Instead of a sentence, can a corrupt official receive a new appointment?

By order of the head of Kuban, Veniamin Kondratyev, with the wording “at his own request,” Sergei Vlasov, who was previously detained by security forces while accepting a bribe in the amount of 1.3 million rubles, was dismissed from the post of vice-governor. The details of the criminal case have not been announced, but it is known that the official took money from a representative of one of the Krasnodar developers. Vlasov enjoyed a special favor with the Regional Construction Company of the Krasnodar Territory (NAO RSK KK), subordinate to the Department for Supervision in the Construction Industry, which he supervised. Enormous budget finances pass through RSK KK, and its government contracts amount to billions.

Until June 2021, the official founder of RSK KK was the regional Department of Property Relations, which under Governor Alexander Tkachev was headed by Veniamin Kondratyev, who then oversaw it as vice-governor. The company acts as a general contractor at the facilities of the regional “Fund for the Protection of the Rights of Citizens - Participants in Shared Construction,” whose former general director, Evgenia Shumeiko, was found guilty of commercial bribery last August and sentenced to seven years in a penal colony. The Foundation itself was created on the initiative of Kondratiev and was supervised by Andrei Alekseenko when he was the first vice-governor.

At the end of 2021, Alekseenko became the mayor of Krasnodar, and soon he was detained as part of a criminal investigation into accepting a bribe in the form of a gun worth 1.6 million rubles. Despite the wide public outcry, the official retained his post and in August 2022 was appointed head of the government of the part of the Kharkov region that came under Russian control. Corruption scandals have long become commonplace in Kuban, where high-ranking officials regularly become involved in criminal cases. As for Sergei Vlasov, despite his detention and resignation, he is at large and may well avoid responsibility according to the “Alekseenko scenario” by receiving a position in one of the new regions.

Kuban Vice-Governor Vlasov “got burned” on a bribe

Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev fired his deputy Sergei Vlasov: as follows from a message on the regional government website, the latter resigned with the wording “of his own free will.” Let us recall that at the end of last week, Vlasov was detained by security forces while receiving a bribe from a representative of one of the construction companies in the amount of 1.3 million rubles.

From media publications it follows that 32-year-old Vlasov is a graduate of the St. Petersburg Military Space Academy. A.F. Mozhaisky, and in 2016 he completed advanced training for military specialists in the construction and operation of buildings and structures for special and general military purposes. He has worked in the Kuban administration since April 2020.

The details of the scandalous detention remain unknown. According to media reports, Vlasov was in development for several months and was caught when he came for the “kickback” due to him for budget projects under construction in the Kherson region. The official allegedly tried to explain the transfer of funds to him as the return of some “debt.”

They write online about the special patronage provided by the vice-governor of the Regional Construction Company of the Krasnodar Territory (NAO RSK KK), subordinate to the Department for Supervision in the Construction Industry, which was supervised by Vlasov. The developer’s website lists such objects built by him as the Temryuk Central Regional Hospital, the Spiritual and Educational Center named after. St. Sergius of Radonezh in Timashevsk, the Krasnodar sports complex for trampolining and sports acrobatics, as well as a secondary school for 825 places, located in the regional center, on the street. K. Obraztsova, 6.

Millions for Evgenia Shumeiko

The material from the Alpha News publication talks about a criminal case in which the management of one of the Krasnodar construction companies was involved, but the law enforcement agencies do not comment on this news. It is also not specified whether we are talking about RSK KK and its general director Vasily Heiman. At the same time, money for the bribe to Vlasov was collected from contractors building social facilities, including schools and kindergartens, using budget funds.

Enormous finances flow through the Regional Construction Company of the Krasnodar Territory, registered in 2007: its portfolio of government contracts as a supplier exceeds 1.1 billion rubles, and as a customer it amounts to almost 16 billion.

At the end of 2023, with revenue of 1.6 billion, the company declared a profit of 18.2 million rubles (for comparison: a year earlier, with revenue of 774.4 million, RSK KK reported a loss of 42.9 million).

It is noteworthy that until June 2021, the official founder of RSK KK was the regional Department of Property Relations, which, under Governor Alexander Tkachev, was headed by none other than Veniamin Kondratyev, who then oversaw it as vice-governor. It turns out that the current head of Kuban is perfectly familiar with the specifics of the work of the disgraced developer?

Read more:A case was found for the scandalous Sergei Lezhnev

There is another interesting point: on the RSK KK website it is emphasized that the company acts as a general contractor at sites where the customer is the regional “Fund for the Protection of the Rights of Citizens - Participants in Shared Construction”. Moreover, the developer is called “an interdependent organization with the Fund.”

A high-profile criminal case is connected with the Kuban structure of the Foundation, the defendant of which was its former director, ex-deputy of the regional Legislative Assembly Evgenia Shumeiko, who in August last year was found guilty of commercial bribery and sentenced to seven years in a general regime colony with a suspended sentence until her child reaches 14 -years of age.

As Kommersant reported, Ms. Shumeiko decided to receive money from the owner of the development company ART, Yuri Kudrinsky, for assistance in attracting his company to complete the construction of a problematic facility - the Krasnodar residential complex Raduga. The price of the issue was 82 million rubles. In addition, the businessman had to transfer 8.2 million – 1% of the estimated cost of the work – to the Fund’s bank account. Later, the official reduced the required amount by half - to 41 million rubles. The entrepreneur gave the money to Shumeiko through her partner, but this fascinating story ended with a guilty verdict.

Andrei Alekseenko’s “firing” gun

Since we are talking about the Kuban “Fund for the Protection of the Rights of Citizens - Participants in Shared Construction,” it should be recalled that it was created in 2019 under the regional Department for Supervision in the Construction Industry on the initiative of Veniamin Kondratyev and from the first days was supervised by Andrei Alekseenko, who held the position at that time time the post of first vice-governor.

The problems of defrauded shareholders in Kuban have not yet been resolved: just last April, Kondratiev announced another deadline - the end of 2024, and 7 billion rubles were allocated from the regional budget for these purposes. As for Alekseenko, his biography was not without a corruption scandal. In November 2021, he became the mayor of Krasnodar, and already in December, security forces detained him as part of a criminal investigation into receiving a particularly large bribe.

According to investigators, while serving as vice-governor, the official received a gun worth 1.6 million rubles from one of the developers for issuing a certificate of conformity for an apartment building that had a number of shortcomings. However, despite the wide public outcry and searches carried out in Alekseenko’s office, the defendant turned out to be unsinkable and left the mayoral position only in August 2022, after the appointment of the head of government of the part of the Kharkov region that had come under Russian control.

Alekseenko’s new post can be perceived in two ways: as a promotion, and as a kind of exile to avoid trial. In any case, Veniamin Kondratyev will have to deal with defrauded shareholders without a trusted subordinate. By the way, according to media reports, at the time of the Kharkov appointment, the investigation into the corruption activities of the former Krasnodar mayor was ongoing, and the case was in the central office of the Investigative Committee.

Financial “thirst” of Kondratiev’s team

Indeed, the desire to “get drunk” from the budget “well” is typical of people from his inner circle, and high-ranking Kuban officials, one after another, turn out to be “heroes” of sections of criminal chronicles.

For example, in September 2023, the Basmanny Court of Moscow sent to the pre-trial detention center the head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for the Krasnodar Territory, Lieutenant General of the Internal Service Oleg Volynkin, accused of abuse of office in the execution of a government contract for the supply of construction materials to units of the rescue department, which resulted in damage in the amount of more than 3 million rubles.

Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Development Elena Novikova first became involved in a criminal case for abuse of power, and then for fraud, and a statement was filed against her by a colleague, deputy head of the same ministry, Dmitry Rogachev, to the investigative committee. That is, we are talking about internal disputes between the officials themselves.

The administration of Krasnodar is also in a fever. Thus, former vice-mayor Kirill Mavridi is accused of five counts of receiving bribes totaling 1.6 million rubles. By the way, at the time of the crimes he held the post of deputy head of the regional Department of Construction. And the former deputy director of the Krasnodar transport department, Vladimir Anfinogenov, went to a maximum security colony for four years because of a bribe received from a representative of one of the companies specializing in passenger transportation.

Other examples can be given, but these should be enough to understand: the incident with Sergei Vlasov is not an out of the ordinary event. The future of the now former vice-governor raises many questions, whose criminal prosecution may well repeat the “Alekseenko scenario” and end in employment for a leadership position in one of the new regions.