Help on Tele2, tariffs, questions

At the leading Belarusian factories, only workers do not take bribes. Reuters photo

Yesterday, the State Security Committee (KGB) of Belarus reported that the manager of the Fund was detained while receiving a bribe social protection population Lyudmila Bachilo. A day earlier, the KGB announced the disclosure of corruption schemes at the largest machine-building enterprises.

The events that the KGB declassified yesterday took place on 15 December. Information about the detention of several employees of the National Bank walked in the media and social networks at the level of rumors. In total, eight people - leaders and officials - were detained in this case. Lyudmila Bachilo, manager of the local Pension Fund (FSZN), was detained while accepting a bribe in the amount of $20,000 from Dmitry Ronin, director of SZAO BelABM, a computer equipment supplier.

The briber was also detained. The head of the company paid the official for "facilitating" the victory in the tender for the supply of equipment to the fund. Together with them, two more representatives of SZAO "BelAVM" and one employee of the fund were detained. In addition, behind bars were the chairman of the board of JSC "Non-bank credit financial institution"Single settlement and information space" Oleg Veremeychik, who received bribes from the same company earlier, and two employees of the National Bank - Anatoly Moroz and Ekaterina Pavlovskaya. The scheme was the same - the company wins the tender, supplies equipment, officials receive "gratitude". Interestingly, the success of SZAO "BelAVM" in participation in tenders was noted back in 2015. By the way, among the state organizations to which she supplied computer equipment, not only the National Bank and the Social Security Fund, but also the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

A day earlier, on Monday, the KGB reported "on the suppression of unlawful actions of officials of MTZ OJSC, MAZ OJSC, BelAZ OJSC, Gomselmash OJSC." They also signed contracts with commercial enterprises for kickbacks.

Belarusians are not surprised by corruption scandals - the authorities are proud that they “fight” this evil, willingly and regularly imprison officials and directors of large commercial enterprises behind bars, and then with no less pleasure releases them for big money. Not so long ago, a special rule appeared in the Belarusian legislation for this “struggle”, which allows the release of economic criminals and corrupt officials to freedom if they repay the damage caused to the state. The cost of freedom is not always announced, but not so long ago, in one of the cases, the figure of $ 20 million appeared. With such a number of criminals, a good income is obtained for the state. Statistics so far only record an increase in the number of corruption crimes. This year's account is still open, but, for example, for last year there were 60% more of them than a year earlier. About 500 people were convicted for this kind of crime.

Experts have long been saying that corruption in Belarus cannot be eradicated, firstly, because it is generated by the established system of power and is an integral part of it. Secondly, because it is beneficial to the authorities. “The modern Belarusian economy has a high corruption component,” opposition politician Lyudmila Gryaznova comments on the situation. “The impersonal state remains the owner of enterprises; directors are only temporary administrators of nobody's property. Theft in enterprises and at all levels of the managerial hierarchy is an integral internal property of this artificial structure,” she writes.

The Soviet structure of the economy is alive in Belarus, and with it all its concomitant diseases - theft and fraud. “Everything possible was dragged from Soviet enterprises and warehouses by everyone who could, from workers to directors. And not because of the irresponsibility of the staff. But because the state, having expropriated someone else's property, underpaid for labor. Accordingly, the personnel compensated for the “underdone” due to the left,” the politician reminds. The same thing is happening in contemporary Belarus, which boasts a low official level of income stratification, but just look at the homes of high-ranking officials who have wage does not exceed 2 thousand dollars, as it becomes clear that official statistics are very far from real life.

The high level of centralization of funds in the budget, the huge public sector, the lack of real effective owners of enterprises, the low salaries of the directorate, despite the fact that huge amounts of money pass through their hands, all these are factors that contribute to corruption.

Local observers are sure that the source of wealth of high-ranking officials and directors is not a secret for the authorities, but compromising evidence is accumulating on them for the time being. “Ransoms” from corrupt officials, of course, will not be enough to repay Russia's debt for gas, but some smaller financial problems can be solved with their help, Belarusians argue, commenting on regular detentions. Economic situation everything is getting worse in the country, and the only and main donor of the past years is Russia - a loan from the Eurasian Fund social development slows down, sells gas at a high price, also does not allow making money on the processing of cheap oil and even refuses to buy food. In this situation, the Belarusians can only use the internal resource. Corruption included.

