Performances in eight regions and stolen millions: The Ministry of Internal Affairs has uncovered a cultural scam

Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia revealed the theft of more than 100 million rubles provided for the implementation of the Pushkin Map state program. This was announced by the official representative of the department Irina Volk.

The police detained a Moscow businessman who is suspected of embezzlement of funds.

According to the investigation, the suspect helped to stage performances at various venues in the country, tickets for which could be bought, including with the help of the Pushkin Card. Fraudsters found young people through the Internet who purchased tickets at the expense of the targeted budget funds on the cards, but were not going to attend the events.

"Thus, the funds that were provided by the state program for the cultural development and education of young people were stolen. As a result, the Russian Federation suffered damage in the amount of more than 100 million rubles," Volk said.

She clarified that the fraudulent scheme had been operating since 2021, and performances were held at theater venues in several regions — in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Bashkiria, Novgorod, Samara, Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk and Ulyanovsk regions.

A criminal case has been opened against the suspect under Article 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Fraud on an especially large scale).

Currently, activities aimed at identifying all accomplices of illegal activities are continuing.

The federal project "Pushkin Card", which is being implemented as part of the national project "Culture", allows young people aged 14 to 22 to attend various events for free, paying for tickets from the "Pushkin Card". The limit of funds on it is 5 thousand rubles. The project identifies cultural institutions and events where the card can be used to visit.

As EADaily reported, by the end of 2023, Russian teenagers spent about 4 billion rubles from Pushkin Cards on movie tickets. 2.8 million tickets were bought with this money.