama Theater (Theater of Europe) on Zvenigorodskaya Street, 7. The contractor for the work, worth 250 million rubles, was the company Theater and Decoration Workshops (TDM, founder and general director Vladimir Khalif). The project was never implemented, the contract was terminated.

Only now the government money disappeared in an unknown direction.

Since Vladimir Medinsky headed the Russian Ministry of Culture, the department has simply been mired in scandals. And the case with TDM is only the latest case. The story of the theft of more than 100 million rubles is still on everyone’s lips. allocated for the restoration of the so-called cultural heritage.

Vladimir Medinsky.

Medinsky’s former deputy, Grigory Pirumov, served time for creating a group of Ministry of Culture officials who entered into government contracts with unreliable information and inflated costs for restoration work.

Money was stolen (note that it was budget money) intended for the restoration of the Novodevichy Convent, the theater in Pskov, the St. John the Baptist Monastery and the Museum of Cosmonautics in Kaluga.

By the way, if we return to the already mentioned TDM more than once, there are persistent rumors that Vladimir Medinsky himself may ultimately be behind the company. At least, this is what they persistently whisper about in St. Petersburg theater circles.

And he could simply frame Popov as a scapegoat. Why should the Minister of the Russian Federation soil himself with commercial transactions, and of a very dubious nature! But will Grigory Popov want to remain silent now?

Things are taking a serious turn. And on the eve of the presidential elections and the World Cup, he may be given a suitable promotion as a demonstrative flogging. Did Vladimir Rostislavovich fidget in his ministerial chair?

Director of the Alexandrinsky Theater Grigory Popov left his position. Interlocutors at the institution reported this to Business Petersburg; the information was confirmed by the head of the theater’s press service, Elena Gerusova.

As the press service said, Popov wrote a letter of resignation of his own free will on April 24. Popov's place will be taken by Rinat Dosmukhamedov, Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation for Taxes and Duties. He was presented to the troupe and theater staff on April 25, but the order from the Ministry of Culture has not yet been received by the institution’s personnel service. According to DP's interlocutors at the theater, Dosmukhamedov had no connections with Alexandrinka before this.

Dosmukhamedov graduated from MGIMO University of the Russian Foreign Ministry with a degree in International Journalism. From 1992 to 1996 he worked as head of the department for public relations and press at MGIMO University of the Russian Foreign Ministry, and graduated from MGIMO graduate school. Since 1998, he began working in the tax authorities: he held the positions of deputy head, head of the Public Relations and Media Relations Department of the State Tax Service of Russia. From 1999 to October 2001, he held the position of deputy head of the Moscow Department of the Ministry of Taxes of Russia, and from December 2001, head of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Taxes of Russia. In 2002, he was appointed Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation for Taxes and Duties. In March, he became the new chairman of the board of directors of the Asia-Pacific Bank.

Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky, in an interview with RBC in 2015, called Dosmukhamedov his long-time business partner.

“Renat Dosmukhamedov, with whom we started in the 1990s, rose to the rank of Deputy Minister of Taxes, and until this year was the trade representative of the Russian Federation in the United States,” said the head of the Ministry of Culture.

According to Business Petersburg, the reason for Popov’s dismissal was the interest in his activities on the part of law enforcement agencies. As the Kommersant newspaper wrote in December 2017, with reference to the St. Petersburg prosecutor, an inspection of possible corruption in Popov’s work is being carried out by the economic security department of the St. Petersburg department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In addition, in March 2017, Popov and the former vice-governor of St. Petersburg were charged with embezzling more than 50 million rubles during the construction of the St. Petersburg stadium. The press service of the St. Petersburg department of the Investigative Committee reported that Oganesyan, being the curator of the construction of the arena, hired a company (TDM) as a subcontractor and transferred 50 million rubles to it for the supply of two video boards, knowing in advance that the money would be stolen. The Investigative Committee’s statement said that Popov “exercised real leadership” of TDM. Popov himself then stated that he did not work for the company, but acted as a consultant to colleagues working at TDM. He emphasized that after his appointment to the post of director of Alexandrinka, he ceased to have anything to do with TDM “for reasons of correct conduct of business.” He explained the fact that from 2013 to 2015 TDM received several orders from the theater totaling more than 150 million rubles by the fact that he considers the company the best on the market, and by the fact that other large theaters in Russia worked with it.

The TDM company is also involved in a case of theft during the construction of a new stage of the Maly Drama Theater. In August 2017, after searches, it became known that a criminal case had been initiated related to the contract that the department had concluded with TDM. According to its terms, the contractor had to design a new stage for the Academic Small Drama Theater (Theater of Europe) at 7 Zvenigorodskaya Street, for which he received 250 million rubles. As a result, the construction was never completed. The Ministry of Culture tried to recover 45 million rubles of unpaid advance payment through the court, but the claim remained without consideration, and bankruptcy proceedings were launched against the contractor. In February 2018, Maxim Korneev, the beneficiary of Stroysoyuz SV LLC, who acted as a subcontractor of the work, was detained in connection with the case.

In the same February, Fontanka reported that TDM became a participant in a criminal case related to theft during the reconstruction of the buildings of the Bolshoi Drama Theater named after G.A. Tovstonogov. According to investigators, the Ministry of Culture entered into several government contracts with the company totaling 1.9 billion rubles; the contract provided for the reconstruction and restoration of the theater building and theater equipment, including high-tech equipment. However, during the execution of the work, “unidentified persons” provided the directorate with forged documents and false information about the volume of work performed, thus illegally receiving 1 million rubles.

Select the fragment with the error text and press Ctrl+Enter