After a series of corruption scandals, the Moscow Region Ministry of Transport has been involved in yet another dubious deal. In particular, the leadership of the Ministry of Transport of the Moscow Region entered into a concession agreement with MVS Group LLC to expand the network of traffic cameras.
It is known that in the spring of 2017, 1055 “control lines” should appear in the Moscow region in addition to the 302 cameras already installed. By the way, at each such “frontier” (i.e. at a traffic control point) there may be several cameras.
This contract was concluded for 12 years, and its amount is 4.9 billion rubles. In addition to this money, MVS Group LLC will receive 233 rubles from each fine issued to drivers.
Scandal in Krasnodar
It is worth noting that one of the owners of MVS Group is the Krasnodar-based LLC Scientific and Production Enterprise MVS (NPP MVS). Previously (in 2013), employees of the Research and Production Enterprise MVS maintained the Krasnodar system for recording violations.
Then a major scandal broke out with the so-called “fake fines”. The point is that the leadership of the Krasnodar traffic police allowed employees of NPP MVS to remotely make changes to the data obtained using cameras.
As a result, drivers began to be fined for violations that they did not commit, and the prosecutor’s office intervened in the matter. Now such “penal lawlessness” can happen in the Moscow region.
"Kickbacks" in the Ministry of Transport
It would seem that after the scandal in Krasnodar, officials of the Moscow region should not have trusted the “contract for cameras” to such a dubious company as MVS Group, since its “related” structures had already been “exposed” to “fraud” with illegal fines.
However, it seems that the new Minister of Transport of the Moscow Region, Mikhail Oleynik, who took this post in January 2016, is not particularly frightened by the scandals associated with MVS Group. By the way, Oleinik was previously an adviser to the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov.
Earlier, a whole series of corruption scandals occurred in the Ministry of Transport of the Moscow Region. As it turned out, the owner and general director of NPO Prizma LLC, located near Moscow, Sergei Laskin received an offer from officials to “pay” a kickback in the amount of 17 million rubles to the head of the department for organizing the activities of the Ministry of Transport of the Moscow Region, Sergei Naydenov. — he allegedly demanded this amount for Prizma’s participation in the installation of road surveillance cameras.
By the way, the head of the State Public Institution “Security Center” was also detained earlier. traffic Moscow region" Konstantin Bragin, to whom most of the "kickback" was intended. Even the former head of the Moscow Region Ministry of Transport, Alexander Zaitsev, was searched.
I wonder what kind of “kickback” could the authorities of the Moscow region get from MVS Group if this deal was concluded at the very beginning of the ministerial career of the ex-adviser to Governor Oleynik?
Claims to the governor
Anti-corruption fighters have already suspected the head of the Moscow region that he can personally lobby the interests of MVS Group. By the way, Vorobyov was previously an entrepreneur and was involved in the “fishing business”, and his brother (Maxim Vorobyov - editor’s note) is a co-owner of the Russian Aquaculture holding (formerly called the Russian Sea).
Andrey Vorobyov, head of the Moscow region
The head of the Moscow region has previously been accused more than once of irrational spending from the budget. For example, thanks to deputies of the Moscow Regional Duma loyal to Vorobyov, a law was passed abolishing free travel on Moscow public transport for pensioners. As it turned out, with this decision Andrei Vorobyov could “free up” 2.5 billion rubles. from the regional budget, supposedly to spend on their own PR.
In addition, I remember a scandal when officials near Moscow (including employees of the administrative office of the governor of the Moscow region) spent more than 1.77 billion rubles on car rental. In general, “you can’t forbid living beautifully.”
Owners of MVS Group
It seems that now the governor’s team has decided to seriously make money on “road contracts” together with the owners of MVS Group.
The ownership structure of MVS Group LLC is already known to the general public. According to media reports, the general director of the company is Alexander Gusev, who is also the owner of 76% of the company. Previously, he was the general director of GC MVS GROUP LLC, among the owners of which is the ex-Minister of Communications, head of the board of directors of MTT Group Leonid Reiman, ex-general director of Norilsk Nickel and member supervisory board Rosselkhozbank Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, former general director of Itera Vladimir Makeev and Svetlana Kiyko (this is the name of the wife of the deputy director of the Federal Drug Control Service Mikhail Kiyko). All of them became co-owners of GC MVS GROUP on December 31, 2015.
