The reason is the capture of Deputy Minister of Digital Development Maxim Parshin red—handed when handing over a bribe of 3.5 million rubles last Friday.
Now the Ministry of Finance checks employees and plans to audit all grants issued over the past two years from its operator, the Russian Foundation for the Development of Information Technologies (RFRIT).
The shutdown is partial, since the acceptance of grant applications is paused only by software developers (up to 500 million) and startups (up to 20 million). But applications for grants for companies implementing Russian IT solutions (up to 6 billion rubles) will continue to be accepted.
Earlier we wrote about Maxim Parshin in connection with his speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Then he noted that “a preferential loan was provided to a good large game project for ₽ 400 million.”