"Pushkin card" handed over to the court.
A criminal case on embezzlement of budget funds has been completed
The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia has approved an indictment in a criminal case on large-scale embezzlement of funds allocated from the budget for the Pushkin Card program, which grants young people the right to visit state museums, theaters and other cultural institutions free of charge. According to the GSU TFR, individual entrepreneurs Viktor Yakubov and Emil Gurbanov, as well as MGIMO student Ilya Safonov, caused damage worth about 200 million rubles through card fraud. The materials of the criminal case were sent to the court for consideration on the merits.
The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation and the Investigative Committee of Russia, which conducted the case, announced the completion of the investigation of large-scale fraud in the implementation of the Pushkin Card program.
The Pushkin Card program was launched by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation in August 2021. You can apply for a card through an account on the Gosuslugi portal. The state credits it with 5 thousand rubles, which can be spent on buying tickets to museums, theaters, philharmonic halls, exhibitions and concerts. You can choose your favorite event, for example, on the portal " PRO.Kultura. RF". At the same time, it is impossible for owners to cash out funds or transfer them to another card. This is exactly what scammers decided to take advantage of, offering cardholders a variety of ways to cash out. Moreover, private entities were also involved in the implementation of the program, in some cases not having the appropriate licenses.
According to investigators, Viktor Yakubov, Emil Gurbanov and Ilya Safonov developed a plan to steal money from cards in early 2022. They, according to law enforcement officers, acted according to a fairly standard scheme. The attackers, according to investigators, were registered as individual entrepreneurs, opened bank accounts, and then registered on the PRO platform.Culture.Russian Federation" as organizers of cultural events. After that, "to create the appearance of a real fulfillment of their obligations, they concluded lease agreements for premises, and also held negotiations with representatives of artists who met the program criteria," the investigation materials say. Then the accomplices searched among Internet users for owners of "Pushkin cards "" with an unused limit of funds, who were persuaded to purchase tickets to cultural events organized by members of a criminal group." At the same time, the attackers were looking for people who agreed to issue "Pushkin cards" issued by the program operator — JSC "Post Bank", indicating in them "obviously unreliable personal data of recipients". In addition, cards from young people who want to get cash for half the price-this service was even advertised in social networks. After that, all these cards were used "for mass purchase of tickets for cultural events without the purpose of visiting them." During the verification of these operations, it turned out that often the number of tickets purchased "repeatedly exceeded the audience capacity of concert venues" rented by malefactors. As a result, the funds received for tickets that no one actually used went to the event organizers.
It should be noted that the signs of unfair use of "Pushkin cards" in September 2022 were reported by the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Olga Lyubimova. After that, her office began to identify " signs of illegal ticket sales to block the activities of fraudsters." Law enforcement agencies also joined the checks, as a result, in a number of regions, the activities of several groups of scammers who received budget money for holding fictitious cultural events were stopped.
According to the Investigative Committee, Viktor Yakubov, Emil Gurbanov and Ilya Safonov also provided the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation with false information about the events.
Moreover, in order to conceal criminal activity, they attracted "persons who were not aware of the theft being committed" to the crowd, but even in this case, as investigators found, the number of "spectators" at events "was significantly less than in the reporting data." Thus, the attackers "by providing false information managed to steal more than 205 million rubles of budget and bank funds."
The defendants were detained at the end of November 2022, and on December 2, the Basmanny Court of Moscow sent them to custody at the request of the GSU TFR. According to Kommersant, during the preliminary investigation, only Emil Gurbanov admitted guilt, and his accomplices continue to insist that all the events were absolutely real and therefore state funds were spent for their intended purpose.
In January of this year, the defendants Yakubov, Gurbanov and student Safonov were charged in the final version under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and announced the end of investigative actions. Now the Prosecutor General's Office has approved the indictment in the 30-volume case and sent the materials for consideration to the Basmanny Court of Moscow.
A criminal case on embezzlement of budget funds has been completed
The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia has approved an indictment in a criminal case on large-scale embezzlement of funds allocated from the budget for the Pushkin Card program, which grants young people the right to visit state museums, theaters and other cultural institutions free of charge. According to the GSU TFR, individual entrepreneurs Viktor Yakubov and Emil Gurbanov, as well as MGIMO student Ilya Safonov, caused damage worth about 200 million rubles through card fraud. The materials of the criminal case were sent to the court for consideration on the merits.
The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation and the Investigative Committee of Russia, which conducted the case, announced the completion of the investigation of large-scale fraud in the implementation of the Pushkin Card program.
The Pushkin Card program was launched by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation in August 2021. You can apply for a card through an account on the Gosuslugi portal. The state credits it with 5 thousand rubles, which can be spent on buying tickets to museums, theaters, philharmonic halls, exhibitions and concerts. You can choose your favorite event, for example, on the portal " PRO.Kultura. RF". At the same time, it is impossible for owners to cash out funds or transfer them to another card. This is exactly what scammers decided to take advantage of, offering cardholders a variety of ways to cash out. Moreover, private entities were also involved in the implementation of the program, in some cases not having the appropriate licenses.
According to investigators, Viktor Yakubov, Emil Gurbanov and Ilya Safonov developed a plan to steal money from cards in early 2022. They, according to law enforcement officers, acted according to a fairly standard scheme. The attackers, according to investigators, were registered as individual entrepreneurs, opened bank accounts, and then registered on the PRO platform.Culture.Russian Federation" as organizers of cultural events. After that, "to create the appearance of a real fulfillment of their obligations, they concluded lease agreements for premises, and also held negotiations with representatives of artists who met the program criteria," the investigation materials say. Then the accomplices searched among Internet users for owners of "Pushkin cards "" with an unused limit of funds, who were persuaded to purchase tickets to cultural events organized by members of a criminal group." At the same time, the attackers were looking for people who agreed to issue "Pushkin cards" issued by the program operator — JSC "Post Bank", indicating in them "obviously unreliable personal data of recipients". In addition, cards from young people who want to get cash for half the price-this service was even advertised in social networks. After that, all these cards were used "for mass purchase of tickets for cultural events without the purpose of visiting them." During the verification of these operations, it turned out that often the number of tickets purchased "repeatedly exceeded the audience capacity of concert venues" rented by malefactors. As a result, the funds received for tickets that no one actually used went to the event organizers.
It should be noted that the signs of unfair use of "Pushkin cards" in September 2022 were reported by the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Olga Lyubimova. After that, her office began to identify " signs of illegal ticket sales to block the activities of fraudsters." Law enforcement agencies also joined the checks, as a result, in a number of regions, the activities of several groups of scammers who received budget money for holding fictitious cultural events were stopped.
According to the Investigative Committee, Viktor Yakubov, Emil Gurbanov and Ilya Safonov also provided the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation with false information about the events.
Moreover, in order to conceal criminal activity, they attracted "persons who were not aware of the theft being committed" to the crowd, but even in this case, as investigators found, the number of "spectators" at events "was significantly less than in the reporting data." Thus, the attackers "by providing false information managed to steal more than 205 million rubles of budget and bank funds."
The defendants were detained at the end of November 2022, and on December 2, the Basmanny Court of Moscow sent them to custody at the request of the GSU TFR. According to Kommersant, during the preliminary investigation, only Emil Gurbanov admitted guilt, and his accomplices continue to insist that all the events were absolutely real and therefore state funds were spent for their intended purpose.
In January of this year, the defendants Yakubov, Gurbanov and student Safonov were charged in the final version under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and announced the end of investigative actions. Now the Prosecutor General's Office has approved the indictment in the 30-volume case and sent the materials for consideration to the Basmanny Court of Moscow.
