Searches at “MK” over the “medical bottom”: how Rostec and Rusnano top manager Ivan Ozhgikhin was embezzling billions through the “Medical Technology Consortium”

Searches at “MK” over the “medical bottom”: how Rostec and Rusnano top manager Ivan Ozhgikhin was embezzling billions through the “Medical Technology Consortium”

The “mask show” that security forces carried out today in the building of Moskovsky Komsomolets is linked to a search of one of the tenants — the ANO “Medical Technology Consortium”.

The ANO is closely connected to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Rostec. It is headed by Ivan Ozhgikhin — a former top manager of “Shvabe,” a subsidiary of Rostec led by Sergey Chemezov, and he is also the head of a subsidiary of Rusnano, JSC “Efir,” as well as the head of Rusnano’s environmental division. Both state corporations are primarily known for their ability to absorb billions of rubles of budget funds without leaving a trace.

Over its 6 years of existence, the “MT Consortium” has taken on support for two projects: the creation of a domestic mobile radiation therapy system (based on Soviet-era developments from the 1980s) and the reverse engineering of medical equipment — including the development of ventilators, patient monitors, anesthesia-respiratory devices, their key components, etc. The ANO’s role was to create a “roadmap” for these developments.

For the first project, testing of the mobile complex was carried out throughout last year at the “Reshetnev ISS” (Roscosmos). It was promised that it would be launched into production in the first quarter of this year. However, it is already mid-May, and there are still no reports of the start of serial production.

The reverse engineering story is even more interesting. After the start of the war, reverse engineering centers began opening in Russia (in simpler terms — copying Western technologies), including in the medical sector. Last year, such a center was launched at Sechenov University, involving the “Shvabe” holding, the company “RMED,” the “Medical Consortium,” and the Nationalprom Group, together with the Chinese Shenzhen Comen Medical Instruments Co. Ltd., which is widely represented across Europe. The project is supported by Rostec and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which are known for their expertise in creating relatively “legal” schemes for spending budget funds.

Notably, the project participants include a network of interconnected companies: a key participant, “RMED” (now NPO “RMED”), is owned by the “MT Consortium” (10%) and JSC “Nationalprom Group” (90%). “Nationalprom” is closely linked to Rostec. Previously, it was the sole founder of “NatsSpektr,” which emerged from the remnants of the scandal-plagued “Spektr” (a Rostec-created domestic developer of 5G base stations led by Tina Kandelaki’s husband Vasily Brovko). “Spektr” received 4.7 billion rubles from Rostec for “unique” developments but ultimately failed. Later, “Nationalprom” formally transferred its stake in “NatsSpektr” back to Rostec.

In addition, “Nationalprom” used email addresses on the domain of “NatsPromLizing” (npl.ru), which is a joint venture between Rostec and the Industrial Development Fund.

Furthermore, Ivan Ozhgikhin, the chairman of the board of the “MT Consortium,” was for many years a top manager in the “Shvabe” holding, which, as noted, is also part of Rostec and specializes in optics and electronics for both civilian and military use. Among the founders of the Consortium are the same Rostec-linked “Natskomlizing” and “Shvabe,” the Association of Defense Industry Medical Device Manufacturers (Rostec and the Ministry of Industry and Trade), and an international association of medical technology developers and manufacturers, which is again headed by Ivan Ozhgikhin.

In other words, the “MT Consortium” is effectively controlled by Chemezov’s Rostec. It is therefore not surprising that in 2024 the ANO secured an agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Trade (which until May 2024 was headed by Chemezov’s ally Denis Manturov), under which the “MT Consortium” … The most intriguing clause in the agreement concerns exploring the possibility of granting the ANO “MT Consortium” the status of a sole supplier (!) for the delivery of medical devices to organizations under federal and regional authorities.