It is interesting that Reiman, Strzhalkovsky and Makeev have connections with the head of the Moscow region (or leverage on him). For example, lending by Rosselkhozbank to the agricultural sector can be influenced by Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, under whom, by the way, the so-called “internal corruption” at Norikel has increased significantly.
Reiman factor
Mr. Makeev, according to rumors, has an interest in real estate near Moscow, but ex-minister Reiman controls a number of factories located in Zelenograd, bordering the Moscow region (namely, the Angstrem Group of Companies).
The Angstrem group of companies includes Angstrem OJSC (parent company, design and production of products electronic technology and semiconductors); OJSC Angstrem-T (a plant under construction for the production of ICs based on the 130-90 nm topology) and NPO Angstrem. According to media reports, Angstrem Group of Companies is owned by ex-Minister of Communications Leonid Reiman.
Anti-corruption fighters believe that in exchange for concluding a contract with MVS Group, Reiman can share so-called “kickbacks” with Vorobyov. Or their subordinates may be involved in corruption.
Raider
By the way, the former Minister of Communications and his associates were accused of having managed to seize Megafon and other assets in the communications sector in an almost raider manner. Let us recall that Reiman gained control over Megafon when his subordinate Telecominvest became the owner of the cellular company North-West GSM, from which Megafon, one of the operators of the Russian “big three” mobile phones, later grew.
And in the mid-1990s this holding carried out an additional issue, after which a controlling stake in its shares ended up with an unknown Luxembourg company First National Holding (FNH). Already in the mid-2000s, Danish lawyer Jeffrey Galmond, a good friend of Reiman, identified himself as the owner of FNH.
Criminal proceedings
However, if in the Russian Federation Reiman was never brought to criminal responsibility, then abroad the ex-Minister of Communications of the Russian Federation has already been “beaten up” quite seriously by investigative authorities.
For example, the prosecutor's office of the German city of Frankfurt am Main was investigating a criminal case of laundering $150 million of Russian origin, in which the name of the former Minister of Communications of the Russian Federation Leonid Reiman appeared. The defendants in the case were Danish lawyer Jeffrey Galmond and four former Commerzbank managers - Michael North, Vadim Vinogradov, Uwe Jenssen and Thorsten Erdmann.
After some time, this case was closed. Rumor has it that the German security forces “for political reasons” decided to leave Mr. Reiman alone.
But at the end of 2013, Finnish law enforcement agencies began investigating cases of possible money laundering by Leonid Reiman in Finland. The case was initiated by the country's National Bureau of Investigation (KRP), which is probing the minister's activities from 2004 to 2008.
Police suspect that Reiman, while a minister, transferred more than $11 million in income from telecommunications business in Russia to the Cyprus company Albany Investment and the IPOC International Growth Fund, an offshore registered in Bermuda.
It seems that now the time has come for the Russian security forces to check Reiman’s “corruption dealings” in the Moscow region. Previously, Reiman had great political influence, but then he lost it. The ex-Minister of Communications lost both the position of Advisor to the President and the post of Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC Svyazinvest. After Reiman lost his “political weight,” he became “easy prey” for investigators. It is possible that the investigative authorities will decide to “shake” his assets located near Moscow, which could threaten the former minister with a prison sentence.
Delivery of notifications via mail is actively gaining ground and is also relevant with online notifications or mobile SMS. In this way, public and private structures inform the recipient about some important event. What to do if you receive a letter from MVS Group LLC, and is it worth receiving it? More on this later.
What to expect from the letter?
Letter from MVS Group LLC - notification of a recorded traffic violation. Attached to the letter usually comes proof of the violation, namely a photograph. As a rule, the fact of a violation has already been noted in the traffic police, which involves issuing a fine depending on the nature of the violation.
Judging by the reviews, you should not expect any other information from this correspondence, only fines and proof of violation. Letters are distributed from regional postal centers Podolsk, Krasnogorsk, Troitsk, Moscow.
