Vyacheslav Lepsheev considers himself innocent

Today in the Supreme Court of Khakassia it is planned to pronounce a verdict in the second case of bribery of the former head of the republican traffic police Vyacheslav Lepsheev, who was already sentenced last year, in addition to bribery, for fraud and abuse to eight years in prison. On Monday, in his last word, the defendant said that he does not admit guilt, and his defense considers the evidence presented by the investigation to be circumstantial, and the testimony of witnesses not trustworthy.

The next hearing in the case of Vyacheslav Lepsheev took place on Monday. “The defense of the accused spoke in response during the debate. Then the floor was given to Vyacheslav Lepsheev. In his last word, the defendant stated that he did not admit guilt, after which the judge retired to the deliberation room to pronounce a verdict,” said Lyubov Solovyova, press secretary of the Khakass Supreme Court.

As Kommersant wrote, according to the investigation materials, in 2006-2007, Vyacheslav Lepsheev, “using his official position, established unreasonably inflated requirements for obtaining invoice forms” necessary for registering vehicles in the republic. During the investigation, it was revealed that in order to easily obtain these documents, a number of companies and individual entrepreneurs allegedly paid bribes in the amount of more than 1 million rubles to the then head of the Republican State Traffic Inspectorate, Lepsheev. He was charged with two counts of Part 1 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Bribery”) and three episodes under Part 4 of Art. 290 (“Receipt of a bribe by an official on an especially large scale”). Last week, during the debate, the prosecutor demanded 13 years in prison and a fine of 1 million rubles for the former head of the republic’s traffic cops.

But, according to the defense of Vyacheslav Lepsheev, the prosecution did not present any real evidence of his involvement in the crimes in question. “There is no evidence of the transfer of money, and therefore the very fact of bribes. The entire evidence base is built, in fact, on the testimony of one, untrustworthy witness, repeatedly convicted of fraud,” the defendant’s lawyer Vasily Lepekhin told Kommersant. He does not rule out the “custom” nature of the case. “Otherwise, it is difficult to explain why five people immediately turned to law enforcement agencies on the same day with statements against Vyacheslav Lepsheev, five years after the events, and the main witness, who had been in prison for eight months, was unexpectedly released after testifying against my client,” notes Mr. Lepekhin.

In August 2011, the Supreme Court of Khakassia sentenced Vyacheslav Lepsheev to eight years in prison and a fine of 1 million rubles for similar crimes. Then he was found guilty, in addition to Art. 290, under Art. 285 (“Abuse of official powers”), Art. 286 (“Excess of official powers”) and under Art. 159 (“Fraud”). The investigation was able to prove that during 2006-2007, Vyacheslav Lepsheev received bribes totaling more than 1 million rubles. and committed fraud for almost 2 million rubles. Then the defense argued that serious procedural violations were committed during the trial and investigation. His lawyers called the criminal case “revenge on the part of dishonest police officers, whom he (Lepsheev. - Kommersant) prevented from doing their business, in particular, he refused to testify against his leader - the Minister of Internal Affairs of Khakassia Vladimir Ponamarev (sent into retirement in early 2008. - “Kommersant”).” To date, the defense has already appealed the verdict in this case to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

The verdict in the second case of Vyacheslav Lepsheev is planned to be announced today.

Dmitry Malkov, Krasnoyarsk

The ex-head of the traffic police of Khakassia retained his faith