Identification and documentation of crimes related to theft and improper use of budget funds allocated for the repair, construction, reconstruction, and technical support of railway, water, and air transport facilities

Viatkin Andrei Anatol'evich ORCID: 0000-0002-3169-5111 Senior Lecturer; Department of Prosecutorial Supervision and Prosecutor's Participation in Civil and Arbitration Cases; Irkutsk Law Institute (branch) University of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation 664035, Russia, Irkutsk region, Irkutsk, Shevtsova str., 1 viatkin-chita@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Konoplitskaya Nelli Olegovna Senior Security Officer; Department of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption; East Siberian Linear Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Transport 20 Chelnokova str., Irkutsk, Sverdlovsk region, 664005, Russia nkonoplitckaia2@mvd.ru

In accordance with Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 05/07/2024 No. 309 "On the National Development Goals of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030 and for the future up to 2036", the Concept of implementation in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation of the state policy on ensuring economic security of the Russian Federation, which was approved by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation dated October 14, 2021 No. 760 The linear departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for transport carry out work in the field of prevention, detection and disclosure of facts of misuse and embezzlement of budget funds allocated for repair, construction, reconstruction and technical support of transport facilities.

Large volumes of such work are due to the implementation of investment projects, namely the reconstruction and construction of various transport facilities. In the period 2025-2026, the national project "Efficient Transport System" will be implemented in the field of transport, which includes 8 federal projects in transport areas, according to which, by the end of 2030, it is planned to increase the carrying capacity of railways, develop inland waterways, and increase the share of navigable hydraulic structures.

As noted by S. N. Rudykh and J. D. Dondokov, the sphere of procurement of goods, works, and services is highly criminogenic ^{[1, p. 4]}. In each case, there are high risks of embezzlement of budget funds at various stages of work in conditions of involvement of contractors and corruption. Here, it seems especially important and necessary to provide methodological support for operational investigative activities (hereinafter referred to as the ARD) in the designated area, which will simplify the solution of its tasks. Taking into account the above, this study will formulate the most important aspects of identifying and documenting crimes related to embezzlement and misuse of budget funds allocated for the repair, construction, reconstruction and technical support of railway, water and air transport facilities.

First of all, we consider it necessary to briefly consider the operational-investigative characteristics of crimes of the specified specifics. In the absence of a unified scientific position on this concept, we adhere to the point of view of R. G. Drapezo and M. V. Kondratiev: "operational investigative characteristics of crimes are a system of certain data, signs reflecting the most characteristic features and features of specific crimes necessary for an operational officer to timely and optimally identify, prevent and solve crimes, as well as identification and identification of the persons who prepare, commit or have committed them" ^{[2, p. 179]}.

The majority of crimes in the category under study are economic, which in some cases are accompanied by corruption-related crimes. Of course, one of the key elements of the operational-investigative characteristics is the typical ways of committing such crimes.

Thus, embezzlement of budget funds intended for the construction or reconstruction of transport facilities is usually carried out by illegally withdrawing them through contractors (subcontractors). For this purpose, they are provided with cash advances, the offsetting of advances is postponed to the next financial year, and the acceptance of actually unfinished work is completed. Often, so–called "one-day firms" and bankrupt organizations are used in criminal schemes, construction materials and equipment are replaced by cheaper and low-quality analogues.

A thorough study of the method chosen by criminals makes it possible to establish criminal intent within the framework of operational investigative measures in order to ensure that its nature and presence are successfully proven at the preliminary investigation stage in the future. Otherwise, the shortcomings of the work performed and deviations from the documentation can be interpreted by criminals as errors or miscalculations of an organizational nature.

Such crimes are usually committed by entrepreneurs, managers and employees of organizations, as well as state control bodies. As a rule, these are citizens with higher education, financially secure. Of particular importance is their professional affiliation, the range of official duties performed, the availability of relevant competencies, and social connections.

A characteristic feature of the situation in which such crimes are committed is the rather extensive document flow that accompanies the work and its payment. At the same time, the content of the documents is directly related to the changes that occurred at a particular transport facility during the work. In some cases, such changes can only be determined by specialists or by conducting an expert examination.

Since the analyzed crimes are usually characterized by a selfish motive, financial transactions involving the transfer of funds allocated for the performance of work are essential. Anomalies in transactions may indicate the commission of a crime.

In view of the above, it should be noted that the detection of crimes, including corruption, during the implementation of national projects requires a detailed analysis of the procurement process, the conclusion and actual execution of government contracts.

