Very interesting things are happening in the state order of the Leningrad region. Here the firms of the disgraced ex-deputy chairman of the government, Oleg Koval, are easily pushed aside from the contracts the structures of PJSC Gazprom, close to the top management of the state corporation.

Олег Коваль

Rucriminal.info studied the purchase for the construction of a gas pipeline in Tikhvin, with an initial price of 93.2 million rubles. Three companies entered the auction, two of which offered to complete the work for almost 20 million rubles less than the declared price of the lot. But the State Order Committee of the Leningrad Region rejected their applications, the winner was OOO Nevskaya Construction Company (NSC) with a price offer of only 1 million less - 92.3 million rubles. The complaint about the purchase in the regional OFAS, of course, was recognized as unfounded - the antimonopoly department under the leadership of Alexander Pleteshkov is very friendly with the state order committee.

It is not a secret for anyone in the specialized market of the Leningrad Region that NSK LLC, owned by Vladimir Arakelyan, is closely connected with the former deputy chairman of the Lenobalsti government for housing and communal services and the fuel and energy complex, as well as billionaire Oleg Koval. While Koval was in office, Arakelyan's structures regularly won major contracts for the construction of gas pipelines. In January 2019, Koval was arrested by FSB officers in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. A native of Gazprom structures was charged with episodes of major fraud in 2013 and placed in an isolation ward. Later, he entered into a pre-trial agreement, reimbursed the damage to the budget and went first to house arrest, and then to a subscription, although other episodes related to his activities are still occupied by investigators. 47news reporters noted that the first criminal case against Koval was initiated just in the wake of a serious economic conflict between the regional authorities and the deputy chairmen of the board of Gazprom PJSC Markelov (current) and Golubev (former). Now Koval is at large with a suspended sentence of 7 years. Colleagues from the Privy Sovetnik channel said that a bribe of several tens of millions of rubles, transferred by Koval through his son to FSB officers, contributed to such an easy punishment.

So, returning to the results of the purchase, it can be noted that Koval takes revenge (and at the same time, he obviously reimburses his material loss). The fact is that one of the two companies rejected from participation in the auction is OOO Gazstroy North-West, a fairly confident contractor for Gazprom, with contracts worth 4.3 billion rubles. As Rucriminal.info found out, now the main owner of the company is Vyacheslav Kiiski, a relative of Arthur Kiiski, a native of Gazprom structures, who until July of this year headed the tariff committee of the Lenobalsti government. Among the former owners of this company is Ant-Inform LLC. Now this shop is called LLC "MRGT" and is building the Rhythmic Gymnastics Center in Sochi, which is firmly associated with the name of Alina Kabaeva. The company is headed by Tatiana Savostenok, who, according to the telegram channel VChK-OGPU, is jokingly called the avatar of the state corporation's top manager Elena Mikhailova by Gazprom.

So in the Leningrad region, proximity to Gazprom's "space" does not guarantee easy money. We have only one question - can the regional committee of the state order make decisions without the knowledge of the governor Drozdenko? Or Koval is being deliberately allowed to compensate for the loss in gratitude for the silence during his arrest?

To be continued

Denis Zhirnov