MOSCOW, 6 Feb— RIA Novosti, Viktor Zvantsev. A fountain pen worth 36 million rubles, 195 expensive watches, 800 pieces of jewelry, luxury apartments and cars - the total cost of all this would amount to the annual budget of a small country. But it belonged to one person - the former governor of the Sakhalin region, Alexander Khoroshavin.
The court found him guilty of bribery and sentenced him to 13 years in prison to be served in a maximum security colony and a fine of 500 million rubles. RIA Novosti looked into one of the most high-profile corruption criminal cases of our time.
Bentley and luxury real estate
Alexander Khoroshavin, who served as governor of the Sakhalin region for eight years, was detained on March 4, 2015 by FSB operatives arriving from the capital. After searches that lasted all night, the official was taken to Moscow. There the inventory of his property continued. Eight hundred expensive jewelry, a collection of watches from the world's leading brands, cash worth about a billion rubles... But that was not all.
“For example, a seemingly ordinary writing pen. But it costs 36 million rubles,” the Investigative Committee of Russia told reporters. “We still have to evaluate the real estate, and these are three apartments in elite buildings in Moscow, a dacha in the Moscow region. Only renovations are required.” and the improvement of the dacha cost 130 million." True, the accused himself later stated that he never owned any expensive fountain pen.
Three weeks after the arrest, the official lost his position as governor with the wording “loss of confidence.” A year and a half later, in September 2016, the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Court granted the claim of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office for the seizure of property of the Khoroshavin family in favor of the state for a total amount of 1.1 billion rubles. Four apartments worth more than 240 million rubles, six cars worth a total of 42 million rubles, including a Mercedes, two Bentleys and two Lexuses, were confiscated. None of the ex-governor’s relatives could explain with what funds the assets, real estate and cars were purchased.
Dead Witness
The official was accused of receiving a bribe on an especially large scale. According to investigators, in 2011-2013, local businessman Nikolai Kran gave him $5.5 million for the fact that the Sakhalin company Energostroy freely entered into a contract for the construction of the fourth power unit of the Yuzhno-Sakhalin Thermal Power Plant.
Kommersant: an attempt to get rid of an FSB general led to the arrest of the head of SakhalinThe arrest of Sakhalin Governor Alexander Khoroshavin followed attempts by local businessmen to use bribes to achieve the removal of the head of the FSB Directorate for the Sakhalin Region, General Igor Struchkov, from his post.Crane himself came under investigation a year earlier - in 2014. According to one version, he came to the attention of the security forces when he was going to pay two million dollars for the removal of the head of the FSB Directorate for the Sakhalin Region, Igor Struchkov, from his post. The fact is that FSB officers checked information about problems that arose during the construction of the fourth power unit of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinskaya Thermal Power Plant. They could find out about the bribes, and Crane, having connected the capital’s connections, hoped to transfer Struchkov to another region.
The central office of the FSB found out about this, and soon the businessman was detained and charged under the article “Mediation in bribery.” Crane immediately agreed to a plea deal, telling how Khoroshavin extorted money from him. Thanks to this, the operatives reached not only the governor, but also his adviser Andrei Ikramov. It was through him, according to the investigation, that the head of the region regularly received money from the businessman. Crane did not live to see the court hearings; he died of a heart attack in December 2015. However, the death of the key witness did not in any way affect the further investigation of the criminal case, since he managed to give all the necessary testimony.
In addition to the multimillion-dollar bribe, other criminal episodes of the activities of the governor’s bureaucracy have surfaced. For example, according to investigators, deputy ex-head of Sakhalin Sergei Karepkin and regional agriculture minister Nikolai Borisov took 15 million rubles from local entrepreneurs for allocating subsidies to support agribusiness. After their arrest, they immediately testified against their boss. As a result, investigators identified ten criminal episodes in the ex-governor’s case. According to their version, the total amount of bribes from local entrepreneurs exceeded 522 million rubles.
