Information message Skolkovo Foundation

The leadership of Skolkovo Fund expresses serious concern about the criminal case in connection with the payments made to the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Ilya Ponomarev, for his contractual services and intends to cooperate closely with the law enforcement agencies in order to uncover the truth in this case.

However, it is surprising that the only defendant in this case has been named the Fund’s senior vice-president, Aleksey Beltyukov, who always held and continues to hold an uncompromising stand against any type of corruption offenses, and under his personal direction at the Fund implemented a rigorous system for independent expert review.

Due to wide public attention in relation to the Fund´s cooperation with the deputy of the State Duma, Ilya Ponomarev, the Fund considers it necessary to clarify that in the period between 2010 and 2012 two contracts were signed for provision of services.

Under the first contract from 2010 deputy Ilya Ponomarev was assigned to carry out a study on the topic of "Technology commercialization and the international promotion of Russian innovative companies."

Under the second contract from 2011 deputy Ilya Ponomarev was to organize and host a number of lectures, seminars and other public events to promote Russia's transition to an innovation-based economic model and the creation of an entirely new ecosystem for the development and commercialization of new technologies.

Under the first contract a research paper was provided which met the Fund’s requirements as the customer and which is not only used by the organization but also became in demand in the market. Under the second contract the Fund received a report, signed by deputy Ilya Ponomarev, on 10 events organized by him. There was no reason not to trust the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation who heads the Duma's Subcommittee for High Tech Development, the Committee for Economic Policy, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Development at the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Therefore, checks on provided information were carried out only selectively. However, during the inquiry by the representatives of the Russian Investigative Committee, officials of the Fund were provided with materials according to which deputy Ilya Ponomarev added a number of events in his report which he didn´t attend and therefore breached his contractual obligations. In view of these circumstances, the Fund's management sent a request to deputy Ilya Ponomarev requiring to provide details about actual work performed. The Fund also sent out requests to those institutions where, according to the report, Mr. Ponomarev spoke at public events, and asked the investigating authorities to provide more detailed information about this issue.

If the information about the alleged misrepresentations made by Mr. Ponomarev are proved to be true, the Fund will demand the return of the received money and compensation for damages via a court of arbitration. It must be emphasized that the management and staff of Skolkovo Fund has always been and will remain open to constructive cooperation with the investigative and law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation in order to prevent financial and other malpractices.