Rector of “Shaninka” Sergei Zuev was charged with embezzlement of 21 million rubles

The investigation brought charges against the rector of the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences (“Shaninki”) Sergei Zuev in the case of embezzlement of 21 million rubles.

“The charge has been brought, Sergei Eduardovich does not agree with him. We cannot comment on the merits of the accusation, ”- said RBC is the lawyer of the accused Ruslan Kozhura.

Another lawyer of Zuev Sergey Sevruk explained “Interfax” that Zuev had already been interrogated as an accused and “informed the investigation that he had not conspired with anyone.”

October 13 Tverskoy District Court of Moscow sent Zuev under house arrest instead of detention. And on October 18, the metropolitan prosecutor’s office filed a complaint against the court’s decision.

Zuev was detained on October 12 in the case of embezzling 21 million rubles from the Fund for New Forms of Education Development. Together with the rector of the university, the former deputy minister of education Marina Rakova is taking part in the same case. In this position in the government, she, according to the investigation, received state funding for a project for the Fund for New Forms of Education Development, which she herself headed. In addition, Rakova stole funds when concluding government contracts for the implementation of the Teacher of the Future project in 2019, investigators say. Shaninka was the contractor for the Teacher of the Future.

According to the findings of the investigative expertise, reports on ongoing scientific research have signs of falsification. The investigators estimated the amount of embezzlement at 50 million rubles.

Lawyer Sevruk confirmed that the case involved two contracts with an initial value of 50 million rubles. However, during the year they were not executed in full and were terminated by agreement of the parties. By that time, the performers had already received 21 million rubles. Where is this money, the lawyer does not know. According to him, Zuev is not familiar with Rakova.

On October 7, Rakova was arrested for two months and charged under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code (fraud committed by a group of persons on an especially large scale). The former official faces imprisonment for up to ten years.

As part of the investigation of the same criminal case, ex-employees of the fund Yevgeny Zak and Maxim Inkin (now top managers of Sberbank are managing directors of the Digital Education Platforms division of Sberbank, which was headed by Rakova after leaving the government), as well as the former executive director of Shaninki ”, teacher of RANEPA Kristina Kryuchkova. They were charged under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code.

On October 6, the court arrested the general director of the Foundation for New Forms of Education Development Artur Stetsenko, Rakova’s common-law husband, in a major fraud case. According to the investigation, he was placed in the fund fictitiously at the time when the organization was headed by Rakova. His salary from 2017 to 2019 amounted to more than 9 million rubles.