Translated material
Building as evidence
The deputy head of the Moscow department of Rosimushchestvo was hit by water transport
The Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow yesterday issued an arrest warrant for the deputy head of the capital department of the Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo) Sergei Korchagin and his subordinate, deputy head of the federal property accounting department Dmitry Knyazev. They are accused of extorting a bribe of 10.5 million rubles. and two more buildings near the management of the Moscow State Academy of Water Transport (MSAVT). The officials themselves deny guilt, assuring the investigation that someone wants to denigrate them.In the field of view of FSB officers. Korchagin and Knyazev were caught in October last year, when one of the vice-rectors of Moscow State Academy of Mechanical Engineering approached them with a statement. He said that the academy has several facilities that are federally owned and assigned to it with the right of operational management. In September, the academic council decided to obtain ownership rights to the property, and a representative of the university brought the necessary package of documents to the Moscow department of Rosimushchestvo.
As follows from the vice-rector’s statement, a few days later Dmitry Knyazev called the institute, who said that he would be involved in registering the ownership rights of the buildings and for this he needed to talk with an authorized person. When he was connected to the vice-rector, he complained that there were inaccuracies in the documents and to correct them they needed to meet in person. The vice-rector agreed and arrived the next day. During the conversation, as follows from his statement, a man “came into Mr. Knyazev’s office,” whom the official introduced as the deputy head of the department, Sergei Evgenievich Korchagin. After that, as the vice-rector told the security officers, Mr. Knyazev allegedly said that if the university management “will be prudent and share a small part of the real estate” - two academy buildings on Sadovnicheskaya Street, then the documents for the remaining buildings will soon be ready. At the same time, the official said that he understands that he needs to “think carefully about the answer,” and therefore he will “call periodically and remind himself,” and the documents for all the buildings will remain in his safe for now.
The vice-rector told his leadership about this conversation, and a decision was made not to give up the building, but to go to the FSB for help. The security officers invited the applicant to participate in an operational experiment, providing him with recording equipment, and also wiretapped the officials' phones. All further negotiations took place under the supervision of the special services.
At one of the regular meetings, Mr. Korchagin, according to the investigation, told the vice-rector: either the leadership of the academy is no longer “pushing the tires,” or MGAVT will be “tortured with inspections.” At the same time, the official warned that if the university management contacts law enforcement agencies, it will only get worse. The discussion of the terms of the “deal,” according to the UPC, took place on December 10 - officials offered the vice-rector in exchange for two academy buildings and 10.5 million rubles. register all other real estate. The university representative agreed, but made a reservation that the academy did not have that much money available, and asked to wait with the payment. The officials agreed, but almost every day after that, Mr. Knyazev, according to the investigation, continued to remind the vice-rector that “time is passing.”
In the end, the vice-rector informed Mr. Knyazev that the money had been collected. Their transfer was scheduled for February 5 - the representative of the university, according to the investigation, had to come to the office of the VTB-24 bank at 35 Myasnitskaya Street around noon and hand over the entire amount to a girl named Svetlana. At the same time, the official assured the vice-rector that as soon as he had the money, he would immediately hand over the completed documents for all buildings, except two on Sadovnicheskaya Street.
The vice-rector did everything as the official told him, and, handing over the money marked by the special squad, left the bank. After this, the girl was detained and taken for questioning to the Investigative Committee department for the Central Administrative District, where she was charged with complicity in accepting a bribe. Two hours later, Messrs. were detained in their offices. Korchagin and Knyazev. They were also taken to the SKP, accused of receiving a bribe. The detainees immediately refused to testify, saying only that they were trying to slander them. During a search in the offices of officials, documents previously handed over to them by the vice-rector were confiscated. Yesterday, the Khamovnichesky District Court issued a warrant for the arrest of both officials, and the alleged intermediary was released on her own recognizance. To whom and how the detainees planned to register the two MGAVT buildings, which the detainees demanded from the academy management, the investigation is still finding out.
Mr. Knyazev's lawyer, Valentin Grigorenko, refrained from comment yesterday, explaining that his client had not authorized him to communicate with the media. The MGAVT also considered it premature to give an explanation. Rosimushchestvo only said yesterday that Mr. Korchagin wrote a statement on December 10 of his own free will and was fired on February 3, while Mr. Knyazev is still on the staff.