Sasha Fifty Percent
Businessmen nicknamed Khoroshavin Sasha Fifty Percent - that’s how much he took as a kickback. But the defendant never admitted his guilt. “I am not ashamed of my years of work as mayor of Okha (a city in the Sakhalin region - Ed.), for the governorship and for my life,” he said in his last word. “I did not compromise, did not choose easy paths, I tried to defend your personal principles, to defend the interests of your native land. How this happened is for people to judge. I really hope that those eight years will not be the worst and most difficult in the history of the region.”
Immediately after Khoroshavin’s arrest, residents of Sakhalin organized an online petition asking for an investigation into this matter and the release of the governor. However, the petition did not meet with much response - over several years, only a little over a thousand people signed it.
State prosecutor Denis Shtunder requested 13 years in a maximum security colony for Khoroshavin with a fine of 500 million rubles. As a result, this is exactly the sentence that was handed down to the ex-governor. His former adviser Andrei Ikramov was sentenced to 9.5 years in a maximum security colony and a fine of 171 million rubles, Sergei Karepkin to eight years in prison and a fine of 4 million rubles, Nikolai Borisov to a fine of 2.5 million rubles. Like Khoroshavin, none of them admitted their guilt.
The former governor of the Sakhalin region, Alexander Khoroshavin, was found guilty of receiving large bribes and sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security colony and a fine of 500 million rubles. His former subordinates - adviser to the governor Andrei Ikramov and deputy prime minister Sergei Karepkin - received nine and a half and eight years of strict regime, respectively. Only the Minister of Agriculture, Trade and Food, Nikolai Borisov, who cooperated with the investigation, got off with a fine of 2.5 million rubles. He will not appeal the verdict. The defense of the remaining defendants insists on their innocence and has already announced their intention to appeal the court's decision.
Today, the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Court sentenced the former governor of the Sakhalin region, Alexander Khoroshavin, to 13 years in prison in a maximum security colony. Judge Elena Polikina found the former head of the region guilty of receiving bribes (Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and laundering proceeds of crime (Article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The time spent in custody (since March 4, 2015) will be credited to the defendant’s sentence.
The court also ruled that Alexander Khoroshavin must pay a fine of 500 million rubles. In addition, he will be deprived of all state awards, and after his release he will be deprived of the right to hold public office for five years.
The court also found the ex-governor's former subordinates guilty. In particular, Andrei Ikramov was sentenced to nine and a half years in a maximum security colony and a fine of 176 million rubles. Sergei Karepkin received eight years in a maximum security colony and 4 million rubles. fine Nikolai Borisov, the only one of the defendants who cooperated with the investigation, was found guilty of one count of bribery and fined 4.5 million rubles. Taking into account his stay in a pre-trial detention center and under house arrest, he needs to pay 2.5 million rubles.
When pronouncing the sentence, Judge Polikina fully agreed with the terms requested by state prosecutor Denis Shtunder for the three defendants. Only Nikolai Borisov faced a more severe punishment - seven years in a maximum security colony. Mr. Stunder told reporters that he was satisfied with the outcome of the process. “In general, the court’s decision corresponds to expectations,” he said.
During the announcement of the verdict, which lasted four working days, Alexander Khoroshavin pointedly did not listen to the words of the judge, reading books. In particular, the work of Peter Aven “The Time of Berezovsky” was noticed in his hands. Outwardly, he calmly accepted the verdict. His lawyer Olga Artyukhova left the courthouse, refusing to talk to journalists. She previously stated that she intended to appeal the conviction.
Lawyers for Karepkin and Ikramov also disagree with the court’s decision. “My client’s guilt has not been proven. We will appeal and seek the truth,” Igor Yanchuk, Karepkin’s defense lawyer, told reporters. “I think the decision is unfounded. We intend to go to the end, we are ready to reach the European Court,” said Yuri Syuzyumov, Ikramov’s lawyer.
