The former CEO of a Russian government electronics supplier is set to stand trial for defrauding the federal police with hundreds of Chinese sets of radios that were falsely presented as Russian-made, media reported Thursday.
According to the Kommersant business newspaper, Vasily Musin’s company, Ural Factories, was the sole participant of a June 2023 tender to deliver 843 “Erika” radios to Russia’s Interior Ministry for 50.5 million rubles ($636,000).
A May 2024 expert examination performed by a research institute revealed that most of the radio components were made in China, and that the radios themselves closely resembled Chinese-made Hytera devices.
Musin was accused of intentionally misleading the government about the radios’ required country-of-origin criteria, causing financial damage and sabotaging the fulfillment of the defense contract.
Musin was arrested in June 2024.
He denies the charges.
Ural Factories has faced similar accusations in the past but has successfully proven its products were Russian-made in each case, Kommersant reported.
Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky District Court began hearings into large-scale fraud against Musin earlier on Thursday.
According to Kommersant, the case mentions that other beneficiaries of Ural Factories were aware of Musin’s alleged actions but no charges have been brought against them.
Musin, 54, faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.
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