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The Head Office of the RF Investigative Committee is investigating a case over the stealing and embezzlement of at least 50 million rubles allocated from the federal budget to build infrastructure for theVostochny space launching site. The investigation was opened in a crime under part 4 of Article 160 of the RF Penal Code (misappropriation and embezzlement).

The investigation has established that an administration (business) complex which included a hotel, an engineering complex and a catering center, was planned to be built in 2013 under the Federal program Development of Russian Space Launching Sites in 2006-2015 and its subprogram Creation of Infrastructure for the Vostochny Space Launching Site. The federal budget allocated 143 million rubles for the project, while OOO PSK Mikos, the general designer of the space launching site, with Sergei Ostrovsky as its founder and CEO, was charged with the execution of the work. The latter combined his job with the position of the chief engineer of a project at OAO 31^st State Design Institute of Special Construction.

Ostrovsky managed to arrange for MIKOS to be employed thanks to the support of his acquaintances at Roskosmos, OAO IPROMASHPROM and the Board of the Vostochny space launching site. He knew that MIKOS had no necessary technical or human resources, but using his connections and relations, he fraudulently gained that the contract was concluded with MIKOS promising to develop the bulk of project documentation under the government contract in due time.

Using patronage of Roskosmos’s officials and other responsible people, Ostrovsky did nothing, but arranged so that forged acceptance certificates were signed in December 2013 and based on them received 70 million rubles on the account of MIKOS in January 2014. To hide his failure to meet the obligations, Ostrovsky employed his subordinates from 31^st State Design Institute of Special Construction and a familiar architecture bureau to do part of the work for free.

Well-planned, complex and hushed-up scheme, as well as protection of the officials made it impossible to reveal the crime for a long time. It was thanks to professional and competent job done by the investigators, that made it possible to get evidence of the embezzlement.

As a result, the Investigative Committee’s Head Office initiated criminal proceedings against Ostrovsky and unidentified members of the criminal group suspected of stealing more than 70 million rubles allocated to build the administration (business) infrastructure for the Vostochny space launching site under Part 4 of Article 159 of the RF Penal Code (fraud).

At present, investigative operations are underway to find out all the circumstances surrounding the stealing and to identify Ostrovsky’s accomplices from Roskosmos, the Board of the Vostochny space launching site and OAO IPROMASHPROM.

Before that, Ostrovsky has already been convicted of a similar crime – stealing of money allocated to design the Vostochny space launching site.

Acting Head of Media Relations                                                                                                             S.L. Petrenko