Hearings on the case of bribery in the Bank of Belarus and the Social Protection Fund began yesterday in the court of the Leninsky district of Minsk.

The head of the BelABM company, Dmitry Ronin, was interrogated as the defendant, who is accused of bribing some employees of these organizations. In particular, the presentation of a bribe of $ 20,000 to Lyudmila Bachilo, who at that time held the position of the manager of the Social Security Fund.

According to Ronin, his company has been a partner of the Foundation since the late 90s, when it created a computer network for it, which it then served.

The accused said that "once every 2-3 years" BelABM won the tenders of the Social Protection Fund for the supply of technical equipment.

By the way, the company's website indicated that it carried out joint projects with the Presidential Administration, the Council of Ministers, State Control bodies, the KGB and other ministries and departments of the country. This site is currently being updated.

Mr. Ronin added that his relationship with the head of the Social Security Fund, Lyudmila Bachilo, “has grown from a purely official and businesslike into an informal one.” One of the manifestations of such a transformation was the “go-ahead” received by Ronin’s driver from his boss to provide technical services for Bachilo's personal car.

According to the prosecution, Ronin's driver repaired the vehicle of the Fund manager from 2013 to 2016. For these purposes, 31.5 million rubles were spent. non-denominated rubles. At the same time, Bachilo said that she herself paid for the repair of her Mercedes.

Speaking about the fact that he did not pay for the repair of Bachilo's car, Ronin said that in 2016 she wanted to return the money spent on these purposes to him. However, the accused “graciously forgot about them.” And no one else remembered them, although Bachilo, contradicting her own testimony, claimed that she had given money for car repairs.

Regarding the $20,000 bribe allegations, Ronin said the Fund manager never demanded money. However, he himself wanted to thank her for everything, including the tenders won, so with his deputy Romanovich, discussing the amount of gratitude, they decided to stop at $ 20,000. Because I liked the figure.

When Ronin took the money to her, he was nervous, feeling that he was being watched by KGB officers, with whom “somehow we didn’t work out in life.” Later, operatives of the State Security Committee detained him.

According to Bachilo, she was curious to see what gift Ronin had given her, but she didn't have time to do so. He, on the contrary, says that the official saw the money transferred in the package. She put this bag in her bag.

Dmitry Ronin pleaded guilty, saying that he stopped drawing a line "between personal, law and business." He also publicly repented for his deeds.

Over the past two days, the KGB has detained at least 15 people for bribes, including seven high-ranking people: officials and business leaders. We are looking into what happened and why the schemes that led to these people being detained are typical for Belarus.

December 19: at least 8 people were detained, among them the heads of MTZ, MAZ, BelAZ and Gomselmash

On December 19, news broke that the KGB had detained officials from four major state-owned enterprises: MTZ, MAZ, BelAZ, and Gomselmash. Members of management and factory workers received money from commercial structures for promoting their products. It has been established that since 2013 these people have received bribes in the amount of at least 200 thousand US dollars for accepting defective raw materials and components, issuing fictitious quality reports and obtaining information about promising developments.

Cover art: Julien Pacaud

From 5 to 7 December, while receiving bribes in the amount of more than 7,500 rubles, four representatives of MTZ, MAZ and BelAZ were caught red-handed. Among them is Deputy CEO"MTZ" (aka financial director) Nina Primshits. In addition to them, four more employees of the design and planning and economic divisions of the MTZ plant were detained for previously received bribes in the amount of 40,000 rubles. All the detainees were prosecuted under Articles 430 (Taking a bribe) and 433 (Accepting illegal rewards) of the Criminal Code. All suspects have been taken into custody.

Vladimir Kovalkin, head of the Kosht ​​Urada project, comments on the “rollback” scheme:

Vladimir Kovalkin, photo: ideaby.org

“Such a corruption scheme is called “acceptance of unnecessary goods, or goods inadequate quality- in exchange for a rollback, of course. She looks like this. A tender is announced. In order to win on the price criterion, one of the companies reduces the price to a minimum and offers the lowest quality product or even defective product in order to earn more. Other firms cannot reduce the price as much because they offer a good quality product, the cost of which is higher. As a result, the firm with the lowest price and defective product wins. And so that at the time of acceptance of the defective goods there are no problems, representatives of the supplier and the buyer agree in advance on the "rollback".