We consider it possible to divide the activities of the operational investigative body for the identification and documentation of crimes related to embezzlement and misuse of budget funds allocated for the repair, construction, reconstruction and technical support of railway, water and air transport facilities into separate thematic blocks. It is important to take into account that the sequence of actions of operational staff should always be verified from the point of view of tactics. Inconsistent actions may allow criminals to take measures to counteract the hordes being carried out against them. For example, an untimely interview of a defendant with direct questions about his involvement in criminal activity may lead to the destruction of evidentiary documents.

1. Obtaining primary operationally relevant information.

We fully share the opinion of G. R. Farakhieva that the implementation of constant operational investigative monitoring of the criminogenic situation in the sphere of economic relations related to the development of budgetary funds requires scientific research ^{[3, p. 136]}. In addition, high-quality primary information about the signs of a specific illegal act being prepared, committed or committed, as well as about the persons preparing, committing or committing it, is important. In this case, the ARD is targeted, and there is no factor in spending time and resources on obtaining and analyzing documents unrelated to the criminal event. In many cases, such information makes it possible to begin documenting criminal activity even at the preparatory stage or in the process of implementing a fraudulent criminal scheme of action, to obtain high-quality results of the ARD, on the basis of which it is possible to form the necessary evidence.

This kind of information can be obtained from individuals who are secretly cooperating with the operational unit. These may include: employees of organizations involved in the work process (for example, representatives of financial departments, accounting departments, legal departments); representatives of organizations that compete with the contractor in business activities or are in conflict with the customer (as a rule, this may be evidenced by litigation, the fact of losing in competitive procedures); former employees of the customer and the contractor; other persons related to the process of work performance and financial settlements between the customer and the contractor.

The process of identifying signs of a crime is more laborious in the absence of specifics and the need to analyze a large amount of data. It is possible to collect information by conducting an OPM, studying information about executed government contracts. At the same time, information on their conclusion from the electronic trading system is analyzed, as well as information posted on the websites of state control bodies and other platforms (EIS "Procurement", https://национальныепроекты .Russian Federation, Spark, GOZ, etc.).

Since, when concluding contracts, documentation is posted in the Procurement Information System, this makes it possible to study in advance both procurement planning documents (design estimates, expertise) and contract execution (acceptance, payment, additional agreements).

It should be noted that the interaction of operational units with the prosecutor's office, which conducts checks on the implementation of federal legislation in the same area, is important. Studying the documents obtained as part of the prosecutor's checks significantly simplifies the task of searching for operationally relevant information. The materials of the state control and audit bodies can be studied in a similar way.

Let's list the main bodies and organizations where it is possible to obtain relevant information (documents).:

1) the Federal Treasury Department for the subjects of the Russian Federation (information on the state contract, including documentation on it);

2) the Ministry of Finance of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, financial bodies of local self-government (information on budget financing of inspection facilities, ongoing national projects, and state programs for the analyzed period);

3) territorial inspections of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation (extracts from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, registration documents and information on open accounts of the organizations being audited);

4) credit organizations (statements on the movement of funds of organizations within the framework of the execution of contracts, which is necessary to identify the facts of cash withdrawal, possible money laundering, as well as the final beneficiaries);

5) organization of railway, air and water transport;

6) interregional departments of Rosfinmonitoring (information on dubious financial transactions of the audited organizations and the links between them, on the legalization of criminally obtained funds).

Additionally, we note that the features of interdepartmental interaction are consistently and easily described in the scientific article by D. M. Farakhiev "Embezzlement of budget funds allocated for improving transport infrastructure: the state, structure and role of the operational apparatus" ^{[4, p. 46]}.

As a result of the analysis of primary operationally relevant information, it is possible to obtain the following results: to identify organizations of interest to customers, contractors (subcontractors) and suppliers of materials; to establish specific contracts; to identify a range of possible defendants.

2. Investigation of the identity of the defendants and verification of their involvement in criminal activities.

Taking into account the previously outlined brief characteristics of the personality of typical criminals, we note that one of the main tasks of the operational unit is to obtain official documents for the defendants. It is necessary to study their job descriptions (regulations), employment contracts, personnel orders, regulations on departments (departments) in which responsible (officials) persons are listed, orders on temporary assignment of duties. This will allow not only to assess the range of powers and official duties of specific individuals, but also to formulate primary operational investigative versions about the method of committing a crime.

Accordingly, taking into account the data obtained, it is possible to plan an OPM in relation to specific defendants.

