Ex-speaker of the Primorye Parliament changed the preventive measure

The investigation softened the preventive measure for the former chairman of the Primorye parliament, Evgeny Ovechkin, who is a defendant in a criminal case for the theft of petroleum products worth 38 million rubles. Instead of house arrest, the ex-speaker is now under recognizance not to leave.

The change in the preventive measure against Mr. Ovechkin is due to changes in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation that came into force in December, Aurora Rimskaya, senior assistant to the head of the investigative department of the Investigative Committee for Primorye, told Kommersant. According to her, initially the ex-speaker was charged with committing a crime under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud on an especially large scale). After changes were made to the Criminal Code, the charge was reclassified as fraud in the field of business activities committed on an especially large scale (Part 3 of Article 159.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). If in the original version Evgeniy Ovechkin was accused of a serious crime (maximum punishment - up to 10 years in prison), then in the new version - moderate crime (up to 5 years). “In this regard, in the last days of December, the investigator decided to change the preventive measure to a more lenient one,” explained Ms. Rimskaya. She added that the “structure of the case” remains the same.

Let us recall that on April 29 last year, the Leninsky District Court of Vladivostok granted the investigation’s request and chose a preventive measure in the form of house arrest against the then chairman of the Primorye Parliament, Evgeniy Ovechkin. The day before, searches were carried out in the speaker's office, and he himself was detained. “According to investigators, in 2008, the suspect stole petroleum products worth at least 38 million rubles from a commercial enterprise through fraud. and disposed of them at his own discretion,” the Investigative Committee for Primorye reported. The department clarified that the fuel was stolen from Khabarovsk Fuel Company LLC in favor of ST Shipmanagement LLC (shipping), controlled by Mr. Ovechkin. The investigation did not disclose any other details of the case.

Evgeny Ovechkin was elected chairman of the Legislative Assembly of Primorye in December 2011. His candidacy was approved by the presidium of the General Council of United Russia. Mr. Ovechkin is considered a long-time member of the team of ex-governor Sergei Darkin; they simultaneously studied at the Far Eastern Higher Marine Engineering School named after Admiral Nevelskoy. At the beginning of the last decade, Evgeny Ovechkin headed the S&T Group holding, which included ST Shipmanagement LLC. In 2004-2007, he worked as deputy governor, after which he headed the board of directors of Far Eastern Industrial Construction Company CJSC. Just a few days after the initiation of the criminal case, on May 3, the ex-speaker sent a statement of voluntary resignation to the regional parliament, which was satisfied by the deputies. The resignation of Speaker Ovechkin is part of a campaign to “purge personnel” inherited from his predecessor by the new governor of Primorye Vladimir Miklushevsky, appointed in March last year, believes political scientist Viktor Burlakov.

The Investigative Committee for Primorye is still finding it difficult to predict the timing of the completion of the investigation and the transfer of case materials to the court. Evgeny Ovechkin himself does not comment on the accusations against him; his lawyer Yakov Sheinin does the same. After changing the preventive measure, the ex-speaker, who remains a deputy, was given the opportunity to participate in the work of the legislative body. However, on the first working day of the new year, Mr. Ovechkin did not appear at the Legislative Assembly, a source in the parliamentary apparatus told Kommersant.

Alexey Chernyshev

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