A new criminal case has been opened against Mikhail Shkanov

The Minister of Construction of the Ulyanovsk Region, who was arrested on Wednesday on charges of taking a bribe, is now suspected of another crime - preparing to receive a bribe for assistance in the allocation of a land plot. The city architecture department refuses to comment, and deputies note that “the spirit and letter of the law are violated too often.”

Yesterday, the Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee for the Ulyanovsk Region reported that another criminal case had been opened against the Minister of Construction Mikhail Shkanov. This time the minister is suspected of “preparing to receive a bribe in the amount of 400 thousand rubles for assisting a resident of Ulyanovsk in obtaining the right to lease a land plot in the Zavolzhsky district of the city (part 1 of article 30, clause “a, c”, part 5 Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Let us remind you that late on Wednesday evening Mikhail Shkanov was taken into custody by a court decision (before that he was in a temporary detention center) on charges of receiving a bribe by an organized group (clauses “a”, “b”, part 5 of article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) . According to the investigation, the minister and his accomplice, the director of the Geo-Complex company Natalya Grigorova, took money from novice entrepreneurs in the amount of 30 to 50 thousand rubles for assistance in a positive decision of the competition commission on the allocation of grants for starting a business.

Natalya Grigorova also appears in the second criminal case. Events, according to the senior assistant to the head of the ICR Investigative Committee, Alexander Sorokin, developed at the end of 2011 and this year. According to him, again “all agreements on receiving money and promises were made through Grigorov.” The fact of “preparation to receive a bribe” became known directly from the potential recipient of the land. In the end, he never received the land, and only managed to transfer 5 thousand into the hands of Grigorova - payment for the fact of meeting with her to discuss the interests of the parties and the terms of the transaction “and obtain information about the site,” the Investigative Committee’s Investigative Directorate explains. As Mr. Sorokin noted, city administration officials related to the allocation of land plots will also be questioned in the new criminal case. Mr. Shkanov himself has not yet been interrogated regarding these episodes. He has not been charged in the second criminal case. The minister's lawyer, Elena Mytarina, declined to comment.

When asked whether the Minister of the Regional Government can influence the allocation of plots, Deputy Head of the City Administration, Chairman of the Committee for Management of City Property and Land Resources (KUGIZ) Tatyana Goryunova replied that “there is a prescribed system, there are regulations, and if you follow the letter of the law, no one can influence must". At the same time, Ms. Goryunova explained that KUGIZ does not deal with the allocation of sites, this is the prerogative of the architecture committee. The city architecture department declined to comment.

City Duma deputy Gennady Antontsev believes that both “the spirit and the letter of the law are often not respected.” “I know many entrepreneurs who registered land for construction for many years only because they did not pay bribes on principle,” the deputy said. If the minister’s guilt is proven, then only under Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation faces up to 12 years in prison.

Sergey Titov, Ulyanovsk

The minister was brought down to the ground