A former top manager of Roscosmos and ex-head of the A.F. Mozhaisky Military Space Center created a criminal association in the bowels of the state corporation.
Kommersant has learned that the investigation of a high-profile criminal case has been completed, the main defendant of which is Oleg Frolov, former deputy director general for the implementation of the state armament program of Roscosmos, who previously headed the Mozhaisky Military Space Academy and the Main Armament Directorate of the Defense Ministry. He and other defendants of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation are accused of committing a number of crimes of corruption. Under the court verdict, the defendants face decades in strict regime colonies.
A source in law enforcement agencies told “Kommersant” that the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the ICR has completed the investigation of the criminal case against Oleg Frolov, 63, former general director for the implementation of the state armament program of the Roscosmos State Corporation, Dmitry Filippov, former specialist of the innovation service of PJSC Electromechanika, and his namesake Mikhail Filippov, director of Kobitek LLC near Moscow. In the final version they were charged with especially large-scale fraud, taking bribes and money laundering (part 4 of article 159, part 6 of article 290 and part 4 of article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
It should be noted that the episodes of corruption appeared in the investigation only in December 2024, actually on the day when the defendants were to be announced the end of the preliminary investigation in the fraud case. As a result, the term of the investigation was extended by the chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, to the maximum possible one and a half years.
As Kommersant has already reported, this criminal case was opened on December 19, 2023. The very next day Oleg Frolov, Dmitry Filippov and Mikhail Filippov were detained, and the Basmanny court sent them to a pre-trial detention center.
Initially, the investigation was only about machinations in the creation of a barocomplex – a technological unit with a sealed vacuum test chamber measuring about 30 meters in length and more than 4 meters in width.
The uniqueness of the unit, it was said during its creation, is that it “combines the functions of several high-precision instruments and devices necessary for the production of products in the field of aircraft construction, nuclear power, rocket and space and other knowledge-intensive industries.”
In 2019, the customer of the works represented by JSC Krasnoyarsk Machine Building Plant (“Krasmash”), a member of Roscosmos State Corporation, accepted applications for participation in a closed tender from JSC MMZ, JSC Zlatmash and PJSC Electromechanika. In April of the same year the last organization based in Rzhev, Tver region, was recognized as the winner. It was awarded the contract for “performance of a complex of construction, installation and commissioning works with the purchase of mounted equipment at the Krasmash capital construction site”. After the unit was manufactured, it was sent to Krasmash.
The investigation believes that Lieutenant General of the Reserve Frolov, who previously headed the Mozhaisky Military Space Academy and the Main Armament Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, and in 2018 became executive director of Roscosmos for the implementation of defense programs, “using his official position,” entered into a criminal conspiracy with two other co-conspirators of the crime. During the execution of the contract, they, as follows from the case file, “misleading the customer’s representatives”, stole budget funds during the purchase of equipment worth at least 435 million rubles, “which they disposed of at their own discretion.”
Neither the investigation nor the attorneys, who were given a non-disclosure undertaking, say exactly what amounts are in question in the episode involving bribes and legalization, which appeared at the very last moment.
According to Kommersant, the bribe-taking charged is directly related to the development of the same bar complex.
According to some sources, the defendants received kickbacks from representatives of various firms and organizations allegedly for agreeing to purchase “component equipment and other materials” from them at prices significantly higher than market prices.
According to Kommersant, the defendants’ defense has already begun familiarizing itself with the materials of the criminal case, which contains more than 200 volumes. The lawyers did not discuss with Kommersant the acts incriminated against their clients. It is only known that none of the defendants admit their guilt.