At the same time, Olga Druzhinina, Borisov’s defense attorney, agreed with Judge Polikina’s decision. “I think the verdict against my client is fair,” she said.
Let us remind you that the defendants were accused of receiving bribes totaling 522 million rubles. and laundering of criminally obtained money (Article 290 and Article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to investigators, Sakhalin entrepreneurs were forced to “roll back” money through intermediaries to Alexander Khoroshavin for literally every major project. Bribes “for general patronage” were transferred in Xerox boxes directly to the administration. They were kept in a special safe in the regional government building. From time to time, money from this kind of “common fund” was thrown through ATMs onto the cards of Alexander Khoroshavin and members of his family. Card transactions were later recognized as laundering of bribe funds.
Alexander Khoroshavin was taken into custody in March 2015 and almost immediately removed from the position he held for eight years. As Kommersant reported, the reason for the investigation against the high-ranking official was a completely different criminal case. Back in 2013, the Sakhalin department of the FSB began an investigation into fraud that was uncovered during the construction of the fourth power unit of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinskaya CHPP-1. The main suspect then became the director of the Energostroy company and chairman of the board of the Pacific Bank Nikolai Kran. But the defendant and his companions became aware of the interest of the security officers. They decided to eliminate the problem radically by sending people to Moscow with the task of giving large bribes (up to $1.3 million) to someone in the central office of the FSB in order to transfer the head of the FSB Directorate of the Sakhalin Region, General Igor Struchkov, to another post. However, both the security officers themselves and the Investigative Committee, which opened a criminal case, became aware of the secret negotiations. In the fall of 2014, about ten people were detained, including Nikolai Krahn. During the investigation, Crane, in an effort to mitigate his fate, gave detailed testimony against Alexander Khoroshavin, to whom he paid $6 million for general patronage, transferring the money to the indicated accounts abroad. Nikolai Krahn was released from the pre-trial detention center, but he soon died of a heart attack.
During the trial, Alexander Khoroshavin’s defense insisted on his acquittal. The ex-governor's lawyer Olga Artyukhova called Krahn's testimony a slander. The lawyer believes that the reason why the businessman could make a deal with the Investigative Committee was the decision of the regional government to withdraw funds from his credit institution. According to the defense, Nikolai Kran gave the testimony necessary to the investigation in order to evade criminal prosecution for financial violations. Alexander Khoroshavin, in his last word, declared his innocence: “The ten-month trial is coming to an end, and just as from its beginning and from the first interrogation, I reject the charges brought against me. There were no bribes. I did not commit the crimes of which I am accused."
In September 2016, the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Court granted the claim of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office for the seizure of property of the Khoroshavin family in favor of the state for a total amount of 1.1 billion rubles. Among the confiscated real estate was a residential building in the Moscow region, four apartments in Moscow, a non-residential building and four land plots, as well as six cars, including two Bentleys, and jewelry.
Tatyana Vyshkovskaya, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk; Sergey Sergeev, Alexey Chernyshev
On Sakhalin, the court today put an end to a high-profile corruption case. Former governor Alexander Khoroshavin was sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security colony. It took four days to read the verdict. The former head of the region and his accomplices were found guilty on all counts of accepting colossal bribes.
“To impose a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 13 years in a maximum security correctional colony with a fine of 500 million rubles,” Judge of the Sakhalin Regional Court Elena Polikina reads out the verdict.
As the organizer of a criminal group, the ex-governor of the Sakhalin region received the longest sentence among those involved in the corruption case. Khoroshavin's former adviser Andrei Ikramov was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison and a fine of more than 170 million rubles, and deputy Sergei Karepkin was sentenced to eight years and a fine of four million.
The end to the trial in the case of Sakhalin officials was reached exactly one year after the start of the proceedings. The court examined an impressive volume of case materials - about 170 volumes in total. It took four days to read out the verdict on all nine episodes. This is the first such case in the history of the Sakhalin Regional Court.