What does "promotion" mean? The buyer could convince his colleagues that these products were of the right quality at an acceptable price. He could also share the kickback with stakeholders within the organization. Buying a defective product as a quality one, the company suffers a loss: it receives the product needed for production, and subsequently is forced to write it off as defective. The interest of the buyer is in the rollback, the interest of the supplier is that he sells goods of inadequate quality above the market price. The motivation is standard: privatization of profits, nationalization of losses. The enterprise belongs to the state, it is not private - accordingly, problems with marriage will fall on the money of the state and taxpayers. And the workers will get themselves extra money in the form of a kickback and will live happily ever after - everything is very simple.

December 20: 7 people were detained, including an IT businessman and officials from the Social Security Fund and the National Bank

Yesterday, December 20, similar news appeared: the KGB announced that it had crossed "large-scale corruption schemes" between employees of the BelABM company, headed by the general director Dmitry Ronin(according to Ezhednevnik, he ranks 130th in the ranking of the most influential businessmen in Belarus) and representatives of government agencies: the Social Security Fund, ERIP and the National Bank. SZAO BelABM has existed for more than 20 years, is one of the leaders of the Belarusian market of system integrators and a partner of more than ten leading IT companies. Most of its turnover is government orders.

On December 15, while receiving a bribe in the amount of $ 20,000 from Ronin, the manager of the Social Protection Fund was caught red-handed Ludmila Bachilo. The bribe was transferred for assistance in recognizing BelABM as the winner of the auction for the purchase of equipment for the Social Security Fund. A criminal case was initiated against Bachilo under article 430 (taking a bribe), against Ronin - under article 431 (giving a bribe) of the Criminal Code.

In addition, the KGB detained two employees of BelABM, including the deputy general director Nikolai Romanovich- for complicity in the transfer of a bribe to the manager of the Social Security Fund.

As it turned out, Romanovich is an Orthodox philanthropist and a believing "dacha resident" from Minsk, who built a church on the shore of Lake Bolduk.

This is the territory national park"Narochansky" and the hydrological reserve "Shvakshty", where construction is prohibited. The situation provoked protests from local residents (only Catholics live in the nearest village) and members of the public. After all, the construction of the temple and the camp around it destroyed the conservation of unique places.

The head of the Department of Informatization of the Federal Social Security Service was also arrested Vitaly Starovoitov– he was responsible for the preparation of tender documents for the purchase computer science and for his "help" received a bribe of $4,000. According to the KGB, the three of them developed the “necessary” terms of reference, which allowed BelAVM to win the auction.

In addition to officials from the Federal Social Security Fund and the leaders of "BelAVM", the chairman of the board of "ERIP" was detained for corruption Oleg Veremeychik. In July 2016, he received $9,000 from Ronin, and in November 6,400 euros for helping to conduct a "negotiated" tender for the supply of equipment worth about 28 billion non-denominated rubles. Also, officials from the National Bank received bribes from BelABM: the head of the main department of monetary and financial monitoring Anatoly Moroz and his deputy Ekaterina Pavlovskaya. Frost took the money three times ( total amount- not less than $13,000) for the fact that BelABM was chosen as a supplier of equipment, and also was an intermediary in giving a bribe to Pavlovskaya.

All the detainees have been prosecuted and are now in custody.

The schemes are commented by the head of Kosht ​​Urada Vladimir Kovalkin:

“There was a situation typical for Belarus, when the buyer and the supplier agree on a deal. To reduce competition, the customer creates a narrow specification, under which only the products of a certain supplier can pass. In this case, we are talking about the Federal Social Protection Fund as a customer who purchases equipment, and about BelABM as a supplier that has exclusive rights to supply it. Most often, in order to simulate competition and for the purchase to take place, the customer adds a controlled company to the tender or auction, which acts as an extra and puts the price higher.

In the end, the right company wins. By the way, the sensational purchase of validators took place exactly according to the same scheme.

Judging by the situation, the KGB officers knew about this deal, followed it, and, most likely, someone from the supplier organization collaborated with them (for example, who was previously caught in a dubious deal). Perhaps, in return, they promised him to reduce the term or replace it with a suspended one for helping to catch “big fish”.

