Agafonova Olga Vyacheslavovna

Agafonova Olga Vyacheslavovna

Biography

2023: Indictment of PCR test supply scam

In Astrakhan, a criminal case was initiated against the former first deputy and deputy minister of health of the region on suspicion of abuse of office. The press service of the regional department of the TFR announced this on July 26, 2023.

According to investigators, in June 2020, the suspect, being the first deputy minister of health of the region, acting out of selfish and personal interest in the interests of the director of a diagnostic development and production company previously familiar to her and wishing to show himself to be an effective employee, put forward to him a demand for charitable assistance to the Ministry of Health of the Astrakhan Region in the form of a free supply of enzyme-linked immunoassay test systems for diagnosing COVID-19, subsequently guaranteeing the unhindered conclusion with the latter of contracts for the supply of medical devices to the ministry.

Further, in November 2020, the woman, acting as the organizer of the crime, gave an illegal instruction to the Deputy Minister of Health to prepare documents for concluding a state contract with the above-mentioned company for the supply of PCR test systems for diagnosing COVID-19 without an auction and in the absence of the need to acquire them.

The latter, using its official position and fulfilling deliberately illegal instructions for it, in December 2020, without conducting auction procedures, entered into 2 state contracts totaling over 48 million rubles for the supply of reagent kits for detecting coronavirus infection by PCR, most of which did not meet the requirements and were less than 7 months.

In 2022, part of the reagent kits purchased under the mentioned state contracts was written off due to an unnecessarily purchased quantity.

Thus, the illegal actions of the suspects led to ineffective spending of budget funds for the purchase of an unreasonably large number of medical devices and caused damage to the Ministry of Health of the Astrakhan Region for a total amount of over 31 million rubles, the ICR reported without specifying names. According to Kommersant's^[1]Astrakhan investigators detained^[2] Health of the region Olga Agafonova.^[3]

2024: Real term in the case of procurement of tests for coronavirus

In early June 2024, a court in Astrakhan sentenced two former deputy ministers of health of the region, finding them guilty of abuse of office. Olga Agafonova and Elena Ivanova received real terms of imprisonment.

According to the materials of the investigation and the court, in June 2020, Olga Agafonova, acting out of selfish motives and personal interest, suggested that the director of the diagnostic drug development company provide the Ministry of Health of the Astrakhan Region with charitable assistance in the form of a free supply of test systems for diagnosing COVID-19. In exchange, she promised to ensure the conclusion of contracts for the supply of medical devices in the future.

source = Spotlight

In November 2020, Agafonova gave an illegal instruction to Elena Ivanova to prepare documents for the conclusion of a state contract with this company for the supply of PCR tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19. The contract was concluded without holding an auction and without the need to purchase them. In total, two contracts were signed in the amount of over 48 million rubles.

At the same time, the shelf life of most of the supplied reagent kits was less than seven months, and in 2022 some of them had to be written off. The damage to the Ministry of Health of the Astrakhan Region was estimated at 31 million rubles, which was subsequently repaid by the supplier. The criminal case on the fact of fraud against the supplier is considered separately.

According to the press service of the regional department of the Investigative Committee, the Leninsky District Court of Astrakhan sentenced Olga Agafonova to five years in prison in a general regime correctional colony, and Elena Ivanova to four years in prison. Both former officials are also deprived of the right to hold certain positions for a period of 2.5 years.^[4]

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