Shashaev Aleksei Evgenievich

Shashaev Aleksei Evgenievich

Biography

Alexey Shashaev was born on September 25, 1962 in Moscow.

Deputy Head of the IT Department of Rosoboronexport

Since the beginning of the 2000s, he worked as deputy head of the information technology department of FSUE Rosoboronexport, whose general director was Andrei Belyaninov.

Head of GUIT FCS

On June 13, 2006, a month after Belyaninov was appointed head of the Federal Customs Service (FCS), he was hired by the department as head of the Main Directorate of IT. Upon appointment, he received a special rank of colonel of the customs service and a bonus "for complexity, tension and a special regime of service" in the amount of 120% of the official salary. He rose to the rank of lieutenant general of the customs service.

Transfer to Ukraine

In 2014, he headed the FCS representative office in Ukraine.

Criminal case

2014: Corollary

In October 2014, it became known that the Main Investigation Department of the TFR in Moscow opened a criminal case against Alexei Shashaev under Part 3 of Art. 285 of the Criminal Code (abuse of office, entailing grave consequences). On November 5, 2014, he and his defenders were summoned to the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation to face charges. For the alleged crime, the general faced up to ten years in prison. Almost all other defendants in this high-profile case were first identified in the pre-trial detention center.

In turn, the defense did not rule out that the TFR, having notified the general in advance of the investigative actions, may have tried to put pressure on him, provoking him to escape, but Alexei Shashaev "is not going to hide, as he intends to prove his innocence," the defense said.

According to the investigation, Lieutenant General Shashaev, heading the main department of information technologies (GUIT) of the FCS, and his subordinate, deputy head of the equipment planning department by means of informatization , Elena Soboleva, abused their powers by entering into informal relations with the company "SBL-Technologies" - a long-time partner of the customs service. In an effort to make money on contracts with a company that produces software for Oracle-based system used in the FCS, GUIT employees prepared the terms of the 2012 competition in such a way that only "SBL-Technologies" could win it. At the same time, the cost of the contract itself, which was announced on the portal of public services zakupki.gov.ru, according to investigators, was overestimated to 332 million rubles. so that merchants could then "roll back" to its organizers a pre-agreed 15% of the funds paid to them.

The actual value of the contract, which was eventually concluded with SBL-Technologies, was determined by the TFR at 206 million rubles. And the damage caused by the actions of the FCS employees to the state, according to investigators, amounted to 125 million rubles.

At the same time, the investigation considers the organizer of the criminal group not customs officers, but the entrepreneur Igor Beregovsky, who is the co-founder of SBL-Technologies. He, according to investigators, involved in the case of another co-founder of this organization - Stanislav Sorokin, and they have already persuaded them to participate in the competition for kickbacks of the general director of SBL-Technologies Vyacheslav Lysakov.

According to Kommersant's publication, the investigation of the high-profile case began after Vyacheslav Lysakov's confession to the investigating authorities in the fall of 2013. Kommersant, agreeing to cooperate with the investigation, under the control of the operatives cashed out 76 million rubles, which were to be transferred in parts to Stanislav Sorokin, and he, in turn, to Igor Beregovsky. The latter, the investigation calculated, will bring the kickback to his people in the FCS.

However, the special operation failed. Stanislav Sorokin, having twice received banknotes, whose numbers were rewritten in advance, did not transfer them along the chain, but put them in his bank cell. For the third time, when Vyacheslav Lysakov finally managed to meet with both founders of SBL-Technologies in the Baku Boulevard restaurant on December 12, 2013, all three were detained by FSB officers. At the same time, they issued the receipt by the founders of LLC of 46 million rubles. True, Igor Beregovsky refused to cooperate with the investigation and carry money under the control of operatives in the FCS, saying that he had no corruption ties at customs. As a result, all three were charged under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code (fraud on an especially large scale). Vyacheslav Lysakov remained at large, and his accomplices Sorokin and Beregovsky were arrested by the Presnensky District Court.

After that, investigators and operatives took up an employee of the FCS Soboleva, who was preparing the competition. At first, according to the defense, she was also offered to cooperate, but she refused. And in February 2014, without finding a woman in Moscow, the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation put her on the wanted list. However, it turned out that she is not hiding, but is being treated in the departmental sanatorium of the FCS in the Caucasian Mineral Waters. There, after the woman reported her whereabouts to the investigator by telegram, she was detained, but the Kislovodsky City Court refused the TFR to place her in a pre-trial detention center, limiting herself to house arrest. Only in May 2014, after long proceedings, the Presnensky District Court identified her in the chamber, and at the meeting the accused and her defense announced the pressure exerted on them in order to obtain testimony against high-ranking employees of the FCS.

