The case of Alexei Ulyukaev

What you need to know about the process over the ex-head of the Ministry of Economic Development

The defendant : Alexey Ulyukaev, from June 24, 2013 to November 15, 2016 - Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

The main witness/he is the victim : the head of Rosneft Igor Sechin

The third actor : Oleg Feoktistov, in November 2016, the head of the Rosneft security service.

Detention

Ulyukaev was detained on the evening of November 14, 2016 at the office of Rosneft on Sofia Embankment in Moscow. The detention was carried out by the Investigative Committee with operational support of employees of the economic security department of the FSB of Russia. The next day, Ulyukaev was an official charge under part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (receiving a bribe by a person holding the state position of the Russian Federation with an extortion of a bribe and on an especially large scale).

Reaction

On November 15, 2016, at night at 3 hours 6 minutes on the official website of the MIA Russia Today, a commentary on the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov on the detention of the Minister of Economic Development was published:

“Now the night. I do not know if the president was reported. This is a very serious accusation that requires very serious evidence. In any case, only the court can solve anything. ”

On November 15, 2016, the Moscow Basmanny Court sent Ulyukaev under house arrest.

On the same day after the court decision by his decree, President Putin dismissed Ulyukaev from the post of Minister of the Ministry of Economic Development "Due to the Loss of Confidence."

Version of Sechin, Feoktistov and investigation

From the statements of Sechin and Feoktistov in the FSB, it follows that Ulyukaev during the Brix summit in GOA in October 2016 extorted a bribe in the amount of $ 2 million for the US Ministry of Economic Development, which granted Rosneft the right to make a deal to acquire a state Bashneft shares in the amount of 50 %. If you believe the words of Sechin and Feoktistov, Ulyukaev extorted a bribe with a gesture of two fingers (Victory sign) at the moment when the head of Rosneft played billiards with the head of VTB Andrei Kostin . Vadim Derevyagin, who were surveyed in court (Lifenews correspondent, Vadim Derevyagin, who were eyewitnesses to Sechin and Ulyukaev on Goa), did not see two fingers, and also did not hear what the interlocutors specifically talked about.

He did not see a gesture in two fingers and the author of the statement in the FSB of Feoktistov, during his closed interrogation in court (the details became known to reporters later) he said that after returning from Goa Sechin, he came to him “consult” how to do it - Ulyukaev asked him a bribe of $ 2 million. Then Feoktistov advised the head of Rosneft "to show his civic position and help catch the corrupt official."

As Sechin claimed in his testimony at the investigation (the BBCs became known) and as the prosecutors in court claimed, Ulyukaev himself called Sichin on November 14, 2016 and insisted at a meeting in his office, where he was transferred to a portfolio with money. This contradicted the materials of the case, according to which Sechin called the first, and the testimony of Ulyukaev himself.

The prosecutors asked the court to recognize Ulyukaev guilty, to appoint 10 years in prison of a strict regime and a fine of 500 million rubles.

The position of Ulyukaev

Does not admit guilt. He calls himself a victim of a provocation organized "on the basis of a false denunciation" of Sechin and Feoktistov. During the debate, he demanded that they hold both liable for obviously false denunciation and operational employees for provocing a bribe. He emphasized: the political weight of the head of Rosneft and its influence are disproportionate. In his speech in the debate, he noted that at the Brix summit, their conversation with Sechin came to the conclusion that they congratulated each other on the transaction, and the head of Rosneft promised to treat Ulyukaev with a rare wine, which he had never tried. To meet with Sechin, according to the words of the ex-minister, he did not beg and did not call him himself. On the contrary, the secretary of Sechin secretary Ulyukaev called the secretary, but he was absent in the ministry. When he appeared, he called back. Sichin in a telephone conversation persistently invited Ulyukaev to his office, he referred to employment, in particular to a meeting of the college in the ministry, but eventually agreed to come by 17 o’clock (these words of the defendant confirmed the wiretaps of conversations in court). According to Ulyukaev, he was sure that there was a discussion of 19.5% of the Rosneft shares belonging to Rosneftegaz as a privatization. During the meeting, Sichin uttered the words “collected volume”; According to the defendant, he thought that we were talking about the means that Rosneft wants to send to the ransom of these shares. On the street near the Rosneft office, Sechin took Ulyukaev to the Christmas tree and with the words “Take” showed a bag on the ground. Ulyukaev took, being sure that inside the wine, which Sechin promised him in Goa.

Trial

In the summer of 2017, the criminal case was transferred to the Zamoskvoretsky court of the capital. The process started on August 8th. Judge Larisa Semenova repeatedly refused to defend Ulyukaev in the request to return the case back to the prosecutor in connection with the contradictions of the indictment.

During the court, it turned out:

• That in the criminal case various data are presented on where, when and how exactly Ulyukaev demanded a bribe (in some papers, the place was listed in the place, in others - Moscow, in the third - “in an unidentified place”).

• What exactly Feoktistov found $ 2 million in cash for an investigative experiment. The General of the FSB retired told in court that he had asked a large amount from his “good friend, private investor” (he refused to name the name, Ulyukaev’s defense suspects that this was Rosneft's money) and transferred money to the special services to employees.

