University teachers in Ufa were sentenced to 9.5 and 8.5 years in prison in the case of helping KHL players obtain diplomas for money

The Ordzhonikidze District Court of Ufa sentenced USNTU teachers - Professor Tatyana Leibert and Associate Professor Elvira Khalikova - to 9.5 and 8.5 years in prison in the case of bribery on an especially large scale. According to the legal portal Jurisora , both defendants participated in a scheme to sell grades and diplomas to KHL players.

As follows from the case file on the court website, the verdict was pronounced on June 15. Among the persons involved in the case are representatives of three hockey clubs: Siberia, Bars and the youth SKA 1946. Only Leibert and Khalikova are listed as defendants, but Jurisora ​​writes that Professor Oleg Makarenko was also involved in the bribery case at USPTU. The court fined him 7.5 million rubles for mediating a bribe. Makarenko did not admit guilt in court.

According to court materials, in 2022, three student hockey players who played in the KHL collected about 400 thousand rubles and turned to the university administration staff for help in passing the session. According to investigators, they subsequently bought tests in individual subjects, coursework and graduation projects.

Makarenko, according to the court, became an intermediary between the hockey players and the university management: he accepted money from the athletes and transferred it to the director of the Institute of Oil and Gas Business of the USPTU, Tatyana Leibert. For this, Leibert had to give successful grades without the presence of students at tests and exams. The key evidence in the case was recordings from a hidden camera, which captured moments of money being transferred from hockey players to Makarenko, then from Makarenko to Leibert.

The court suspended the execution of the sentences against Leibert and Khalikova until their children reach adulthood.