Only ex-Minister of Agriculture Nikolai Borisov managed to avoid imprisonment. He repented and made a deal with the investigation - in the end he got off with a fine of 2.5 million rubles. The testimony of Borisov and a number of Sakhalin entrepreneurs became serious arguments for the prosecution during the trial.
“The largest entrepreneurs of the Sakhalin region were interrogated, who explained in detail how and where, under what circumstances and in what amounts they transferred funds to the governor’s authorized representative,” said Denis Shtunder, senior prosecutor of the Office of State Prosecutors of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Main Criminal Justice Department.
We are talking about multimillion-dollar bribes, so-called kickbacks, for obtaining government contracts in various industries - the fishing industry, road and housing construction, energy and others. Thus, during the construction of a power unit at one of the Sakhalin thermal power plants, the bribe amounted to 170 million rubles. The scope of corruption activities can be judged at least from the transcript of the conversation between Khoroshavin and his subordinate, Vyacheslav Gorbachev, presented in court in February 2015.
“During the said conversation, Khoroshavin, switching to a whisper, asks: “What is the amount in cash?” Gorbachev replies: “About 90, or even more.” Khoroshavin offers to take this amount to his home, where he has a large safe, expressing confidence that they will not risk going to his home. Gorbachev says that we need a big bag,” Judge Elena Polikina quotes from the case materials.
According to the investigation, Khoroshavin alone caused more than 400 million rubles in damage to the state.
In March 2015, the former Sakhalin governor and his subordinates were detained and transferred to Moscow. At the same time, searches were carried out in the apartments of the governor’s family. This was mainly luxury housing in the capital and Moscow region. Detectives seized about 700 million rubles in cash in rubles and foreign currency alone. Even experienced operatives were surprised by the amount of jewelry and expensive watches.
“The seized property included many expensive accessories, for example, a collection of 195 expensive watches with a total value of more than 600 million rubles. Moreover, the most expensive of them cost 700 thousand US dollars,” said Svetlana Petrenko, official representative of the Investigative Committee.
In addition to his passion for expensive watches, Khoroshavin was partial to premium cars - a total of six cars worth at least 42 million rubles. Among them are Lexus, Bentley, Mercedes. Everything seized was turned over to the state for a total amount of more than one billion rubles. At the same time, the total official income of the Khoroshavin family from 2009 to 2014 amounted to 55 million rubles. And yet Khoroshavin does not admit guilt. His lawyer declined to comment on the court's decision. Other defendants in the case also insist on their innocence.
“In relation to Sergei Petrovich Karepkin, his guilt has not been proven. I repeat this again, and will repeat it. We will go all the way to the Supreme Court in our appeals. I draw your attention to the fact that his guilt lies only in the testimony of one person to another, that’s all,” said Sergei Karepkin’s lawyer Igor Yanchuk.
Denial of guilt is based on the fact that the investigation allegedly has no significant evidence. Lawyers, as usual, have ten days to appeal.
“Diamond” governor, as Alexander Khoroshavin was dubbed, who has served as governor of the Sakhalin region since 2007. Now he, along with his subordinates, is accused of receiving bribes and laundering funds obtained by criminal means.
Khoroshavin’s arrest took place on March 4, 2015, when he was detained by officers of the FSB and the Russian Investigative Committee, right in his office. In addition to the governor, his adviser Andrei Ikramov, assistant Boris Usachev and head of the secretariat Vyacheslav Gorbachev were also detained.
Subsequently, searches followed of officials' offices and places of residence. As a result, operatives seized large sums of money, and officials were accused of receiving a bribe on an especially large scale, we are talking about 522 million rubles.