On October 28, 2014, when Elena Soboleva was charged with a new version, adding to the fraud part 3 of Art. 286 of the Criminal Code (abuse of office with serious consequences), she gave detailed testimony to the investigation. In them, in particular, it was reported that the FCS employee did not admit her guilt, and she did not enter into a criminal conspiracy with entrepreneurs and even more so with General Shashaev. According to the accused, she did not disclose official information on the preparation of the competition to representatives of SBL-Technologies and did not make the so-called bookmarks in the conditions of the auction, thanks to which it was this company that won.

Elena Soboleva explained the need for the tender itself by "numerous failures and errors" in the work of specialized programs used by the FCS. In addition, Elena Soboleva drew the attention of the investigation to the "inconsistency of the accusation" that the 15 percent amount of kickback that the members of the criminal group allegedly expected to receive clearly does not correspond to an unreasonable overestimation of the cost of the state contract by 125 million rubles, according to the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee.

In turn, the defense of Lieutenant General Shashaev, having familiarized himself with the materials of the investigation, appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office, pointing out the illegality and unreasonableness of initiating a criminal case. As it became known to Kommersant, the lawyers believe that it is generally unclear from the decision of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation what kind of criminal actions their client could have committed. According to them, General Shashaev was not personally engaged in the development of tender documentation, did not enter any data into it and did not exclude it from it, being one of the eight members of the FCS commission for the placement of government orders. Moreover, all other members of the commission were not subordinates of the general, and he could not influence the decision of the deputy head of the FCS included in it.

The link of the investigation to the "bookmarks" in the conditions of the competition, which allowed the "SBL-Technologies" to win it, the lawyers called it unacceptable, since the auction was held on an open platform, each of their participants had access to information and could fulfill the requirements of the FCS. The very results of the auction were not disputed by anyone, the contract was fully fulfilled back in January 2014. SBL-Technologies recovered more than 30 million rubles through arbitration with the FCS - money not paid to the company for the last stage of work under the state contract.

"The allegations of the investigation about the commission of crimes by General Shashaev are based on the testimony of the accused, who are simultaneously participants in this crime and are dependent on the investigation, so they cannot be recognized as reliable in any way^[1] said^[1]

Stanislav Sorokin decided to cooperate with the investigation, after which he was transferred from the pre-trial detention center to house arrest.

2015: The Court

On April 8, 2015, it became known that former officials of the FCS of Russia, Lieutenant General of the Customs Service Alexei Shashaev, Colonel of the Customs Service Elena Soboleva and two accomplices Igor Beregovsky and Vyacheslav Lysakov, accused of fraud and abuse of power, will appear before the court in Moscow. The criminal case with the approved indictment was sent to the Tverskoy Court of Moscow for consideration on the merits.

At the end of November 2015, new preliminary hearings were held in the Tver Court of Moscow in the case of embezzlement of FCS funds. The judge again rejected all the defense's petitions, but the defendants' side intends to challenge the ruling.

The first preliminary hearings on the theft of budget money allocated for the preparation of software for the FCS took place in May-June 2015. Then the lawyers filed several petitions, including those related to the recognition of a number of case materials as inadmissible evidence and the inclusion of other documents as such, as well as a request to release the accused from arrest, choosing some other preventive measure for them. The defense explained the possibility of releasing the defendants in the criminal case by the fact that they cannot influence the course of the investigation or put pressure on witnesses so that they change the testimony in their favor.

FCS officials accused of millions of "kickbacks" under state contract twice failed to convince judges

The judge dismissed all these motions and proceeded to hear the case on the merits. However, Neverova's decision was appealed to the appellate instance of the Moscow City Court. At the same time, the appellate instance rejected the defense complaint about the illegal extension of the arrest of the FCS representative in Ukraine, retired Lieutenant General Alexei Shashaev, Deputy Head of the Equipment Planning Department by means of informatization Elena Soboleva, General Director of SBL-Technologies LLC Vyacheslav Lysakov and entrepreneur Igor Beregovsky, after which their lawyers sent a supervisory complaint to the Presidium of the Moscow City Court.

It was reviewed at the end of October 2015. Members of the presidium called the rejection of a number of defense petitions unreasonable. Especially the judges were embarrassed by the withdrawal of lawyers, as well as a poorly motivated refusal to revise the preventive measure by the defendants. True, as it turned out at the same meeting of the presidium, the defendant Beregovsky himself subsequently refused the services of the assigned lawyers.

As a result, the presidium of the city court canceled the decision of Judge Tatyana Neverova and returned the case to the Tverskoy Court at the initial stage. At the end of November 2015, the new judge of the Tver court, Aleksey Krivoruchko, who presides over the trial, again rejected all the defense's petitions, setting the substantive hearings for December 10, 2015. The defense is going to again challenge the results of the preliminary hearings.^[2]

2016: Sentence - five years in prison

At the end of July 2016, the court sentenced Alexei Shashaev to five years in prison with serving in a general regime colony, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation said. The official was found guilty of fraud, as a result of which 125 million rubles were stolen from the budget.