In particular, by interviewing identified persons, including those directly involved in illegal acts, it is possible to obtain information on the circumstances of the violations committed. Whenever possible, the questions should be aimed at obtaining answers indicating the presence of criminal intent. As a rule, representatives of contracting companies entering into contracts with budget organizations expect stable financial security when performing more work (rendering services, selling goods) at the maximum price, guaranteed payment on time. Embezzlement of funds is usually realized by unjustified savings on materials, technologies, on the quality and volume of work, as well as by unjustifiably overestimating their cost.

The customer representing a budgetary institution is motivated by the opportunity to receive illegal monetary remuneration for performing actions within his competence (concluding a contract and signing documents on its implementation, signing additional agreements under the contract, interim documents on partial completion of work, etc.).

Accordingly, it is necessary to find out who exactly was involved in the process of illegal financial transactions, what exactly these transactions were, what the illegal activities of the participants in the legal relationship were, and who was the beneficiary. It is also important to understand the connection of the defendants with specific documents and stages of illegal activity. It should be noted that at the stage of the preliminary investigation, all information obtained promptly will be checked as part of investigative actions and examinations.

To document the subjective side of the crime against the persons involved, it is possible to conduct an OPM using operational and technical forces to establish their place of residence, social circle, connections, property, as well as phone numbers. In the offices of organizations of operational interest, it is possible to carry out measures to inspect them and seize important documentation, computer equipment, and other media that may contain information about the illegal activities of the persons being checked.

3. Analysis of documents and their comparison with the actual results of the fulfillment of contractual obligations.

Various documents are of crucial importance in the process of detecting crimes of the specified specifics. In this case, the document flow should be considered as part of the crime scene, and the documents compiled during the commission of the crime from the point of view of the mechanism of trace formation.

It should be noted that in many respects the document flow is formed in line with the requirements of Federal Law No. 44-FZ dated 05.04.2013 "On the Contract System for Procurement of Goods, Works, and Services for State and Municipal Needs", Federal Law No. 223-FZ dated 18.07.2011 "On Procurement of Goods, Works, and Services by Certain Types of Legal Entities" and the subordinate regulatory legal acts adopted in accordance with them. For convenience, we will divide the main documents into categories.

1. Organizational and personnel documents:

- registration and constituent documents of the customer and contractor;

- regulations on divisions (departments) of organizations

- job descriptions (regulations);

- employment contracts;

- personnel orders;

- orders on temporary assignment of duties.

2. Management documents:

- regulations on the procedure for organizing the placement of orders;

- the order on the formation of the commission;

- order on the list of lots;

- the schedule of purchases of the checked organization;

- the order of the acceptance commission;

- regulations on the acceptance commission;

- application review protocols.

3. Documents on the activities of the competition commission:

- protocol of opening envelopes with applications and opening access to applications submitted in electronic form for participation in the competition;

- protocol of evaluation and comparison of applications for participation in the competition;

- the protocol of consideration of applications for participation in the competition;

- auction protocol;

- protocol of consideration and evaluation of quotation requests;

- protocol of refusal to conclude a contract.

4. Documents on the fulfillment of contractual obligations:

- a contract (agreement) with the design and estimate documentation (hereinafter referred to as the PSA) and the specification of the work;

- accounting documents, including certificates of acceptance of completed works;

- accounting logs;

- official correspondence.

5. Financial bank documents:

- bank statements confirming the flow of funds on accounts;

- payment orders confirming the transfer of funds;

- settlement and cash documents describing real expenses;

- bank certificates on the availability of accounts.

The above list is of an orientation nature and is not exhaustive, since each of these categories may include other types of documents, depending on the specifics of the specific fact of criminal activity being investigated.

A comprehensive analysis of documents makes it possible to verify the legality of actions performed by officials in the implementation of procurement legislation. The purpose of such an analysis is to identify violations, various inconsistencies and logical connections between them, as well as characteristic signs of criminal acts. Their presence is not always an absolute evidence of embezzlement of funds, since the reasons may be unrelated to criminal intent errors and miscalculations of participants in established legal relations. Accordingly, the trace pattern certainly needs to be supplemented with other operationally relevant information.

Let's highlight the most significant aspects of document analysis.

Thus, the operational unit should assess the legality of the formation of the initial maximum contract price (hereinafter - NMCC) by analyzing prices for a specific subject of the Russian Federation and neighboring subjects (for similar work).

The object of purchase (for example, the repair of the upper structure of a railway track) should be compared with the description of the planned purchase (cost, object of purchase, characteristics, etc.).