The governor received this money for his assistance in concluding a contract for the construction of Yuzhno-Sakhalinskaya CHPP No. 1. Taking advantage of his official position, he ordered that this contract be given to Sakhalin Company Energostroy LLC. According to investigators, the official requested from the head of Energostroy 6% of the amounts that his company would receive on the basis of monthly certificates of work performed.
Khoroshavin's assets
But this was just one of the episodes of the patronage of the powerful Khoroshavin of his business partners. About 1 billion rubles in cash, as well as expensive watches, jewelry and a gold pen, with a total value of over 120 million rubles, were seized from his house.
In addition to cash and jewelry, Khoroshavin owned three apartments in Moscow worth 450 million rubles, a three-story country mansion, with the only high-quality road to it in the city. By the way, the renovation of this very mansion cost Khoroshavin 130 million rubles.
The other part of the diamond governor’s assets was registered in the name of Khoroshavin’s relatives. We are talking about four Moscow apartments located in elite residential complexes of the capital. The cost of just one such apartment is up to 60 million rubles. This property is registered in the name of the son of the ex-governor Ilya. In addition, the son owns three cars - a Bentley, a Mercedes and a Lexus - with a total value of almost 25 million rubles.
In December 2013, at the ONF forum, during a conversation with Vladimir Putin, co-chairman of the movement’s central headquarters, Alexander Brechalov, said that the Khoroshavin administration carried out a public procurement “Improving the image of the governor” for 680 million rubles. Then Putin commented: “This is the biggest blow to his rating.”
In addition, 333 million rubles of taxpayer funds were allocated for the construction of a garage for officials. According to the general estimates of the ONF, in the period from 2013 to 2014, the government of the Sakhalin region spent more than 850 million rubles on its own needs (repair of government buildings and offices, improvement of the area around the governor’s residence and adjacent areas). It was also established that 8 million rubles from the budget were spent on Khoroshavin’s car.
A few days before his arrest, Alexander Khoroshavin took part in the 12th Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum, which lasted three days - from February 26 to 28. The costs of the event amounted to about 30 million rubles, while the head of the region spent approximately 15 million on his own entertainment: according to rough estimates, the official spent 200 thousand rubles per hour. Local media found out that he purchased a Lexus car worth 3 million 285 thousand rubles. It is interesting that Khoroshavin bought the car not for himself, but for the aspiring model Sasha Medvedskaya, who accompanied him at the forum for three days.
It is noteworthy that immediately after the governor’s arrest, the girl sold the car for almost 3 million rubles. During the forum, the official and his adviser stayed in luxury rooms in the most expensive hotel in the city - Oktyabrskaya, where one meal can cost about 100 thousand rubles - Mediterranean crab, for example, costs 35 thousand rubles. Khoroshavin moved around the city in a luxurious limousine, the rental of which for three days cost half a million rubles.
On February 20, 2017, hearings in the case of the ex-governor began in the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk court. The court hearing is held behind closed doors. If the court finds the participants in the case guilty, Khoroshavin and his subordinates face up to 15 years in prison, depending on the severity of the crime committed.
Governor's organized crime group
According to the investigation, in 2009, the Governor of the Sakhalin Region A. Khoroshavin created, which included Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Sakhalin Region Sergei Karepkin and Advisor to the Governor of the Sakhalin Region Andrei Ikramov. The investigation managed to reconstruct 10 episodes of criminal activity of the accused.
According to investigators, in the period from 2009 to 2015, members of an organized group led by Alexander Khoroshavin in various compositions received bribes from eight entrepreneurs for general patronage in the service, carrying out actions within their powers and facilitating such actions on the part of officials of executive authorities Sakhalin region. The total amount of bribes exceeds 522 million rubles.
Thus, in the period from 2011 to 2013, Alexander Khoroshavin and Andrey Ikramov systematically received bribes from an entrepreneur for timely payment for work under a government contract for the construction of an energy facility in the region. At the same time, the entrepreneur, on the instructions of the governor, had to transfer funds to the accounts of legal entities opened in non-resident banks located in an offshore zone, the investigation believes.