Is it possible to ignore an incoming letter?
This is strongly not recommended. In addition, the letter will contain evidence of the violation. It is necessary to receive a registered letter even in cases where the existing fine is known. The presented photograph may be useful in the event of a challenge to the violation.
About the company MVS Group LLC
This company specializes in concession projects related to photo and video recording. The purpose of the concession is to improve road safety and conduct anti-terrorism activities.
MVS Group LLC is a private investor that won the tender from the Moscow government. The company will independently install all the necessary equipment, and will also use its own servers to process incoming data. The total investment is 5 billion rubles.
According to the terms of the agreement, deductions in the amount of 233 rubles will be made from each fine identified with the help of investor funds and paid by the violator. It is assumed that the created system will operate for at least 10 years.
Troubled past
MVS Group LLC has already provided a similar service in Kuban. Then cooperation with the authorities ended in a large-scale scandal related to the issuance of illegal fines. The investigation is ongoing, but no violation on the part of the company has been identified, and the blame has been placed on the traffic police officers who replaced the received data.
This fact could alert the Moscow leadership, but, nevertheless, Better conditions offered specifically to MVS Group. At the level of rumors, there is talk of a connection between management and high-ranking officials, but in fact this is not reflected anywhere.
What to do if you receive an erroneous fine?
You can appeal the decision within 10 days after the driver was notified of the fine, i.e. after receiving a registered letter by mail. What to do next? There are several options.
- Visit government online resources (Ministry of Internal Affairs.rf/services-traffic police, www.gosuslugi.ru, http://gibdd.rf) and check the issued fines. If you do not agree with the decision, then here you can submit a complaint or statement with evidence of innocence.
- File a complaint directly with the agency that issued the fine. If you are not comfortable being present during the appeal, then it is enough to note in the application a request to consider the case without personal participation.
The traffic police do not have many options to notify you of a fine, but they are obliged to do this: via telephone, in a letter, or through your account in State Services. There may be a time when a letter arrives late and there is no way to use the discount, in which case you need to check the letters in your government services account. It will be impossible to resolve the issue over the phone. If your application is rejected, then the only option is the court.
Let's sum it up
If you received a letter from MVS Group LLC (Podolsk, Krasnogorsk, Moscow, Troitsk), then this is information about the fine. Mobile notifications often arrive faster, so in most cases the driver is already informed of the problem. The presence of unpaid fines will certainly have consequences in the future, so the issue must be resolved as soon as possible.
Even despite the enormous popularization of the Internet, it is worth checking your regular mailbox periodically, since it is there that important correspondence for a person often arrives, which cannot be sent electronically.
For example, a registered letter arrived labeled MVS Group LLC. Naturally, a citizen immediately has several questions:
- Why couldn't it be sent by email?
- What kind of organization is this?
- What might be in the envelope?
- If you receive a letter from this company, is it necessary to receive it?
The answer to the first question is the nuances of domestic legislation. According to them, if a person was sent a registered letter, then this already implies familiarization with the information placed in the envelope. Even if the recipient decides to ignore receiving it. This law does not apply to electronic transmission.
What kind of organization is this and what does it send to people?
MVS Group LLC is a structure that installs special fixing equipment on the roads of our country. That is, it is she, in some regions Russian Federation Responsible for recording traffic violations.
Traffic police fines are a real goldmine, as people constantly violate traffic rules. And MVS Group, for installing its own equipment to record such offenses, receives a percentage of each fine paid.
Therefore, in an envelope marked with the name of this organization there will always be:
- Information about the offense;
- Amount of penalty imposed;
- Screenshot of evidence of traffic violation.
Today this structure operates on the territory of the capital of our state, and correspondence is sent through cities such as Podolsk, Krasnogorsk, Troitsk.
Receive? Necessarily!
This is exactly the option for registered mail, which should definitely be received at the specified post office. First of all, in order to find out about your own violations on the roads of Russia and quickly make amends to the state.
In addition, it is worth knowing another important nuance - sometimes fines are issued erroneously. You can appeal the penalty within ten days after reading the information. If you do not receive an envelope in the mail, then a person may simply miss such an opportunity. The deadline will expire and he will have to part with a certain amount of money.
You can appeal the notification received by personally visiting the structure that compiled the protocol. It is not necessary to stand in line and wait for the results of the review - you can simply write and leave a corresponding application. The second option is to go to the official online website of one of these structures and leave a request for review of the case there in a section specially designed for this.
The Moscow region authorities entered into an agreement with the MVS Group company: it will install more than a thousand traffic cameras in the region, and will return the money spent through deductions from each fine - 233 rubles. for 12 years. Three years ago, this company was already servicing cameras in Kuban - at the moment when a scandal broke out there with fines issued for minor violations. In addition, as Kommersant found out, a company with a similar name, owned by ex-Minister of Communications Leonid Reiman, ex-head of Norilsk Nickel Vladimir Strzhalkovsky and other well-known persons, is indirectly connected with MVS Group.
Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Region Government Denis Butsaev told Kommersant that the Moscow Region Ministry of Transport has entered into a concession agreement with MVS Group LLC to expand the network of traffic cameras. In the spring of 2017, 1,055 “control lines” (each can include multiple cameras) will appear in the region, in addition to the 302 cameras already installed. The contract was concluded for 12 years, during which time MVS Group will receive a fixed 233 rubles. from every fine issued by the traffic police and paid by citizens. The total contract amount is 4.9 billion rubles.
In 2015, according to the Moscow Region Road Safety Center, 3 million decisions worth 1.8 billion rubles were issued thanks to cameras near Moscow. Thus, each camera generates an average of 9.93 thousand fines for approximately 5.9 million rubles. Of the 1,055 “control lines,” 595 will record the passage of vehicles, the rest will take pictures for “chain letters.” According to Kommersant’s calculations, in a year, with the help of new devices, at least 4.5 million orders worth 2.7 billion rubles will be issued, MVS Group will earn about 1 billion rubles from this, that is, in 4-5 years it will recoup the investments made . Mr. Butsaev claims that the system will pay for itself within 8-12 years.
The tender for the installation of cameras was announced by the Moscow Region back in July 2015. Applications for participation were submitted by a subsidiary of AFK Sistema, Sitronics-KASU, the investment partnership MSK-SIP and MVS Group. The first two companies were eliminated by the tender commission.
The structure of the owners of MVS Group LLC is curious. According to kartoteka.ru, the general director of the company is Alexander Gusev, who is also the owner of 76% of the company. Previously, he was the general director of GC MVS GROUP LLC, among the owners of which are the ex-Minister of Communications, head of the board of directors of MTT Group Leonid Reiman, ex-general director of Norilsk Nickel and member of the supervisory board of Rosselkhozbank Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, former general director of Itera Vladimir Makeev and Svetlana Kiyko (this is the name of the wife of the Deputy Director of the Federal Drug Control Service Mikhail Kiyko). All of them became co-owners of GC MVS GROUP on December 31, 2015. The MTT Group did not comment on this, the Federal Drug Control Service did not respond to Kommersant’s request, and it was not possible to contact Mr. Strzhalkovsky’s representatives.
The second owner of MVS Group is the Krasnodar-based LLC Scientific and Production Enterprise MVS (NPP MVS). The company served the Krasnodar system for recording violations in 2013, when a scandal broke out in the region caused by a stream of complaints from drivers about fines for minor offenses. The prosecutor's office of the Krasnodar region found that the traffic police allowed employees of the Research and Production Enterprise MVS to remotely make changes to the data obtained using cameras. This follows from the response of the Prosecutor General's Office to deputy Vyacheslav Lysakov (available to Kommersant). The prosecutor's office ordered that some of the fines be cancelled, a criminal case was opened against the traffic police officers, it is still being investigated, the deputy explained to Kommersant, NPP MVS formally has nothing to do with the case. Later, Mr. Lysakov sent a letter to the Governor of the Moscow Region Andrei Vorobyov and the prosecutor’s office with a request not to allow NPP MVS to participate in the tender.
