Interview

Head of the Investigations Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia in the Siberian Federal District A. Leleko: "The crime rate in Siberia is still higher than Russian average"

- Mr. Leleko, in your opinion, how has the nature of crime recently changed in SFO?

- 378 thousand 580 crimes have been registered in the Siberian Federal District during the first 11 months of 2012, which is 2.4% less than last year.

Despite the overall crime reduction in the Siberian Federal District, this figure is significantly higher than Russian average. Here is an example. In 2009-2011, over 2 thousand crimes per 100 thousand population were registered in the Siberian region, which is 20% higher than the national average, and 1.8 thousand crimes per 100 thousand people have been committed in SFO during the first 11 months of 2012, which is 24% above the average.

As you know, the crime rate is influenced by many factors: the living standards and the employment level, legal consciousness and common culture, the level of alcohol and drug addiction in the society and many others. It should be noted that the nature of crime has not changed in SFO: the share of serious and especially serious crimes reported in SFO, is slightly above the national average.

In general, the number of serious and especially serious crimes, including murders and attempted murders, the willful inflictions of injuries resulting in death of the victim by negligence, rapes and attempted rapes, has declined. At the same time, the number of crimes committed against minors has increased.

- What high-profile criminal cases are currently pending in the Siberian Directorate of the Investigative Committee?

- the Investigations Directorate of the Investigative Committee in the Siberian Federal District is investigating criminal cases regarded as difficult in terms of the prescription period and the collection and consolidation of evidence against the persons involved in the crime, and those drawing a great public attention.

For example, in 2012, the investigators discovered a series of murders coupled with sexual violence against women, which had been committed in the period from 1994 to 2000 in Angarsk (the Irkutsk region). Despite extensive investigative and operational activities, many crimes have remained unsolved for a long time. While working purposefully on one of the versions, the investigators established the involvement of the Angarsk resident in some criminal episodes.

A number of preliminary investigations on thefts and abuses committed in the acquisition of various goods for state requirements, including expensive medical equipment, are being carried out. The investigation of certain episodes of illegal activity has already completed. A criminal case against the former head of the Irkutsk State Supply Agency was sent to court. In the absence of the application from the Irkutsk Health Department and the initial (maximum) value of the purchased equipment established by the customer, he exceeded his powers to initiate an open tender for the purchase of medical equipment and organized the production of tender documents, arbitrarily overpricing the purchased computer tomographs and ultrasound systems by 13.5 million rubles.

- What is the progress in the investigation of the criminal case, from which the cases against the vice-mayor of Novosibirsk Alexander Solodkin, his father - a former official of the regional administration on sports Alexander Solodkin Sr., the former deputy head of the Novosibirsk Office of the Federal Drug Control Service Andrey Andreyev and the Trunov case were separated?

- The investigation of this criminal case is not over. The necessary measures are being taken to establish all the circumstances of the acts committed in Novosibirsk by members of a criminal group. We do not reveal the details of the preliminary investigation for obvious reasons.

- Is there any information about the persons wanted in connection with this investigation, do you carry out any work to extradite them (according to some data, at least, some of them are abroad)?

- We are conducting the necessary package of measures aimed at establishing the whereabouts of the persons put on the wanted lists, including the international one. This work is being carried out in close cooperation with the operating units and the Interpol agencies, so we expect results from these efforts.

- What are the prospects for the transfer of the case against the ex-head of the regional department of physical culture and sports of the Novosibirsk region Valery Yarov to the court?

- The investigation actions are being performed within the criminal case against V.Yarov to establish all the circumstances of the incident, his work as head of the department is being checked including the audit of his financial activities and the forensic accounting examination. According to the results of these actions, the accused was additionally charged with abuse of office.

Numerous investigative and other procedures make it difficult to name a specific date on which the case will be sent to court.

- How do you assess the interaction between the Siberian Directorate of the Investigative Committee and the law enforcement agencies of SFO?

- The results and the effectiveness of the investigative work directly depend on the cooperation between the investigative authorities and all departments and divisions of law enforcement. We basically interact with the Directorate General of the Ministry of Interior in the Siberian Federal District, the territorial police departments and FSB units, the Siberian Office of the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring and other services on specific criminal cases. It is no secret that the coherence of all the elements of the law enforcement system ensures the collective result - the inevitability of punishment. In our view, we can speak of a high level of interagency cooperation between all law enforcement and prosecuting bodies.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to congratulate my colleagues on the two-year anniversary of the formation of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, to wish them health, fortitude, and perseverance in achieving professional results.

- What anti-corruption activities are being carried out by the Siberian Directorate of the Investigative Committee?

- Anti-corruption activities are one of our priorities. It should be noted that, along with the identification and suppression of these crimes, we have set the task to prevent them in future.

Thus, according to the results of the criminal investigation against the former deputy chief physician of the Altai Regional Hospital and other persons that had stolen more than 71 million rubles from the budget funds in the process of an open tender for the purchase of a computer tomograph held by the regional administration, the investigator recommended to eliminate the causes and conditions conducive to the commission of this criminal act. The Administration of the Altai Territory considered this recommendation and approved it.

At present, an application procedure for placing the orders for goods, works and services for the state needs in the Altai Territory is developed.

We investigate other criminal cases involving officials of state and local governments, and even our staff members who have violated the law. For example, we investigate the criminal case against the head of one of the areas of the Republic of Altai, who received the large scale bribe for the decision on the granting of agricultural lands for use.

I would like to note that the best result of investigative activities in the field of anti-corruption is achieved when the criminal case against a corrupt official is sent to court. The investigator cannot do it alone. During the investigation, he interacts and cooperates with all departments and agencies of law enforcement.

It is worth noting that the positive result of anti-corruption efforts depends on the principled position of civil institutions such as the media that should cover the criminal nature of the actions of some officials and promote the inadmissibility of such conduct.