Ikramov’s role was to convey Khoroshavin’s demands to the entrepreneur, as well as ensure that money flows into Russia and is directly received in cash. In total, during the specified period, the accomplices received 170 million rubles.
In addition, in 2012-2015, the ex-governor received 30 million rubles from the owner of the airline for general patronage of his work and the provision of other government support measures, a representative of the Investigative Committee said.
Also in 2013-2014, Alexander Khoroshavin and his accomplices received 85 million rubles in bribes from an entrepreneur who, under a government contract, carried out work on road construction in the Sakhalin region. The amount of bribes amounted to 6 percent of the amount of the government contract.
In another episode, an entrepreneur constructing an educational institution in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk was forced to transfer 10 percent of the allocated budget funds to the accused as bribes. At the same time, in 2013-2015, Alexander Khoroshavin illegally received 125 million rubles.
To another of the bribe-payers, the defendants guaranteed the support of the region in the allocation of subsidies provided for by law for the construction of a livestock complex.” However, after the entrepreneur invested significant amounts of his own money in construction, he was placed in virtually enslaving conditions - a bribe was demanded from him in order to receive a legal subsidy.
After receiving bribes, Khoroshavin legalized part of them in the amount of over 77 million rubles by transferring them to bank cards and conducting transactions to purchase currency.
It is noteworthy that Alexander Khoroshavin started with less significant amounts. For example, in 2009-2010, he and Karepkin received 12 million rubles from an entrepreneur for issuing a fishing permit. But over time, criminal proceeds allowed the former governor to live large.
Investigators found that part of Alexander Khoroshavin’s property was not declared in the manner prescribed by law. At the request of the investigation, the court seized a significant amount of expensive cars, real estate, valuables and cash. Subsequently, all this property, within the framework of anti-corruption legislation, was turned into state income, also by court decision.
As reported, among this property were four apartments with a total cadastral value of over 240 million rubles, 6 parking spaces with a total value of more than 2.9 million rubles, 6 cars worth at least 42.3 million rubles. “Including, for example, a Mercedes-Benz worth 11 million rubles, a Bentley Continental GT and a Bentley Mulean with a total cost of more than 23.3 million rubles, two Lexuses valued at at least 6 million rubles .
The state income also includes a residential building, non-residential premises, land plots, funds in rubles and foreign currency in the amount of more than 700 million rubles, jewelry and other valuables.
Oleg Kozhemyako
Meanwhile, when the new owner of the island, Oleg Kozhemyako, took the place of the arrested governor of the Sakhalin region, Alexander Khoroshavin, it was already clear: the official plans to use his post not so much to improve the lives of Sakhalin residents, but to resolve personal business issues. Now the media are reporting deals that will allow the family of the governor of Sakhalin to control the bulk of the Russian pollock market.
JSC Gidrostroy, associated with Senator Alexander Verkhovsky, is buying PJSC Preobrazhenskaya Trawling Fleet Base (PBTF) based in Primorye. This step will allow Gidrostroy to become the country's largest pollock producer.
Oleg Kozhemyako - Governor of the Sakhalin Region
The acquisition of PBTF will allow Gidrostroy to annually produce approximately 250 thousand tons of fish, including about 200 thousand tons of pollock. This level of production puts the holding in first or second place among the largest pollock producers in the country, along with the Russian Fishery Company (RRPC). RRPK production last year amounted to 232.9 thousand tons of fish. RRPK belongs to the brother of the governor of the Moscow region Andrei Vorobyov, Maxim Vorobyov, and the son-in-law of Gennady Timchenko, Gleb Frank, the son of the Minister of Transport Sergei Frank.
The governor of the Sakhalin region, Oleg Kozhemyako, said that he has not been involved in business for a long time, and therefore cannot comment on this message.
“I have nothing to do with these things. I headed the board of directors of this company for a very long time, until 2002, that was 14 years ago,” the interlocutor said.
