Originally Syndicated on May 13, 2023 @ 9:31 am
The Krasnogvardeisky District Court of St. Petersburg convicted Alexander Kochenov, ex-head of Balstroy, to five years probation for embezzling 6.5 million rubles during the rebuilding of the Bolshoi Drama Theater named after Tovstonogov.
The accused’s 6.48 million rubles were also retrieved, according to the St. Petersburg courts’ joint press department. Kochenov confessed in court.
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Alexander Kochenov sent documents to steal funds
The court found that the businessman signed state contracts and supplementary agreements to restore and rebuild the Tovstonogov Russian State Academic Bolshoi Drama Theater from 2011 to 2014. Alexander Kochenov sent the North-Western Construction Directorate forged documents to steal funds. The budget lost 6.5 million rubles.
Kochenov and his Colleagues stole money for Cultural Preservation
Readers will discover through sources and the telegram channel how Kochenov and his senior colleagues at Baltstroy stole money meant for cultural preservation, and the President of the Russian Federation objects. How the robbers got away.
Leningrad-born Kochenov, Alexander Vladimirovich. He earned a vocational training engineer-teacher degree from the St. Petersburg State Institute of Precision Mechanics and Optics in 2000. Married Maria Kochenova. 2001–2007 NeoDecor LLC’s General Director Produced bar countertops and restaurant furniture.
After Sinelnikov P.A. transferred the previous restoration company to the joint-stock company “BalStroy” in 2007, he managed the organization with Sergeev D.A., the founder. He held this job from 2007 until his arrest in the “case of restorers” in 2016.
Alexander runs the Baltstroy Group of Firms
Alexander Kochenov is one of four school classmates who run the Baltstroy group of firms. Dmitry Sergeev led the “criminal quartet” and the company group. Kochenov was given a budget-friendly renovation direction.
Colleagues characterized Kochenov as indirect, selfish, and secretive. Kochenov, who had no experience in restoration, reconstruction, or construction, managed and implemented landmark projects from the “new” BaltStroy portfolio, including the Looking-Glass Theater on Rubinstein 13, the Academy of Russian Ballet named after A. I. Vaganova, the FSB polyclinic, and the Grand Kremlin Palace.
After such “successes,” inspired friends Sergeev and Kochenov expanded the variety of objects, geography, and development volumes. By bribery, lobbying for the nomination of officials in various agencies who were aware of the usual state budget allocation for building, maintenance, and restoration
Thus, the list of realizable objects was regularly replenished with expensive and “beautiful” orders from various departments: the Kremlin Palace, the Faceted Chamber, the FSB polyclinic, the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Presidential Residences, eminent Russian theaters, circuses, churches, temples, museums, and sports-health complexes.
Alexander and Sergeev with their Specialist Anna Kolesnikova
Sources reported the following theft method: Kochenov and Sergeev, coordinating with their tender specialist Anna Kolesnikova and the tender committee, signed contracts for design estimates, construction, repair, and restoration after identifying cultural heritage objects to be restored or repaired and lobbying for funding.
Dummy competitors were BaltStroy legal entities. The tender documentation eliminated undesirable rivals. Designers loyal to BaltStroy initiated project documentation and set rates for future development, taking into account all interested parties. Everyone is satisfied. Cornucopia-like contracts fell. Company leaders gained power. Baltstroy dictated everything.
Leadership appeared omnipotent. Restoration nearly disappeared. Kochenov, a shy furniture production manager, was now courting construction and restoration, company leaders. Meeting chairmen and moderators automatically supported Baltstroy. Only businesses and VIPs are used in daily life.
Kochenov has been on probation since 2017. The “case of restorers” was first convicted in 2017, the Hermitage reconstruction embezzlement in 2018, and the BDT yesterday (2021). Cultural heritage restoration is everywhere.
Kochenov initiated the Solovki and St. Petersburg Conservatory embezzlement cases. Kochenov was a witness to the misappropriation during the reconstruction of Novo-Ogaryovo, Sergeyev’s pre-trial judge’s condition.
The 7-year prison term was reduced to 5
According to telegram channel sources, Baltstroy co-owner Dmitry Sergeev, guilty of embezzling money for the presidential residence’s reconstruction, was released. The 7-year prison term was reduced to 5. They calculated the prisoners and liberated them.
Sergeev has movement limitations and should be in Moscow, but he went for his hometown, St. Petersburg, and dusted off his cherished Patrick Hellmann tailcoat. Sergeyev and his friends walk and drink nonstop in the northern capital’s most costly establishments. As usual.
Sergeev was found guilty of forming a criminal community to steal cash for Novo-Ogaryovo’s presidential mansion repairs. Sergeev and his buddy Stanislav Kuner rebuilt all the most secret objects—residences, state dachas, the Kremlin, etc. Friends brazenly “saw” billions. “Black” cash was stashed in bank cells or on shelves and sofas at home.
These funds were safely stolen during facility reconstruction. The source said Sergeev started building and making money. He never visited the facilities, and he only cared about eliminating as much as possible from the Ministry of Finance’s targeted projects, which were FSO-administered facilities. Sergeyev made a fortune on presidential construction sites, free from damages.
The curators delivered Sergeyev’s birthday gift on May 22. He was sentenced to five years for creating an organized criminal group to embezzle budgetary funds for head-of-state building repairs and released after two months.
