The verdict is satisfactory

Volgograd utility workers decided to receive conditional punishment

The Voroshilovsky District Court of Volgograd yesterday handed down a verdict in the case of the leaders of Volgograd Utility Systems OJSC (VgKS), accused of tax evasion and theft of more than 51 million rubles. All four defendants - company general director Tatyana Baranenko, chief engineer Mikhail Gushchin, chairman of the board of Noxbank OJSC Dmitry Sinyukov and bank treasurer Elena Polushina - were found guilty on all counts. However, given the repentance of the defendants, as well as the fact that they had already compensated the state treasury for the damage from their illegal activities, Judge Yulia Abrosimova considered it possible to limit them to a suspended sentence - from three to two and a half years in prison with a probationary period of one year.

Despite the fact that the sentence turned out to be so lenient, this outcome of the trial is of fundamental importance for local authorities. It was the investigation into the VgKS case that gave rise to the prosecutor’s office initiating a whole series of criminal cases, in which many Volgograd officials were accused, including the mayor of the city, Evgeny Ishchenko, and the speaker of the legislative assembly, Pavel Karev. Now all of them can hardly count on acquittal.

Volgograd Utility Systems, a subsidiary of Russian Utility Systems, leased from March 2004 to December 2005 from the city administration and serviced the utility infrastructure of Volgograd. Last year, the mayor's office terminated the contract with VgKS, since the company invested only 50 million rubles in public utilities. instead of the promised 500 million rubles, and entered into a new agreement with Regional Energy Systems. But the previous suppliers of heat and electricity refused to enter into contracts with the new tenant, demanding payment of VGKS debts that exceeded 1 billion rubles. In addition, utility companies owe tax payments to budgets of all levels in the amount of more than 43 million rubles.

A criminal case in connection with the activities of VgKS was opened by the regional prosecutor's office in mid-March. At first it was investigated under Art. 199-2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (concealment of funds or property of an organization, at the expense of which taxes and fees should be collected), but two weeks later another case was separated into separate proceedings, this time under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud). As part of the investigation, searches were carried out and documents were seized in the Volgograd City Hall and City Duma, and several people were arrested. And on April 26, Mayor Yevgeny Ishchenko was also questioned as a witness, who was later also charged.

The chairman of the board of directors of Volgograd Utility Systems OJSC, deputy chairman of the board of Noxbank Dmitry Sinyukov, bank treasurer Elena Polushina, chief engineer of VgKS Mikhail Gushchin and general director Tatyana Baranenko were detained by the prosecutor's office on charges of theft of 51.5 million rubles. back in April. Moreover, after the arrest of Evgeniy Ishchenko on May 30, they all fully admitted their guilt, repented and transferred 52 million rubles to the prosecutor’s office deposit account for damages. Such assistance to the investigation gave grounds to the prosecutor's office of the Volgograd region to petition for consideration of this criminal case under a special regime, which significantly speeds up the trial procedure and reduces the maximum possible punishment by a third.

Obviously, both the defendants and the prosecutor's office were satisfied with the verdict, so it most likely will not be appealed.

Dmitry KUTEPOV, Volgograd