Let us remind you that Preobrazhenskaya Trawl Fleet Base OJSC occupies a leading position in the fisheries market. The enterprise owns vessels that fish in the Seas of Okhotsk, Bering and Japan. Oleg Kozhemyako took the post of deputy chairman of the board of directors of the enterprise in 1995, and since 1998 he became its head. Already in 2001, he began his political career with election to the legislative assembly of the Primorsky Territory. In September 2015, Kozhemyako was appointed governor of the Sakhalin region.
The former governor of the Sakhalin region, Alexander Khoroshavin, was found guilty of receiving large bribes and sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security colony and a fine of 500 million rubles. His former subordinates - the governor's adviser and the deputy prime minister - received 9.5 and 8 years of strict regime, respectively. Only the regional minister of agriculture, who cooperated with the investigation, escaped with a fine. The defense of the remaining defendants maintains their innocence and will appeal the verdict.
The Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Court sentenced the former governor of the Sakhalin region, Alexander Khoroshavin, to 13 years in a maximum security colony. Judge Elena Polikina found the former head of the region guilty of receiving bribes (Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and laundering proceeds of crime (Article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The time spent in custody (since March 4, 2015) will be credited to the defendant’s sentence.
The court also ruled that Alexander Khoroshavin must pay a fine of 500 million rubles. In addition, he will be deprived of the Order of Honor and the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree, and after his release he will not be able to hold public office for five years.
The court also found the ex-governor's former subordinates guilty. Andrei Ikramov was sentenced to 9.5 years of maximum security and a fine of 176 million rubles. Sergei Karepkin received eight years as a “sterner” and 4 million rubles. fine Nikolai Borisov, the only one of the defendants who cooperated with the investigation, was found guilty of one count of bribery and fined 4.5 million rubles. Moreover, taking into account his stay in a pre-trial detention center and under house arrest, he will need to pay 2.5 million rubles.
When pronouncing the sentence, the judge fully agreed with the terms requested by state prosecutor Denis Shtunder for the three defendants. Only Nikolai Borisov faced a more severe punishment - seven years in prison. He came to the last court hearing with a bag containing things he might need in prison. Mr. Stunder said he was satisfied with the outcome of the process. “In general, the court’s decision corresponds to expectations,” he said.
“The case materials comprise more than 160 volumes, more than 40 witnesses were questioned, and phonoscopic examinations were examined. Thanks to this, it was possible to prove the involvement of the former governor and his subordinates in extortion and taking bribes from entrepreneurs. All the entrepreneurs questioned at the trial, as one, stated that they were forced to pay Khoroshavin, since they did not have the opportunity to refuse him and his representatives,” the state prosecutor stated.
During the announcement of the verdict, which took four days, Alexander Khoroshavin pointedly did not listen to the words of the judge, reading books. In particular, the work of Peter Aven “The Time of Berezovsky” was noticed in his hands. Outwardly, he calmly accepted the operative part of the sentence. His lawyer Olga Artyukhova left the courthouse, refusing to talk to journalists. She previously stated that she intended to appeal the court's guilty decision.
Lawyers for Karepkin and Ikramov also disagree with the verdict. “My client’s guilt has not been proven. We will appeal and seek the truth,” said Igor Yanchuk, the defense lawyer of the convicted Karepkin. “I consider the court’s decision illegal; it is not even based on the materials provided by the state prosecution. For example, the judge charges that the defendants distributed profits among themselves, shared this money that they were allegedly given as bribes. However, this fact is not even indicated in the indictment,” said Yuriy Syuzyumov, Ikramov’s lawyer, adding that the defense intends to “go to the end, to the European Court.”
At the same time, Olga Druzhinina, Borisov’s defense attorney, agreed with Judge Polikina’s decision. “I think the verdict against my client is fair,” she said.
