case of the head of Khakassia

The Chairman of the Government of Khakassia, Alexey Lebed, filed a lawsuit against the Khakass Technical Institute demanding the return of 134.4 thousand rubles, which Mr. Lebed allegedly overpaid to the university in 1999 to finance his trips to the USA and Australia. The government of the republic does not officially say why Mr. Lebed remembered about the overpayment seven years later, but they hint that the claim is a “trick by the lawyers” of the head of Khakassia in the case of embezzlement of funds, which he is accused of.

As Kommersant has learned, the head of the government of Khakassia, Alexey Lebed, filed a lawsuit to recover 134.4 thousand rubles from the Khakass Technical Institute. Mr. Lebed demands that the university return the money that he transferred on April 27, 1999 to pay for his family’s trip to the USA and Australia in 1998. According to the head of government, seven years ago he overpaid the institute, since in reality the costs of the trip turned out to be less than the amount he transferred.

Initially, the trips of Alexey Lebed and his family abroad were paid for by KhTI. This fact was revealed during an audit of the activities of the government of Khakassia, which was carried out by employees of the Accounts Chamber and the Prosecutor General's Office in May and June of this year. This, in turn, served as the reason for initiating a criminal case against Mr. Lebed under Part 2 of Art. 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Abuse of official powers committed by a person holding a public office in the Russian Federation”). As part of this case, investigators have already conducted the first interrogations of Alexey Lebed himself, as well as members of his family. The investigative authorities do not disclose the amount of claims against Mr. Lebed. However, as the head of the government of Khakassia himself stated in early August of this year, he returned the money spent on the trip to the institute back in 1999. The government of Khakassia perceived the initiation of a case against Alexei Lebed as an attempt to force him to voluntarily resign.

According to KhTI Deputy Rector for Academic Affairs Natalya Dulepova, Aleksey Lebed tried to get money from the university at the beginning of August. “The head of the republic actually first tried to return part of the funds paid privately in 1999, but was refused,” Ms. Dulepova explained the reasons for going to court. “We can’t just transfer money. If documents are presented in court that confirm validity of the claims, then we will transfer them."

Officially, the government does not comment in any way on the decision of the head of Khakassia to sue KhTI for the money he paid seven years ago. However, a government source close to Alexei Lebed is confident that these actions are “an initiative of lawyers” representing the interests of the head of Khakassia in the embezzlement case brought against him. The chairman of the Khakass government himself left on a business trip to China yesterday morning, and it was impossible to get his comment.

According to experts, Alexey Lebed’s actions can be explained as an attempt to close the case brought against him. “Most likely, the lawyers are trying to prove that Lebed owes the university an insignificant amount, the embezzlement of which he is accused of. If this attempt is successful, the court may dismiss the case due to the insignificance of the damage he caused,” noted one of the Krasnoyarsk lawyers.

ALEXEY K-NEPOMNASCHY, ALEXANDER KONOVALOV, Abakan

Alexey Lebed reminded the university of its debt