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The Kirov Regional Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia continues investigation of a probe into former governor of Kirov Region Nikita Belykh. He was charged with committing two offenses under Paragraph С of Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of Russia (abuse of authority by a person holding state office in the Russian Federation, entailing grave consequences.

According to investigation, in December 2011 Nikita Belykh, in order to create the appearance of improving his performance as Governor of the Kirov region, provided the allocation of funds from the regional budget to Kirov Regional Mortgage Corporation (K.R.I.K. JSC) allegedly to build and purchase housing for public sector employees of the Kirov region, that is intended for citizens due to the nature of their employment relations with municipal and regional institutions of the region and meeting the definition of service residential premises established by Article 93 of the Housing Law by making appropriate changes to regional legislation. At the same time, he was aware that K.R.I.K. JSC did not have the authority to include residential premises in the specialized housing fund, nor the right to manage the state or municipal housing fund.

The money in the amount of 448 million rubles allocated from the regional budget was spent by K.R.I.K. for current needs, and the apartments subsequently purchased by that organization, which became its property, could not constitute a specialized housing fund, were not service housing, and, contrary to legal requirements, were rented to citizens on a preferential basis.

The former Governor actively covered in the media the implementation of the "Service housing" program in the region, which allegedly involved the purchase and construction of service housing. However, this regional program has not been developed and approved.

The above mentioned actions of Nikita Belykh caused grave consequences by causing significant material damage, not including the residential premises purchased by K.R.I.K. in the specialized housing fund, and by violating the rights of citizens to receive official residential premises for living under a rental agreement for official residential premises.

Apart from that, in 2015 Nikita Belykh, acting as a governor of Kirov Region, ensured conclusion of a major deal - signing a 320 million rubles contract between K.R.I.K. JSC and a company from Kirov Region. Subsequently, in the course of working meetings he instructed to distribute most of these funds for the needs of other legal entities, not related to the statutory objectives of K.R.I.K. JSC, which were in a deliberately insolvent state, in order to improve their financial situation for a short time.

The debts were never returned to the K.R.I.K. JSC. Later over 202 million rubles were collected in favor of K.R.I.K. JSC from the Government of the Kirov Region under decision of the Kirov Regional Arbitration Court, inflicting material damage to the regional budget.

In terms of investigation of the said probes merged into one proceeding, Nikita Belykh was charged with committing the said offenses.

The investigators are carrying out a set of investigative actions aimed to establish all circumstances of the situation. The investigation is ongoing.