Why are there so many delays now? Perhaps there is a political motive in this. Top management is trying to explain to the heads of state bodies and enterprises in this way: the times when there was a lot of money in the budget are over, and you need to moderate your appetites in terms of corruption. Most likely, all these detentions were sanctioned by the president, because officials such high level without his knowledge, they are unlikely to be arrested.”

Top 8 detained officials and leaders

Deputy General Director of MTZ Nina Primshits
Social Security Fund Manager Lyudmila Bachilo
Director General of BelABM Dmitry Ronin
Deputy General Director of BelABM Nikolay Romanovich
Vitaly Starovoitov, Head of the Department of Informatization of the Social Security Fund
Chairman of the Board "ERIP" Oleg Veremeychik
Anatoly Moroz, Head of the Main Department of Monetary and Financial Monitoring of the National Bank
Deputy Anatoly Moroz Ekaterina Pavlovskaya

However, these are not all those detained during these two days - in total there were at least 15 people (the KGB did not give the exact number of participants in all cases).

Noticed a mistake in the text - select it and press Ctrl + Enter

The KGB of the Republic of Belarus, as part of the fight against corruption, uncovered and suppressed large-scale corruption schemes organized by employees of SZAO BelABM, headed by General Director Dmitry Ronin, in which representatives of government agencies , - the press service of the State Security Committee reports. What happened? As is known from a press release, on December 15 this year, Dmitry Ronin tried to give a bribe in the amount of 20 thousand US dollars to Lyudmila Bachilo, manager of the Social Protection Fund of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. The latter was caught red-handed. The money, according to the KGB, was intended as a reward for "assistance in recognizing SZAO BelABM as the winner of the auction for the purchase of equipment for the needs of the Fund." A criminal case was initiated against Lyudmila Bachilo under part 3 of article 430 (taking a bribe), against Dmitry Ronin - under part 2 of article 431 (giving a bribe). In addition, Nikolai Romanovich, Deputy General Director of CJSC BelAVM, who was an accomplice in the transfer of a bribe, as well as Leonid Gorbachevsky, an employee of the SZAO, were detained. Vitaly Starovoitov, the head of the FSZN informatization department, who was preparing tender documents for the purchase of computer equipment, was also detained. - These persons, being in a criminal conspiracy, developed the "necessary" terms of reference, which allowed SZAO to win the auction. Vitaly Starovoitov, through the mediation of Leonid Gorbachevsky, received a bribe of $4,000 for his assistance, the KGB says. Who else was detained by the employees of the State Security Committee for corrupt ties with SZAO "BelAVM": - Oleg Veremeychik, Chairman of the Board of OJSC "Non-banking Credit and Financial Organization "Single Settlement and Information Space" ("ERIP"). In July 2016, he received from Dmitry Ronin 9 thousand US dollars, and in November of this year - 6,400 euros for assistance in organizing and conducting in the interests of BelABM a "negotiated" tender for the supply of equipment in the amount of about 28 billion non-denominated rubles (about $1.4 million). - Head of the Main Department of Monetary and Financial Monitoring of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus Anatoly Moroz, as well as his deputy Ekaterina Pavlovskaya. According to the KGB press service, Anatoly Moroz received no less than $13,000 in bribes from Dmitry Roin for choosing SZAO BelABM as the supplier of equipment, as well as for the fact of his mediation in receiving Pavlovskaya's bribe. On these facts criminal cases are raised. The detainees are taken into custody. Recall that Komsomolskaya Pravda has already written that there were rumors in banking circles about detentions at the National Bank. They talked about four, and then about two detainees. True, at that time neither the National Bank, nor the KGB, nor the Investigative Committee commented on the rumors.

On Wednesday, in the Leninsky District Court of Minsk, within the framework of hearings on the case of corruption in the Social Security Fund and the National Bank, the head of the BelABM company, Dmitry Ronin, was interrogated, who is accused of giving bribes to employees of these departments. The most sensational episode was 20 thousand dollars for the then manager of the Social Protection Fund of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, Lyudmila Bachilo.

The businessman recalled that the BelABM company had been a partner of the Social Security Fund since the late 90s, when it built a computer network for the fund. Subsequently, the company served this network. According to Ronin, the company "once in two or three years" won the tenders of the Federal Social Protection Fund for the supply of equipment. After the 2009 crisis, the Social Security Fund suspended the purchase of network equipment and personal computers for several years, but “there was a need for them, because the fund was switching to new system communications”, writes TUT.BY

Dmitry Ronin "with customers of such a level as the Social Security Fund" has always tried to build good relations. Earlier on the BelABM website it was noted that the company implemented projects with the Presidential Administration, the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB, the KGK and other significant government agencies. The company's website is currently under reconstruction.

