News

A court has recognized the evidence collected by the Maritime Territory Office of the Investigative Committee sufficient to convict 13 people. Depending on the role of each one, they were found guilty of crimes under Article 210 (organization of a criminal group), Article 159 (fraud connected with illegal withdrawal of state-owned property), Article 174.1 (money laundering) and Article 285 of the RF Penal Code (abuse of power).

The court and investigators have revealed that from 2004 to 2007, members of the criminal group headed by acting head of the Maritime Territory Office of the RF Property Relations Ministry Igor Meshcheryakov and wanted member of the Maritime Territory Legislative Assembly Yuri Stepanchenko by fraudulently getting ownership of buildings located in the city of Vladivostok and owned by Maritime Territory and the Russian Federation. The criminal group included both officials of the Maritime Territory Administration and a number of heads of the federal and territorial unitary enterprises and companies. The wrongdoings committed by the accused caused Maritime Territory and the Russian Federation a damage of almost 550 million rubles.

The investigation took 3 years. It involved a team of the most experienced investigators (about 10 at the initial stage) who did a lot of work. They questioned 251 witnesses, ran 75 different forensic inquiries (assessing, handwriting), made a lot of procedural documents. The case has 274 files, not including the indictment. In all, 430 files of criminal materials were referred to the court.

The court has sentenced Meshcheryakov to 12 years in a maximum-security correctional facility, former head of the property relations department of the Maritime Territory Administration Vladimir Knizhnik to 11 years in a maximum-security correctional facility, former head of Gosnedvizhimost, a Maritime Territory unitary enterprise Andrei Smolin to 7.5 years in a maximum-security prison, CEO of the Federal Logistics Center Felix Kruch to 6 years in a maximum-security prison, head of the Experimental Technologies Center Larisa Milyutina to 6 years in a maximum-security prison.

In addition, all of the accused were fined for between 150 and 900 thousand rubles, and were banned to take certain positions or take up certain activity for a certain period of time. The court also ruled to return buildings to their legal owners that is to Maritime Territory and the Russian Federation.