“A full check was carried out against the company, including the presence of criminal cases and arrears to the budget,” Denis Butsaev told Kommersant (read an interview with him on the website). “Requests were sent to the prosecutor’s office and investigative authorities. Nothing.” was not found. We know about the Krasnodar region: there an investigation was conducted in relation to officials, who did not comply with the conditions for the transfer and protection of personal installation data, this is a completely different subject." Regarding the company's possible connections with Messrs. Reiman and Strzhalkovsky, Denis Butsaev says the following: "We interact only with the general director of this company. Those people you mentioned did not contact us with such projects, the founders as individuals are not."
It is interesting that earlier NPP MVS wanted to come to the Rostov region, a source in the regional government told Kommersant. The company offered its partnership to the authorities, but the authorities, having checked the company’s activities and not receiving clear explanations regarding the mechanism of its interaction with executive bodies, decided to suspend “concession negotiations” with it for now. Deputy General Director of NPP MVS Ivan Brets redirected Kommersant for comments to the General Director of MVS Group Alexander Gusev - he did not answer calls all last week.
Experts are skeptical about the concession idea. “The company is interested in maximum punishment for drivers,” says Sergei Ryadko, lawyer for the Freedom of Choice motorists movement. “Its income does not directly depend on traffic safety, but, on the contrary, on how dangerously the drivers drive. If no one exceeds the speed limit, the company will lose profit". He believes that MVS Group will be able to manipulate data. “For example, a camera is located on the border of a populated area, and measures the speed even before entering it, where cars are driving fast,” explains Mr. Ryadko. “It will be impossible to challenge such a fine, because according to the documents the camera is technically in good working order.” “Now the traffic police are sifting out some of the photographs, but the staff will not be increased, so as the number of photographic materials increases, more fines will be issued without looking,” warns Grigory Shukhman, a member of the working group at Rosstandart for the development of GOST for cameras.
The State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of the Moscow Region did not respond to Kommersant’s request. “Manipulation is excluded,” says Mr. Butsayev. “The camera can only be installed in places determined by the traffic police. The concessionaire only provides the technical ability to record it. There is no opportunity to increase the number of fines issued.”
Ivan Buranov; Oleg Goryaev, Rostov-on-Don
2016: Sergey Aslanyan and Vyacheslav Simonenko became the new owners of MVS Group
As TAdviser learned, in December 2016, MVS Group changed owners. They were the Security Systems company (80%) and Vyacheslav Simonenko (20%).
Since December 2016, Security Systems has been 51% owned by Sergei Aslanyan, shareholder and chairman of the board of directors of the WiFi network provider of the capital's metro, Maximatelecom. The remaining 49% is owned by the management company Transfingroup.
Vyacheslav Simonenko, the ex-head of one of the largest IT distributors "Merlion" since 2015, also acts as a co-founder (20%) of the company "Alager", in 2016 for the provision of rental complexes for photo and video recording of traffic rules within the Moscow Ring Road.
Sergey Aslanyan became a co-owner of MVS Group
Sergey Aslanyan refused to comment on the acquisition of MVS Group; Vyacheslav Simonenko and a representative of Transfingroup Management Company did not respond to TAdviser’s request.
“Transfingroup” is a financial partner of a project for photo-video recording of traffic violations in the Moscow region, Aslanyan is a technology partner, his acquaintance told TAdviser: “Sergey has extensive experience in implementing similar projects - this is WiFi in the Moscow metro, and the “web elections” project, and other".
The previous owner of MVS Group was Alexander Gusev, the general director of the MVS research and production enterprise, which develops software and equipment for photo and video recording. According to an acquaintance of Gusev, he was forced to sell the company due to problems with the investor.
2015: Victory in the competition of the Moscow region
In 2015, MVS Group won the competition of the Ministry of Transport of the Moscow Region to equip roads with photo and video recording systems (). Its peculiarity is that the region does not pay the contractor - MVS Group implements the project under a concession agreement at its own expense and transfers all installed equipment to the ownership of the Moscow region.
The investor will have to invest about 4.94 billion rubles in the project. Funds will be returned from fines paid over a period of 12 years. From each fine, MVS Group will receive a fixed amount - no more than 233 rubles, the rest of the money will go to the budget of the Moscow region.