“At the initial stage [with the FSZN], there were various overlays, but then relations were normalized,” Ronin said. Gradually, his relationship with the fund manager Lyudmila Bachilo "from purely official and business-like grew into informal." This, in particular, was expressed in the fact that he allowed his driver to "patronize" Bachilo's personal car.

According to the state prosecution, in 2013-2016, the driver of Ronin was engaged in the repair of the car of the head of the Social Security Service. According to the provided bills, signed by Ronin's driver, a total of 31.5 million non-denominated rubles were spent on the maintenance of the Mercedes. Most of amounts were for 2016. Bachilo insisted that she always paid for the repairs herself.

On Wednesday, Dmitry Ronin said that in 2013-2015 the fact that the maintenance of Bachilo's car was paid for by his money "was never reported to him." If that were the case, he probably knew about it. At the same time, Ronin admitted that in 2016 Lyudmila Bachilo wanted to return the money for repairs to him. The driver said that the money given by Bachilo was not enough. “I said that let him take [from those that he constantly allocated for current needs]. And I'll deal with it myself. When I was going fishing, I stopped by [to the Federal Social Protection Fund]. Lyudmila Timofeevna tried to give me this money, but I said that I would take it when I was going back, otherwise I would lose it. Then I kindly forgot about them,” Ronin said. In the future, "no one remembered them." Previously, Bachilo claimed that she gave money for car repairs.

As for the episode with a bribe of 20 thousand dollars, according to Ronin, Lyudmila Bach never demanded money. But the businessman believed that she should be thanked for a combination of factors - victories in two tenders and a fairly prompt resolution of issues related to payment for contracts. Ronin discussed the amount of such gratitude with his deputy Romanovich. “At first we decided that it would be 40,000 [dollars], that is, 7% of the volume. Then, due to the absence enough cash and the fact that the amount was not discussed with her, settled on 20 [thousand dollars],” the businessman explained. Answering the question of the judge, how the amount of gratitude was determined, whether this figure was “an established practice”, the head of BelABM said that he simply “liked the figure”. “If they hadn’t been detained, of course, I would have given the remaining 20 [thousand dollars]. Conscience tormented,” he added.

Before taking the money, Dmitry Ronin was very nervous. “I thought about how she would react, whether she would take [the money] or call the police. But her “berries” added confidence,” said the businessman. He was also nervous because he felt that the KGB was following him. “In life, somehow we did not work out with the KGB,” Ronin stated.

Lyudmila Bachilo claimed that she was interested to look at Ronin's gift, but "didn't have time." “I saw that she opened the black bag. She saw that there was money in the bag. Unfortunately. Maybe she doesn't remember it. Then I put this package in my bag,” Ronin said today.

As for the Belarusbank commemorative coin, Dmitry Ronin said that Bachilo did not take it on purpose. He suggested that the coin could have originally been in a bag that he "took from his closet." Therefore, the businessman took all the blame. Previously, Bachilo claimed that it was her coin and the security services unreasonably attributed it to Ronin. “The coin was in my desk. I wanted to thank Ronin for the New Year's greetings and the 'candy'. So I put it in Ronin's first bag [which contained a bundle of money]. But he quickly left. I didn’t get a gift,” Bachilo explained today.

Dmitry Ronin regretfully admitted that in 25 years he had lost the line "between personal, law and business." “I admit all my guilt and repent. I was obliged not to do these things, ”summed up Ronin.

Recall that at the end of 2016, the KGB announced the discovery of corruption schemes organized by employees of the well-known system integrator BelABM, headed by CEO Dmitry Ronin (in court, he was named adviser to the head of BelABM), in which representatives of the Federal Social Protection Fund, the National Bank and ERIP were involved. Eight people were in the dock, including civil servants and top managers of a well-known supplier of computer equipment and IT solutions. Two of them are not in custody, six are in a "cage". Officials are accused of abuse of power or official authority out of mercenary or other personal interests, as well as taking bribes. Businessmen - in giving bribes.