Special attention should be paid to compliance with the procedure for conducting competitive procedures. For this purpose, it is possible to analyze the procurement participants in terms of their experience, history of participation in such purchases, affiliation, etc. Next, it is possible to assess the legality of determining the winner of the purchase, the validity of the formation of the contract price and its impact on the quality of construction. The contract (agreement), in turn, must match the description of the purchase. It is also possible to evaluate the implementation of the security of a contract for which obligations have not been fully fulfilled.

We consider it advisable to adhere to the scientific approach of S. E. Andreev, who proposed as a guideline a system of search signs of economic crimes in the field of construction in railway transport ^{[5, p. 251]}. Such signs can be identified when studying contracts (contracts).:

- the purchase did not take place;

- there is no calculation and justification of the NMCC, or it is defined incorrectly, overestimated;

- splitting of contracts (contracts) is allowed;

- the contract (contract) is concluded on terms other than the procurement documentation, the draft contract;

- violations of the law were committed in determining the winners of competitive procedures;

- if there are grounds, the applications have not been rejected;

- information about concluded contracts has been sent to the cash service authorities untimely or such information has not been published on the Internet (EIS "Procurement"), which constitutes an administrative offense;

- there are no mandatory conditions in the contracts (for example, the product name is too general without specifying important technical parameters);

- the terms of the contract (agreement) have been unlawfully changed (for example, the product has been replaced with a fundamentally different one).

Similar signs can be established as a result of the analysis of other documents.:

- failure by customers to take punitive measures and measures to terminate contracts if they are improperly and untimely executed;

- availability of contractor's guarantee letters;

- conclusion of long-term contracts (contracts) on obviously not favorable terms for the customer;

- violation of the procedure for bank enforcement of the contract;

- lack of control by the customer over the fulfillment of the terms and conditions of the contract, as well as the author's supervision;

- continuation of work after their acceptance;

- payment for outstanding works (there are discrepancies between the acts of completed works, design and construction documentation, and actually completed works);

- incorrect economic calculations, which resulted in a significant overestimation of the real cost of works (services, goods);

- execution of various types of work for one customer over a long period of time by one company, as well as repeated victories of a specific or affiliated company in the bidding of the same customer.

All of them may indicate the possible commission of a crime of the specified specifics.

The PSA plays a special role. It is a set of documents defining constructive, engineering and technical solutions for the construction, reconstruction or major repairs of facilities. It also contains detailed calculations reflecting the costs of the project.

The operational unit should verify the contract (agreement) to evaluate the completeness, quality, and availability of mandatory and voluntary assessments of the PSA. It is also necessary to find out what changes were made to the POI, by whom exactly they were made and agreed upon. It should be noted that some changes require an expert examination. At the same time, any changes must be made to the contract (agreement) and to the local estimate.

When studying the documents, it is possible to assess the validity of repairs (construction), as well as planning the amount of necessary funds.

It should be noted that all budget funds are provided for a specific purpose in accordance with a regulatory legal act, on the basis of a contract or other document ^{[6, p. 148]}. They usually define: the form of budget funds provision; the purpose of the provision; conditions and procedure for provision; targets and results; reporting forms. This excludes the allocation of budget funds for other purposes without coordination with the authorized body.

To assess the validity of repairs (construction), the plans of the subject of the Russian Federation, inspection reports, and defective statements are subject to study. The decision to carry out the work can also be made in accordance with the instructions of the President or the Government of the Russian Federation, the instructions of state control bodies, decisions of the highest corporate management bodies, etc. In addition, documents of urban planning legislation are subject to analysis, including a construction permit and an act of commissioning the facility.

Planning of the amount of financial support required for carrying out work on the inspected facility is assessed taking into account the following contents: PSA; expert opinion on the reliability of the estimated cost of the capital construction facility; construction expert opinion; other planning documents indicating the need for funds and the validity of cost estimates. It is also necessary to check the compliance of the documents of the recipient of the financing in terms of their compliance with the conditions for the provision of budgetary funds.

To study the issue of compliance with the conditions for spending budget funds and the reliability of reports, it is necessary to analyze the primary documentation from which it is possible to determine the purpose of sending funds (contracts and additional agreements to them, certificates of acceptance of completed works, payment orders, etc.). At the same time, it is important to find out the presence of the remaining unspent budget funds, the arbitrary expenditure of which is a violation. Advances to the contractor can only be paid if certain conditions are met. As A. E. Beskhmelnitsyn notes, one of the problems of executing government contracts is the problem of advance payments, when money is transferred to the contractor due to the closure of the financial year without actually completing the declared work, taking into account that the work will be completed after. That is, the money is transferred to the contractor, the acceptance certificates are signed, and the work on the facility continues ^{[7, p. 154]}.

