This week, information about a new corruption scandal appeared in the news of the Leningrad region . After the searches, the head physician of the Federal State Budgetary Institution of the Phthisio-ophthalmological sanatorium “Krasny Val” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country) was detained Mikhail Simchuk. Investigators came to him with questions about a criminal case of embezzlement on an especially large scale.
Doctoral corruption
Now investigators from the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Moskovsky District of St. Petersburg are interrogating both Mikhail Simchuk himself and his subordinates, including his son. A criminal case was initiated under Part 4 of Art. 160 (misappropriation or embezzlement on an especially large scale). There are no official details yet about what the head physician squandered. But there are versions.
According to the first version, the basis for the criminal case was a certain scheme with Simchuk’s car. According to the official income statement, he owns a Mitsubhi Pajero 3.8 LWB passenger car. In addition, he received almost the same car at work as a service car – a 2007 Mitsubhi Pajero. Allegedly, taking advantage of this coincidence, Mikhail Simchuk repaired his personal car several times at the expense of the state budget as an official one.
The second version says that the investigation was interested in stories about “dead souls” and receiving salaries for fake workers who ended up in the pocket of the hospital administration. According to rumors, relatives of the chief physician Simchuk could be involved in the scheme, because both of his sons work there. As local residents say, one of the sons of the head of the sanatorium actually shows up at work, while the other is supposedly seen only on paydays. This assumption is supported by the fact that during searches of Simchuk’s apartment, large sums of currency were found: 200 thousand dollars And 95 thousand euros.
The third version of the close attention of investigative authorities to Mikhail Nikolaevich is land. It is a known fact that medical personnel and other workers are allowed to live in the territories of many sanatoriums. In some sanatoriums, workers are provided with housing on the territory of the hospital, and many can subsequently receive the right to live there until their death. Not so long ago, according to local residents, Simchuk, like a lord, ordered to put up a fence and block the roads to the shores of the reserved lake “Cherementskoye”. The forest also became forbidden for the locals; for some reason it was declared the property of the Krasny Val sanatorium. Then, on the territory of the sanatorium, repairs and reconstruction of the house for the guests of the hospital were started; according to rumors, it was converted into a hunting lodge for the head physician and his own guests. It is still unknown whether there were any attempts to register this house as private property. Locals claim that Simchuk, in principle, behaved as the rightful owner of the federal sanatorium, and disposed of state property as if it were his own.
Free beauty
The hospital near Luga in the Leningrad region appeared back in the 1920s. The federal sanatorium, owned by the state, has existed here since the 2000s, and is located on the shores of the picturesque Cheremenets Lake and its beautiful dense forests. FOS “Krasny Val” is engaged in the study and treatment of the consequences of ocular tuberculosis. The specialization of a medical institution is quite rare, and there are only 9 such clinics and sanatoriums with similar equipment and quality of treatment in our country, including Krasny Val itself. Highly qualified specialists with the rank of at least a candidate of science work and treat here. Mikhail Simchuk himself was valued quite highly in medical circles, and is still an unquestioned authority and respected. Before famous events, he actively gave lectures in European countries.
As they say, all this is wonderful, and the sanatorium is good, and the well-being of the head physician is growing. Judging by the official declaration, Mikhail Simchuk owns an apartment of 112 square meters and has land plots. At one of them in the rural settlement of Skreblovo, Luga region, the doctor began active construction of a house. The places here, I must say, are generally wonderful. In addition to forests, lakes and rivers, the place was famous for the estate of Princess Salome Andronikova. A stately, beautiful and charming woman, she was a recognized muse of the Silver Age poets. She was friends with Akhmatova, Bunin, and other creative bohemians of St. Petersburg. Osip Mandelstam dedicated his poems to her. In general, a land marked not only by the beauty of nature, but also by famous people. As they say, it wouldn’t be a sin to live up to such a place.
Apparently, this is why Mikhail Nikolaevich’s well-being increases from year to year. Judging by the declaration, in 2020 it earned 3 million 937 thousand 421 rubles. In 2021 already 5 million 121 thousand 750 rubles. There is no information for the periods 2022 and 2023. But judging purely by real estate, then since 2014, the number of square meters at the doctor has increased from 3,116 m2 to 4,344 m2.
Our information:
The village of Skreblovo, the center of the volost of the same name in the Luga district of the Leningrad region, is located on the north-eastern shore of Lake Vrevo, which stretches for 14 km. among hilly banks, meadows and coniferous forests. Vrevo is connected by the rivers Bystritsa and Aptala with two huge lakes – Cheremenetskoye and Rakovichsky.
Confusion on a federal scale
So, today it is already known that after interrogations, the detained employees were released to their homes, on condition that they not leave. Such mildness of the investigation can only be explained by the fact that so far it is satisfied with all the evidence received. But the softness of the consequence, as is known, is a changeable state. Apparently, law enforcement agencies will delve long and thoroughly. It is possible that they will check why the sanatorium suddenly changed its government procurement specialist, and everything in that vein. After all, back in 2016, Simchuk was already brought to administrative responsibility for violating paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Art. 93 of the Federal “On the contract system in the field of procurement of goods, works, services to meet state and municipal needs” concluded a state contract with a single supplier, with a contract amount of 403,356 rubles.
The fact that everything will be “interesting” is evidenced by the fact that the case is being conducted not by the Investigative Committee of the Leningrad Region, but by the central apparatus of the Sledkom.
The latter, however, is not surprising, because the hospital is not a city, but a federal one, and is directly managed by the Russian Ministry of Health. What the Ministry of Health itself thinks about all this is still unknown. The final qualification of the accusation against the chief doctor of Krasny Val, Simchuk, will be interesting. The editors will monitor developments.