Translated material
Everyone sat down
Former officials of Rosimushchestvo were sent to prison following the personnel officers of the Ministry of Economic Development
The Tyumen regional court yesterday sentenced the former head of the territorial department of Rosimushchestvo, Vladimir Afanasyev, to eight and a half years in prison. He was found guilty of abuse of power, receiving and giving bribes. With the same sentence, Mr. Afanasyev’s former deputy Viktor Shmulevich and local businessman Mikhail Sorokin, whom the investigation considered his accomplices, were sentenced to seven years and two months and eight and a half years, respectively. Initially, several employees of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT) were also involved in this case, who, according to investigators, also received a bribe from Mr. Afanasyev. They were sentenced back in the summer of 2008.A criminal case against Vladimir Afanasyev was initiated in November 2006 based on the results of a prosecutor's inspection in the territorial department of Rosimushchestvo in the Tyumen region. The reason for its holding was numerous complaints from local businessmen. The information contained in them was confirmed - as a result of the audit, the management of the territorial administration was suspected of “alienating land plots from the state,” leasing municipal lands to commercial structures for a long time without a competition and receiving millions in kickbacks for this.
In particular, according to the investigation, among the “clients” of the head of Rosimushchestvo was the head of the Topol state breeding plant, Mikhail Sorokin. As stated in the verdict, in February 2006, Afanasyev illegally leased 150 hectares of land belonging to the state breeding plant for 49 years to a certain commercial company, the owner of which was also considered Mikhail Sorokin. According to investigators, the entrepreneur himself developed a criminal scheme and proposed it to officials, and paid them 1.5 million rubles for their services. However, they did not have time to implement it - a criminal case had already been opened against Mr. Afanasyev and his deputy for abuse in connection with other violations, and they themselves were fired from the department. Investigators also established that Mr. Afanasyev illegally transferred several oil wells of the Ugra subsidiary of Gazprom Neft to the Sibneft-Khantos company.
However, Mr. Afanasyev did not agree with the dismissal, intending to return the position, and therefore the capital’s officials from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade also came to the attention of the investigators. When Mr. Shmulevich was detained in his office in October 2006, the operatives did not find his boss at his workplace. As it turned out, at this time he went to the capital for negotiations with the head of the MEDT personnel apparatus, Andrei Mylov, and his deputy, Gennady Yartsev. Mr. Afanasyev asked them, according to the investigation, to help him remain in his post. The capital's officials agreed, but also asked for a reward - the same 1.5 million rubles that Mr. Afanasyev received from Mikhail Sorokin a little earlier.
Mr. Afanasyev returned to Tyumen only in December and was detained right at the airport. At the same time, new charges were brought against him - of giving a bribe, and in the summer of 2007, employees of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade were detained, who, together with several other officials, were accused of taking a bribe.
As the investigation established, with a request to assist in returning the position, Mr. Afanasyev turned to the leading specialist of the legal support department of Rosimushchestvo, Evgenia Sakharovskaya, who had connections in the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (only there could the order of his dismissal be canceled). Ms. Sakharovskaya asked her colleague Mikhail Frolov to put Mr. Afanasyev in touch with Vadim Shelekhov, an employee of the HR Department of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. The latter agreed to help and introduced Mr. Afanasyev to his superiors. According to the investigation, all these people took part in the transfer of money to MEDT personnel officers “through the chain”, and together with Mylov and Yartsev they were charged with mediation in receiving a bribe.
In August 2008, the Moscow City Court found guilty the then former officials of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and Rosimushchestvo. Moreover, the jury decided that Andrei Mylov and Gennady Yartsev did not deserve leniency; they received nine and ten years in a maximum security colony, respectively. In addition, the court imposed significant fines on them. Vadim Shelekhov, unlike his leaders, admitted his guilt and was sentenced to three years probation. Mikhail Frolov, an employee of Rosimushchestvo, also received a suspended sentence. But his colleague Evgenia Sakharovskaya could not escape real punishment; she was sentenced to four years in prison.
The materials regarding Vladimir Afanasyev and his accomplices were separated into separate proceedings, and this investigation took much longer. According to the verdict of the Tyumen Regional Court announced yesterday, Mr. Afanasyev was found guilty of abuse of power, receiving and giving a bribe. In addition to imprisonment, he was also punished with a fine of 500 thousand rubles. For abuse and taking a bribe to seven years and one month and a fine of 300 thousand rubles. His deputy Viktor Shmulevich was sentenced. In addition, the director of the breeding farm, Mikhail Sorokin, received eight years in a maximum security colony - he was found guilty of abuse, commercial bribery and attempted fraud.