• That the letter to the head of the FSB Alexander Bortnikov sent the Feoktistov to the letter of extortion from Ulyukaev. The document included a postscript signed by Sechin: “Given the foregoing, we agree to participate in operational events.”

• That during a meeting with Ulyukaev in the Rosneft office, Sichin was a sound recording equipment, and before the meeting he was instructed by the FSB officers on how to behave and what to say during a meeting with Ulyukaev.

Strange and scandals

• The only real witness of the conversation between Sechin and Ulyukaev on Goa - the head of VTB Andrei Kostin, who played with the head of Rosneft in billiards - for unknown reasons was not interrogated either in the investigation or in court. He himself never commented on this matter in the media and, in particular, did not tell if he had seen a gesture in two fingers from the ex-minister.

• As soon as the defense of Ulyukaeva asked to call two FSB officers for interrogation to the court who participated in an operational experiment against the minister, they first found themselves on a “business trip”, and then (when the defense asked to call them again) - on a long business trip. As a result, they were never seen in court. In particular, “because of business trips”, the FSB officer Kalinichenko did not appear to the court, who sent a report to the authorities on the discovery of “signs of crime” in Ulyukaev’s actions.

• The main witness of Sechin, in the words of which the charge is being built, never appeared on the process, despite the repeated summons of the court and the petition of the defense of Ulyukaev. The reason, as the lawyer of the head of Rosneft - “Border Branches” and “Strengthening employment until the end of the year” stated. The parties did not announce his testimony given to them during the investigation. The prosecutors only once (after they graduated from presenting their evidence) asked to call Sechin. After his first failure, they no longer insisted.

• Sechin sometimes commented on the course of the proceedings, even before the sentence, speaking about the guilt of Ulyukaev. So, in September 2017, when the court was already going on, Sechin told reporters during the Eastern Economic Forum: “I'll give you testimony right now. See: being as a minister, Ulyukaev demanded an illegal remuneration. He himself determined his size, he himself arrived for him, took him with his hands, plunged it into the car and drove away. In accordance with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, this is a crime. ” In the same September 2017, the head of Rosneft called the “professional cretinism” the actions of prosecutors, who publicly voiced in the court a deciphering of the conversations of Ulyukaev and Sechin in the Rosneft office, telling how the latter supposedly gave a bribe to the Minister. According to Sechin, the decoding contains “information containing GOSTain” that “could not be released”. True, he did not specify what kind of information he means.

• Separately, the course of the court was commented on by the press secretary of Rosneft Mikhail Leontyev. He often emphasized in the comments of the media (also before the verdict) that "the accused was detained red -handed, and the court was presented with exhaustive evidence of his guilt."

Expertise

Among the evidence of the guilt of Ulyukaev, the accusation asked the court to take into account when the sentence was sentenced to psychological linguistic examination of the audio recordings of the conversations of the ex-minister with Sechin. The recording of the conversation in the Rosneft’s office was investigated by Kislyakov and Ryzhenko’s specialists from the Non -profit Volgograd organization South Expert Center, they came to the conclusion that the conversation contains linguistic features indicating the preliminary agreement of the interlocutors; Ulyukaev, according to experts, demonstrates the understanding of Sechin's statements. In the speech of the latter, as experts in court said, there were no signs of provocation. At the same time, experts admitted that they did not specifically investigate this issue. According to expert Viktor Kislyakov, Ulyukaev’s reactions to Sechin’s actions were “natural”. According to the expert, he could not “climb into the head” for people on the recording and draw some conclusions “in reality”. However, he saw a “hidden understanding” by talking topics of the conversation.

In addition to the Southern Expert Center, the wiretapping of Sechin and Ulyukaev in the office of Rosneft was studied by an expert Ivanov from the FSB forensic institution. He was supposed to answer the question about the presence or absence of signs of recording installation. His conclusions were not announced in court, however, the defense of the ex-minister unveiled the expert’s request to provide him with original audio files and the recording device itself. The FSB refused to provide Ivanov with the original - on the grounds that the record "contains GOSTINE".

At the request of the defense of Ulyukaev, the examination of wiretaps was analyzed by the professor of the Department of Forensic Expertise MGUA Elena Galyashina, who noticed that the records did not check for installation, and the employees of the South Center ignored the context of the conversation. Galyashin came to the conclusion that violations were committed in this examination, in particular, the analysis was carried out, despite the noise interference on the record. According to the expert, the conclusions of the experts were subjective, arbitrary and were not based on linguistic evidence. At the same time, Galyashin noted, judging by the notes, it was Sechin who first initiated a meeting with Ulyukaevs on November 16, 2016, and then the transfer of the bag. In her opinion, Ulyukaev could not understand what was lying in the bag, which he received from the head of Rosneft.

Result

Zamoskvoretsky Court sentenced Alexei Ulyukaev to 8 years in a strict colony and a fine of 130 million rubles. He will not be able to occupy positions either in the authorities or state corporations.