A court has recognized the evidence collected by the Vladimir Region Directorate of the Investigative Committee sufficient to convict former mayor of the town of Pokrov Yevgeny Sas, 43. He was found guilty of crimes under Part 5, items “a” and “c” of Article 290 of the RF Penal Code (taking a bribe on a large scale) and Part 6 of Article 290 (taking a bribe on a very large scale).
The court and investigation have revealed that since 21 March 2011, by taking the position of the mayor of Pokrov, Sas committed to settle matters of local importance guided by the principles of strict observance of laws, honesty, impartiality and transparency.
Despite the rules of the office, the mayor acted out of mercenary motives.
In October 2013, a Moscow businessman had legally got a piece of land on lease and applied to the local administration for a permission to build a trading and catering facility in Pokrov, but faced red tape and complains.
Realizing that his business plan could take much longer than he planned, the businessman asked assistance from the mayor who agreed to help for an illegal fee of 1 million rubles.
On 5 October 2013, the mayor personally took 500,000 rubles from a concerned person, as part of the fee and on the same day he signed and gave to the man an approval of the construction plan.
Before taking yet another vacation Sas ordered his first deputy Aleksei Bondarenko to make the construction permit and receive the remaining of the bribe.
On 26 November 2013, acting as a go-between Bondarenko received 500,000 rubles which he gave to the mayor on the same day.
Additionally, acting in the same manner, Sas made a local businessman dependent on his decisions concerning the construction plan and issuing of construction and commission permits for four three-storey blocks of flats.
He agreed to help the businessman for 4 million rubles.
Realizing that he depended on the official’s actions, after numerous meetings, on 4 July 2014, the head of the construction firm gave to Bondarenko 1 million rubles.
Sas gave 250,000 rubles from the sum to his accomplice and spent the rest of it.
On 5 September 2014, the mayor of Pokrov resigned before the appointed time, but did not refuse to get the rest of the bribe from the businessman and reminded Bondarenko that it was necessary to finish with their plan.
On 18 September 2014, Bondarenko, who was the acting mayor, approved the construction plan and on 10 October 2014, signed the construction permit, informed the businessman about it and demanded the second part of the bribe of 3 million rubles.
Sas planned to take 2 million rubles from this sum, and give 1 million to Bondarenko for complicity.
On 13 October 2014, Bondarenko was detained at the moment he was getting the bribe at a meeting that was monitored by the police.
The court has sentenced Sas to 11 years in a maximum-security penal colony and a fine of 290 million rubles. His accomplice Aleksei Bondarenko was sentenced earlier to 5 years in prison and a fine of 12 million rubles.
The investigation of the cases was supported by the close cooperation with the economic security and anti-corruption office of the regional directorate of the Ministry of the Interior.
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