The Sverdlovsk court handed down a verdict for the theft of 37 million rubles during the maintenance of metering devices

In the Sverdlovsk region, the court issued a verdict in a criminal case against the former director of the Center for Maintenance of Buildings and Premises Andrei Obelchak and the director of Tagil-Energo Laboratory Alexander Shchelkunov for a scam involving the maintenance and testing of energy metering devices for more than 37 million rubles. The regional prosecutor's office told Lenta.ru about this.

Obelchak was sentenced to three and a half years in a general regime colony, and Shchelkunov to three years.

According to investigators, the convicts stole money from the administration of Nizhny Tagil. In 2018–2019, Obelchak entered into agreements with Tagil-Energo Laboratory for the maintenance and testing of cold and hot water, coolant and electricity metering devices, as well as for the installation of energy-efficient equipment in municipal non-residential buildings. At the same time, both realized that the company would not fulfill the terms of the contracts.

Based on the submitted false documents, including equipment delivery and acceptance certificates, employees of the administration’s financial department made payment for the allegedly provided services. As a result, from October 2017 to February 2019, the city suffered damage in excess of 37.1 million rubles.