The legality and effectiveness of budget spending are subject to assessment in terms of compliance with the actual work performed with the documents that confirm their implementation. To do this, the operational unit should study the executive documentation (certificates of conformity and other documents confirming the quality of the materials and equipment used, technical data sheets for them), which should be valid for the period of work.

Also, the executive documentation must be checked with the project documentation, as well as with the actual work performed through surveys. It is preferable to involve specialists who can carry out inspections, necessary measurements at the work sites, and assist in removing samples of materials used by the contractor. In the future, the specialist may be interviewed, and the combined data obtained will allow for a construction and technical expertise to be conducted at the preliminary investigation stage.

It should be noted that when calculating the cost of work, materials of a specific specification and cost are included in the PSA. When comparing, it is possible to identify the fact of using cheaper materials with worse characteristics or none at all.

It is worth comparing the local estimate (hereinafter referred to as LSR) with the acts of completed works; LSR with the design (working) documentation and with the actually accepted and completed works.

In practice, there is a replacement of materials and equipment with others due to outdated POA, the introduction of international sanctions, etc. In the case of such a replacement, an additional agreement must be concluded between the customer and the contractor, and changes must be made to the LSR and the project documentation.

If the contractor uses cheaper and lower-quality materials (equipment), then the difference in cost is returned to the budget or a replacement must be made for those corresponding to the terms of the contract (agreement).

A fairly typical situation is when, according to the acts of the COP-2, actually unfinished work has been accepted and paid for. Such expenses are subject to refund as devoid of legal grounds. The contractor is obliged to register all hidden works with acts of hidden works (earthwork, concrete, etc.), and if there are conditions under the contract, they are photographed.

It is equally important to study accounting. The contractor is obliged to keep: a journal of general works (conducted daily and signed by both parties, as well as construction control and author's supervision (if any); production journal; journal of entrance control; journal of building materials; journal of briefings; journal of author's supervision.

The content of the acts of completed works and hidden works must correspond in terms of volume, dates and names to the journal of general works. For example, there may be 20 cubic meters of concrete listed in the act, but half as much in the journal. Alternatively, 20 cubic meters of concrete may be indicated in the act of hidden work, and half as much according to the executive documentation (documents for the release of concrete from the concrete plant). Important methodological recommendations on documenting the facts related to the production of hidden construction and installation works are described in some detail in a scientific article by K. A. Otchesky ^{[8, p.110]}, we fully agree with the conclusions of this scientist.

In any construction or repair, there are unforeseen expenses that arise during construction for various reasons: changes in design decisions, increased cost of materials, emergencies, and so on. Since every fact of economic life is documented and confirmed by a primary document, the contractor is obliged to document any unforeseen expenses.

There are cases when the PSA does not contain all the objectively necessary work. Some of them require not only making changes to the POI, but also conducting a re-construction examination, as well as an examination of the reliability of the estimated cost. The authority that provided the budget funds is notified of the increase in cost, or other financing is sought. Further changes are necessarily made to the contract.

In addition, when checking the legality of the disbursement of budget allocations, attention should be paid to the facts of the involvement of subcontractors. It is possible to study the contracts concluded with them and documents on their execution, as well as find out which employees and with which equipment the work was carried out. The presence of criminal schemes may indicate the performance of the same work by different organizations, the involvement of subcontractors without their own staff and technical arsenal.

As part of the analysis of bank documents, the operational unit finds out the affiliation of accounts, examines the meaning and purpose of financial transactions. The analysis can also be carried out by Rosfinmonitoring on the basis of an appropriate request, since fraud and related corruption are predicate crimes for the legalization (laundering) of criminal proceeds. Today, this department has a set of comprehensive information, the analysis of which allows not only to track the entire chain of financial transactions and connections, but also to establish the location, as well as the beneficial owners of property obtained by criminal means ^{[9, p. 76]}. It is important to note that Rosfinmonitoring also has the capabilities to analyze cryptocurrency transactions ^{[10, p. 123]}. Information received upon request is subject to operational or investigative verification.

The recommendations outlined in this scientific article may make it possible to increase the effectiveness of detecting and documenting crimes related to embezzlement and misuse of budget funds allocated for the repair, construction, reconstruction and technical support of railway, water and air transport facilities. At the same time, we also come to the conclusion that the scientific and methodological support of these activities of operational units, due to its complexity and multidimensional nature, needs further development.

The article is published in the version approved by the reviewers (after receiving a positive review recommending the manuscript for publication) with corrections made by the author (after receiving the editor’s comments, if any).
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