Translated material
Gratitude as evidence
Major and colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were accused of trying to bribe anti-corruption fighters
The capital's department of the Investigative Committee, as Vremya Novostei learned, is completing its investigation into yet another scandalous case of police corruption. The first deputy chief - the head of the criminal police of the 4th Department of Internal Affairs of the department of ensuring law and order at sensitive facilities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 39-year-old Colonel Vyacheslav Evstifeev and 29-year-old Major Andrei Okunev (at the disposal of the personnel department of the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate) are suspected of attempting to give a bribe to one of the heads of the department own security (USB) of the capital's police. According to investigators, they offered 10 thousand dollars so that the Internal Security Service would turn a blind eye to compromising materials available regarding Major Okunev and agree to his appointment to a new position in the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate.It is noteworthy that immediately after the arrest, back in July, Major Okunev was dismissed from the police, but, as the investigation found out, this was done retroactively and based on a fake report. Accordingly, the dismissal may be considered illegal. In this regard, the Moscow department of the SKP sent to the head of the capital’s police, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, a proposal “to take measures to eliminate violations.”
The Moscow department of the SKP opened this case on July 7 based on materials from the Department of Internal Security (DSB) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation immediately after Messrs. Evstifeev and Okunev were detained while transferring money that, according to investigators, was intended for the deputy head of the Internal Security Service of the capital’s Central Internal Affairs Directorate, Roman Marusich. Based on the latter’s report that he was being offered a bribe, this investigation, in fact, began.
As it turned out, the suspects met several years ago - they worked in different departments, but overlapped in their careers. Colonel Evstifeev himself once worked in the DSS, but then moved to the Department of Law Enforcement in Closed Territories and Security Facilities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (it was recently disbanded). Major Okunev has been “out of state” since the spring. Previously, he held the position of head of one of the departments of the center for combating offenses in the consumer market and the execution of administrative legislation of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate, but this division was liquidated in April of this year. His attempts to find a new job in the police ended in a criminal case for him.
According to the investigation, in December last year, Major Okunev was caught up in the investigation of the CSS department in the South-Eastern District of Moscow - he was suspected of extorting a bribe from the management of Tandem LLC, which owned an entertainment club. The company manager, Elena Suchkova, wrote a statement against him. She said that three police officers, among whom was Mr. Okunev, came to the club with an inspection and demanded 300 thousand rubles so that it would end safely. There was no such amount in the office, and, as follows from Ms. Suchkova’s statement, the “auditors” told her to bring the money right away, within an hour, promising otherwise to find a reason to close the establishment. The woman agreed for the sake of appearance, and went to the CSS herself. There she was immediately provided with recording equipment, marked banknotes, and sent to a meeting with the “inspectors.” They, however, did not take the bag with the money themselves, but asked Ms. Suchkova to put it in the window of a nearby foreign car, which at first no one paid attention to. As soon as she followed the instructions, the car took off, and it was not possible to detain her, and the announced “Interception” plan did not bring results. As a result, the initiation of a case against Mr. Okunev and his colleagues was then refused due to lack of evidence. However, the Internal Security Service continued to spy on them, and it soon became clear that they were allegedly involved in several more corruption crimes. But after the unit where Mr. Okunev served was disbanded, operational development lost its meaning.
Meanwhile, the major himself began to look for a new place, and soon he was offered the position of inspector of one of the departments of the department for maintaining public order (UPOP) of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate. However, at the end of June, as the investigation established, the major was informed that “the approval of his candidacy for the position by the Moscow Internal Security Service officers was refused due to the presence of incriminating materials.” As follows from the case materials, Mr. Okunev then began to look for ways to find people who could solve his problem, without hiding the fact that he was ready to pay, and among others, he talked about this with Colonel Evstifeev. The latter suggested introducing his friend to the deputy head of the DSS, Major Roman Marusich, whom he knew well from his previous work in the DSS.
As follows from the case materials, on June 23, Colonel Evstifeev called Mr. Marusich and, telling Okunev’s story, asked for help “for gratitude.” Having agreed on a meeting, Mr. Marusich wrote a report that he was being offered a bribe, after which it was decided to arrest both policemen red-handed, recording all their negotiations.
After some time, Major Marusich introduced Mr. Evstifeev to his subordinate, senior detective Oleg Morgachev, explaining that he would deal with Mr. Okunev’s “problem.” After some time, Mr. Morgachev informed his friends that the documents for Okunev were ready, to which the latter said that he agreed to pay 10 thousand dollars “as a thank you.”
The transfer of money was scheduled for July 7 at the Sim-Sim cafe on Konyushkovskaya Street. Immediately after the “deal,” both policemen were detained and taken to the capital’s police station. According to the investigation, Major Okunev categorically refused to admit guilt, using Art. 51 of the Constitution (not to testify against oneself). And Colonel Evstifeev partially confessed, confirming only “the fact of the transfer of money.” At the same time, he stated that the CSS employees themselves extorted money for Okunev’s appointment.
The next day, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court arrested both detainees. At the same time, the investigation turned to the personnel department of the capital’s Main Internal Affairs Directorate with a request to clarify whether Okunev is an active police officer. On the same day, the SKP received a response from which it followed that “Okunev A.A. due to staff reduction, dismissed from the internal affairs bodies on 07/08/2010 by order of 07/07/2010 No. 1217l/s on the basis of the latter’s report dated 07/05/2010.” However, experts established that the report on Okunev’s dismissal was signed not by him, but by “another person with an imitation of the signature” and he was fired retroactively. In this regard, the SKP submitted a proposal to the head of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate, General Kolokoltsev, with instructions to “conduct an internal review of the identified facts” and “resolve the issue of bringing the perpetrators to justice,” and also cancel the order to dismiss Major Okunev. However, the UPC has not yet received a response to it. As for Colonel Evstifeev, he is still listed as an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.