Skolkovo and Cookies: the Foundation accuses residents of misuse of grants

Photo: Sergey Bobylev / Kommersant

The Skolkovo Foundation plans to sue its residents, accusing them of misuse of the grants awarded. The size of the claim "Skolkovo" is 44.9 million rubles. for the pharmaceutical company Pharma Bio, and another 225 thousand rubles. for the IT company Parallels, writes "Kommersant". Representatives of the latter argue that there is no talk of misuse of funds - the company bought tea and cookies for employees for the foundation’s money, which was not prohibited by the rules of the foundation.

In Parallels they say they do not agree with the accusations of misuse of funds, but they are ready to make a settlement agreement. The terms of this agreement are now being discussed. In the case of this company, funds were allocated as part of a grant for 150 million rubles. back in May 2011. The money was given to the developer of a software platform that allows you to create "clouds", the operating costs of which would be lower than that of all existing technologies. With the funds provided, the company planned to purchase equipment for research, and hire 140 engineers. “The term of the grant ended in the first half of 2012, and the audit was conducted at the end of 2013. During this period, the rules of the Skolkovo Foundation have changed, ”a Parallel representative commented on the situation.

“The company paid for food expenses: tea, cookies, fruit, freely available in the office. This corresponded to the rules in effect at that time, but subsequently these expenses were banned, ”reported Parallels. It is worth noting that for the remaining 149.7 million rubles. the fund has no complaints.
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The rules for the use of grants have really changed, this is confirmed by the top manager of one of the largest IT companies in Russia. “I recently came to the IT cluster of Skolkovo for a business meeting, and my interlocutor apologized for not being able to offer me tea, since now even water cannot be bought with the money of the foundation,” he said.

According to the results of work in 2014, the Skolkovo Foundation presented a report according to which the volume of approved grants amounted to 10.6 billion rubles last year, while the number of participating companies reached 1,147, and the total revenue of the companies amounted to 43.6 billion rubles.

A full audit of the operations of an accountable company, to which Skolkovo funds have been allocated, is entitled to be held every six months or a year. At the same time, the fund has the right to request funds allocated within the framework of the grant, if these funds were used with violation. “If the fact of improper use of funds is proven, and fraud is detected, the defendant may incur criminal penalties,” said Anastasia Astashkevich, head of the international legal practice of the Chaadaev, Kheyfets and Partners lawyers.