According to the prosecution, in 2011-2012 Shashaev, together with his subordinate Elena Soboleva, organized the conclusion of a state contract with SBL-Technologies for the supply of software for the Oracle system. The terms of the contract, according to prosecutors, were drawn up specifically for SBL-Technologies, and its cost was overestimated by 125 million rubles, which the participants in the conspiracy planned to divide among themselves.

Alexey Shashaev during the announcement of the verdict in the Tver court of Moscow (Photo by TASS)

The court sentenced Elena Soboleva to five years in prison. Co-founder and general director of SBL-Technologies Igor Beregovskaya and Vyacheslav Lysakov received seven and three years in prison, respectively.

The court also ordered the convicts to return 125 million rubles to the budget of the Russian Federation.

The RF IC notes that the investigation of this criminal case was of particular difficulty in view of "the careful preparation of accomplices for the commission of a crime, as well as the conspiracy of their illegal activities."

The defense, as Kommersant previously wrote, stated that there was no corpus delicti in the actions of the accused. Defense representatives claimed that Alexei Shashaev was only one of the members of the commission that decided to conclude the contract, and the value of the contract was determined by the specialists of the company "RDTECH," one of the distributors of Oracle. The work under the contract was fully completed, while the FCS did not transfer 30 million rubles to the contractor at the set time, which was the subject of a separate trial.

The defense intends to appeal the verdict, Interfax reports^[3].

2018: Parole

In September 2018, Alexei Shashaev was released on parole when he had to serve 1 year 11 months 4 days of punishment.

2021: Accusation of abuse of power in the purchase of non-working software

On April 27, 2021, it became known that the former Chief information officer of the FCS Alexei Shashaev, who already has a criminal record, will be try again. He is accused of abuse of office.

According to the prosecutor's office, in Moscow June 2013, the head of the Main Directorate of the information technology FCS approved the act of acceptance of the inoperable, software which was bought for more than 440 million. rubles At the same time, he, according to the investigation, "realized that the acceptance of inoperable IC UAIS (automated systems) could lead to significant property damage."

Former Chief information officer of the FCS Alexei Shashaev will be tried for the purchase of non-working software for 440 million rubles

The investigation believes that the general knew about the delay in the execution of the contract through the fault of the contractor and about changes in "external conditions for the use of the product produced under this contract." But Shashaev did not report this to the leadership due to possible reputational losses. In addition, he did not take any measures to amend the contract and did not give instructions on the application of penalties against the contractor.

Instead, in May 2013, he concluded an additional agreement to the state contract, where he made changes that the contractor, no later than June 2013, should introduce the developed software product exclusively into the pilot operation of the FCS. This meant that it was impossible to use the UAIS throughout the customs system.

Alexey Shashaev is accused of committing a crime under Part 3 of Art. 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of office, entailing grave consequences). The new criminal case was sent for consideration on the merits to the Dorogomilovsky Court of Moscow. The accused was chosen a preventive measure in the form of a recognizance not to leave the place and proper behavior, the press service of the capital's prosecutor's office reports.^[4] A former senior Federal ^[5]

2023: Sentence - five years in prison

In early April 2023, Alexei Shashaev was sentenced to five years in prison, with the deprivation of the right to hold positions related to the exercise of the functions of a government official for a period of three years. The former head of the Main Directorate of Information Technologies of the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation was found guilty under Part 3 of Art. 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of office, entailing grave consequences).

According to the press service of the Moscow prosecutor's office, in 2009 Shashaev controlled the execution of the state contract between FCS Russia and a commercial company for the development and implementation of integrated components of a single automated information system that automate key customs business processes.

Alexey Shashaev

According to the investigation, Shashaev, reliably knowing about the contractor's unreasonable delay in the deadlines for fulfilling the contract, organized its acceptance by the members of the relevant commission, approved the act of acceptance of the technical services performed, which made it possible to accept inoperative software, for the development of which in the period from February 2010 to July 2013. payment totaling more than 440.5 million rubles was transferred to the settlement accounts of the contractor.

61-year-old Alexei Shashaev was taken into custody in the courtroom (he was under recognizance not to leave) and will serve his sentence in a correctional colony. According to Kommersant, the former Chief information officer of the FCS analyzed the charge in detail and, together with his lawyer, asked the judge to terminate the criminal case for the absence of a crime event. However, the judge fully satisfied the demand of the prosecutor's office. The newspaper also drew attention to the fact that Shashaev was again deprived of his general title, repeating in this part the decision of the Tverskoy District Court. Earlier, he sentenced Alexei Shashaev to a five-year term for fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), also related to software products for the FCS.^[6][7][8][9]

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