In Karelia, a corrupt official, in whose case the ex-governor was interrogated, received 8 years in prison

The Petrozavodsk City Court sentenced on Wednesday the former head of the Karelia Highway Administration, Alexey Nikitin, who was found guilty of accepting bribes in the amount of 12 million rubles. Moreover, the former head of Karelia Alexander Khudilainen was a defendant in the criminal case as a witness.

According to the court's decision, Nikitin will spend 8 years behind bars. He will serve his sentence in a maximum security penal colony. Nikitin will also pay a fine of 25 million rubles. The convict was taken into custody in the courtroom, TASS reports.

Judge Alexander Merkov also deprived Alexey Nikitin of the right to hold positions in state bodies and local governments for a period of 13 years.

During the debate between the parties, state prosecutor Alexei Borisov asked to sentence Nikitin to 5 years in a maximum security colony and a fine of 25 million rubles.

The defendant himself previously entered into a pre-trial agreement, fully admitted his guilt and repented. Nikitin asked the court to take into account his assistance in the investigation of the criminal case when imposing a sentence. “I am an adult, and I understand that I will have to answer for what I have done. I ask the court to take into account not only the severity of the crimes I committed, but also what I did later, that I sincerely repent in words and deeds,” - he said in the last word.

The court found that Nikitin and his deputy Igor Novokshonov were part of a criminal group organized by the de facto head of Remstroykomplekt LLC, Igor Chichin. From 2015 to 2017, they systematically received bribes from managers and employees of commercial organizations for providing unjustified benefits when concluding, executing and paying for government contracts for the repair and construction of roads in the region. The total amount of bribes received by the accomplices was about 12 million rubles (previously another amount was called - 33 million rubles).

On February 12, the Petrozavodsk City Court sentenced Novokshonov to 4 years in a maximum security colony and a fine of 22 million rubles.

According to the prosecutor's office, in 2015, Chichin, using his personal relationship with the then head of Karelia, Alexander Khudilainen, organized a meeting between the governor and Alexei Nikitin in St. Petersburg to appoint him to the post of head of the Karelia Highway Administration. The presented candidacy was approved by the head of the region, which Khudilainen personally informed Nikitin during a telephone conversation on May 15, 2015. Probably in connection with this episode, Khudilainen was brought in to testify as a witness in a case of bribes from commercial organizations, the GubDaily news agency wrote.

Alexander Khudilainen led Karelia from May 2012 to February 2017. In February 2016, he received a reprimand from the president for disrupting the emergency housing resettlement program. After leaving the governor's chair, Khudilainen headed the board of directors of Ust-Luga Oil JSC, the owner and operator of the oil products transshipment terminal in the port of Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea.