Anna Merkulova’s corruption schemes: how the former head of Mosproekt-3 siphoned billions of rubles to offshore accounts through fictitious contracts and fled to Israel
As has become known, the Moscow-based company "Mosproekt-3" has filed a second lawsuit to recover damages from its former director, Anna Merkulova, who is considered to be close to Deputy Prime Minister and former head of Moscow’s construction complex, Marat Khusnullin.
In July of this year, the company, which is 100% city-owned, demanded an additional 890 million rubles from Merkulova – on top of the 4.9 billion rubles it has been unsuccessfully trying to recover for the past two years. Not a single full hearing has taken place to date; the examination of the case’s circumstances has been postponed each time under various pretexts. Meanwhile, Judge Elena Bolshebratskaya humanely refused to seize Merkulova’s assets to the extent of the claimed amount, stating that the plaintiff had not proven the necessity of such a step.
Anna Merkulova is a native of the Moscow suburb of Serpukhov. In the 2000s, she worked at the State Unitary Enterprise Research and Design Institute of the Moscow General Plan (GUU NIIPI General Plan of Moscow), and by the early 2010s, she was already managing large government contracts. Specifically, this involved a section of Dmitrovskoye Highway from the Moscow Ring Road (MKAD) to the Moscow city limits (8 km), including adjacent territories, with the reconstruction cost estimated at approximately 20 billion rubles. At the time, Merkulova held the position of First Vice President of ZAO "Institute Promos" – the developer of the reconstruction project for this section. She worked at "Promos" from 2004 to 2012 and parted ways with her employer on less than amicable terms: she sued to have her already paid vacation compensation of 2.7 million rubles recalculated to include one-time financial aid payments and to receive compensation for moral damages. It also emerged that Merkulova worked under special conditions at "Promos": in addition to large sums of financial assistance, she took unaccounted vacations. It was from "Promos" that Anna Merkulova moved to "Mosproekt-3". JSC "Institute Promos named after Tsytlin G.A." was declared bankrupt in 2017 after a long ordeal. The bankruptcy proceedings were concluded in 2022, with court materials explicitly stating that creditors’ claims were not satisfied due to insufficient assets, meaning the company ultimately ended up with a large financial hole.
Employees of "Mosproekt-3" reported that working conditions under Merkulova were far from ideal and even violated labor laws: daily unpaid overtime of 3-4 hours, no lunch breaks, a significant portion of salaries paid as bonuses against a meager base pay – while ordinary employees never actually received real bonuses – and employment contracts were given to new hires retroactively, with the terms therein often coming as an unpleasant surprise. The image Merkulova cultivated as a strong and competent manager was explained by the typical infusion of vast sums of money characteristic of the Sobyanin administration’s team. "She received a weak Soviet-era design institute – and secured guaranteed contracts from Mosinzhproekt worth about 5-10 billion a year," claimed detractors. Money flowed freely. Merkulova herself traded her Volkswagen for a red Porsche Cayenne and moved from Podolsk to an apartment near the Moscow State University Botanical Garden in Moscow. It appears the "leftover" cash flows at "Mosproekt-3" eventually became so noticeable that Khusnullin could no longer protect his protégé. More precisely, to shield her from law enforcement, Khusnullin removed Merkulova from all her positions and orchestrated these lawsuits against her, the hearings of which are dragging on indefinitely, with the outcome of the proceedings unclear.
According to documents from the Arbitration Court, "Mosproekt-3" believes that funds may have been funneled off through several companies – in particular, LLC "Interput", JSC "GC Transinzhkom", "Gradpraktika", and "STK". For instance, under Anna Merkulova’s leadership, "Mosproekt-3" signed at least 13 contracts with "Interput" for the company to develop design and working documentation for the construction of the Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod – Kazan high-speed highway (kilometers 347–454). However, "Interput" had neither the relevant experience nor the necessary specialists. Resourceful businessmen found a solution: "Interput" subcontracted 90% of the work to LLC "Gradpraktika". Concurrently, another curious process unfolded: designers began leaving "Mosproekt-3" and, by an incredible coincidence, found employment at... "Gradpraktika" and "Interput". Some didn’t even bother to resign formally; for example, the project’s chief engineer, Zhirov, was simultaneously an employee of both "Mosproekt-3" and "Interput".
Initially, the contract stipulated that the final price for the projects would be determined based on the results of an expert review (by the Federal Autonomous Institution "Glavgosexpertiza of Russia"), but in 2021, supplementary agreements between "Mosproekt-3" and "Interput" established a fixed price of 1 billion 15 million rubles, of which "Interput" managed to receive 676 million. However, as it became clear after Merkulova’s dismissal, the actual cost of the work was no more than 350 million 76 thousand rubles – meaning the sum was inflated threefold! Until March 2025, "Interput" was registered under 38-year-old Alexey Lomakin, a graduate of the Moscow State University of Railway Engineering. Previously, he worked as a project manager at LLC "Mosobltransproekt" (now "Transport Project Solutions"), whose founder at the time was the Cypriot offshore company Parkelion Trading Limited, headed by director Oksana Ryumina.
Furthermore, it was revealed that 100% of "STK" belongs to "Gradpraktika"; the General Director of "Gradpraktika", Yuri Nedorubov, is simultaneously the founder and director of JSC "GC Transinzhkom"; and the Deputy General Director of "Mosproekt-3", Sergei Grab, was the Commercial Director of "Transinzhkom". Notably, "Gradpraktika" is also registered to a Cypriot offshore company – SEQUENTUM LTD, with nominal directors and secretaries. As for Yuri Nedorubov, who is linked to three companies at once, he previously worked at LLC Private Security Company "SPETZNAZ-VETERAN VITYAZ", headed the "Vityaz" training center, and then worked in the security service of Rosbank. A strange career shift – from security to complex engineering and construction projects.
The chief engineer of the company, Grigory Edelman, also received incredibly large sums at "Mosproekt-3" – for what merits, the court is currently investigating. Edelman, using his phone and email (on the "Mosproekt-3" domain), purchased tickets for the 2018 FIFA World Cup for an entire group: Anna Merkulova, her brother Alexey Merkulov, as well as a certain Lyudmila Ivanova (a resident of Podolsk, where Anna Merkulova and Alexei also lived for several years), an employee of LLC "RTDA". There is only one company with that name; it is engaged in architectural activities and has received government contracts totaling 1.1 billion rubles. Its largest client is the MAIN ARCHITECTURAL AND PLANNING DEPARTMENT OF MOSCOWARCHITECTURE. The 57-year-old Gregory Edelman (as he is recorded in his passport) frequently traveled worldwide and has long been an Israeli citizen, with his entire family residing there. It seems that Anna Merkulova also headed closer to him after she personally appeared at a court hearing in the Arbitration Court of Moscow in January and heard the demands to disclose the beneficiaries of the companies that received billions of rubles from "Mosproekt-3" under her leadership.