The Investigative Committee accused those involved in the case of receiving bribes totaling 522 million rubles. and laundering of criminally obtained money (Articles 290 and 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to investigators, Sakhalin entrepreneurs were forced to “roll back” money through intermediaries to Alexander Khoroshavin for literally every major project. “So, in the period from 2011 to 2013, Khoroshavin and Ikramov systematically received bribes from an entrepreneur for timely payment for work under a government contract for the construction of an energy facility in the region. At the same time, the entrepreneur, on the instructions of Khoroshavin, had to transfer funds to the accounts of legal entities opened in non-resident banks located in an offshore zone. Ikramov’s role was to convey Khoroshavin’s demands to the entrepreneur, as well as ensure that money flows into Russia and is directly received in cash. In total, during the specified period, the accomplices received about 170 million rubles,” the Investigative Committee reported.
Bribes “for general patronage” were handed over in bags and briefcases even in the governor’s administration building. The money was kept in a special safe, from which it was then taken out to be spent on current expenses. For example, they credited the bank cards of Alexander Khoroshavin and his family members. The court, following the TFR, recognized card transactions as laundering of funds received as bribes.
Alexander Khoroshavin, who was governor for eight years, was arrested in March 2015. As Kommersant reported, the reason for the investigation against him was another criminal case. Back in 2013, the Sakhalin department of the FSB began an investigation into fraud that was uncovered during the construction of the fourth power unit of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinskaya CHPP-1. The main suspect then became the director of the Energostroy company and chairman of the board of the Pacific Bank Nikolai Kran. But the defendant and his companions became aware of the FSB’s interest. They decided to eliminate the problem radically by sending people to Moscow with the task of giving large bribes (up to $1.3 million) to someone in the central office of the FSB in order to transfer the head of the FSB Directorate of the Sakhalin Region, General Igor Struchkov, to another post. However, both the FSB and the Investigative Committee became aware of the secret negotiations, which opened a criminal case. In the fall of 2014, about ten people were detained, including Nikolai Krahn. During the investigation, Crane, in an effort to mitigate his fate, gave detailed testimony against Alexander Khoroshavin, to whom he paid $6 million for general patronage, transferring the money to the indicated accounts abroad. Nikolai Krahn was released from the pre-trial detention center, but he soon died of a heart attack.
During the trial, Alexander Khoroshavin’s defense insisted on his acquittal. The ex-governor's lawyer Olga Artyukhova called Krahn's testimony a slander. The lawyer believes that the reason why the businessman could make a deal with the Investigative Committee was the decision of the regional government to withdraw funds from his credit institution. According to the defense, Nikolai Kran gave the testimony necessary to the investigation in order to evade criminal prosecution for financial violations.
Alexander Khoroshavin in his last word declared his innocence: “There were no bribes. I did not commit the crimes of which I am accused."
It should be noted that in September 2016, the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Court satisfied the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia to convert the property of the Khoroshavin family into state income for a total amount of 1.1 billion rubles. Among the confiscated real estate was a residential building in the Moscow region, four apartments in Moscow, a non-residential building and four land plots, as well as six cars, including two Bentleys, and jewelry.
“During the investigation, it became obvious that Khoroshavin was very fond of expensive accessories. Apparently, the governor felt the greatest need for expensive watches. There were 195 of them in his collection, totaling 602 million rubles. The most expensive of them cost $700 thousand. By the way, the investigation learned that shortly before his arrest Khoroshavin ordered another watch worth more than 36 million rubles,” said ICR official representative Svetlana Petrenko.
Alexander Khoroshavin became the second ex-governor convicted since the beginning of this year. On February 1, the former head of the Kirov region, Nikita Belykh, was sentenced to eight years of strict regime and a fine of 48.2 million rubles. for bribes in the amount of €400 thousand from timber traders.
Tatyana Vyshkovskaya, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk; Alexey Chernyshev, Vladivostok; Sergey Sergeev
