The Arbitration Court of Transbaikalia has invalidated the concession agreement for the construction of a kindergarten in Aksha, ordering the return of over 370 million rubles to the regional budget. The ruling, made in response to a claim by the regional prosecutor’s office, concerns a project that was supposed to provide a kindergarten for 250 children.

The concession agreement, concluded in 2022 between the Ministry of Construction of Transbaikalia and Pokoleniye LLC, stipulated that the kindergarten be completed by December 31, 2023. However, the prosecutor’s office found that despite receiving over 370 million rubles, Pokoleniye LLC had not commenced construction. Furthermore, the agreement itself was deemed to not meet legal requirements, and the company lacked the necessary funds to complete the project at the time of signing.

The prosecutor’s office has been investigating kindergarten projects in Aksha and Borzya, involving businessman Alexander Derevyanko from Irkutsk, which are linked to a fraud case involving Stanislav Neverov. A similar deal for a kindergarten in Borzya has already been invalidated by court decision.

Previously, the arbitration court had suspended the concession agreement for the Aksha kindergarten with Pokoleniye, a decision Derevyanko contested, claiming that 100 million rubles worth of work had already been completed. Pokoleniye LLC was affiliated with the East Arctic Oil and Gas Corporation of Stanislav Neverov, who was detained in connection with an attempted large-scale fraud case related to the construction of an interuniversity campus in Khabarovsk.

In early February 2024, documents related to the kindergartens were seized from the Ministry of Construction of the Transbaikal Territory. Investigators allege that approximately 47 million rubles were misappropriated for unauthorized purposes, including loans and salaries. Despite receiving about 333 million rubles for the projects, the funds are now frozen. The Ministry of Construction initially supported terminating the agreement, but Alexander Derevyanko later acquired Pokoleniye, after previously serving as a subcontractor on the project.

In May, Derevyanko reported accelerated construction progress in Aksha and Borzya, stating that 70% of the main metal structures were installed in Aksha and that both facilities were projected for completion by the end of 2024.