Anastasia Ignatova is a lecturer at the Department of Political Theory at MGIMO. The stepdaughter of Sergei Chemezov became a co-owner of the Mega Pharm pharmacy chain
For example, in a letter to the general director of the Rosenergoatom concern, Ms. Kovtun talks about "acute budget deficit", in which it is so difficult to hold charity Christmas trees for children from low-income families. And then he asks to transfer 10 million rubles to the “off-budget account of the government of the Murmansk region.”
In 2017, according to Blagodelsky’s documents, 20 million each were to be transferred to this account by Norilsk Nickel, Rosneft, Novatek, EuroChem and PhosAgro, five million each by Sberbank, Severstal, Murmansk Marine commercial port”, for small things - a million and a half - another 15 enterprises; tribute was even collected from the rural fishing collective farm “Sprouts of Communism.” The total amount of planned annual collections is 170 million. Appetites grew - in 2014 it was possible to collect half that amount.
As follows from the documents, not all the collected amounts were used for the needs of “poor children.” From this account, for example, the governor’s New Year’s corporate parties were paid. And also VIP fishing equipment for members of the government, from boots to a “set of snap hooks,” as well as an echo sounder, a thermos for 5 thousand rubles “for GMOs” (as local officials, for short, designate Governor of the Murmansk region") and a certain “gift for GMOs” worth 44 thousand rubles.
Everything is taken into account in the black accounting: balloons, equipment for “Rogozin’s visit”, “Tyukavin’s dinner” (the first vice-governor), another “Tyukavin’s dinner”, this time “with foreigners”, a certain flower vase “for grandma”, “ dinner with shooting” by Babenko himself, even a paper bag from an electrical goods store... They lived in grand style, but they counted money.
The dossier also contains letters from Babenko to his subordinates, which directly indicate that decisions on what and how much to spend are made personally by Kovtun.
Another account that does not formally belong to the government into which donations were collected is the account of the Time of Good Foundation, established by Marina Kovtun’s close friend, businesswoman Marina Kalmykova, to create the White Rose women’s health center in Murmansk, patronized by Svetlana Medvedeva. The purchase of equipment for White Rose using charitable donations from large businesses was strange: out of all the commercial proposals, they chose the one where the price was 5 million higher than that of competitors.
Black accounting for five years is boundless. Obviously, her study led the investigation to the vice-governor. However, in this matter he seems to be only a switchman of a higher rank. In the past, naval officer Igor Babenko was always distinguished by his precise execution of orders. If the arrests continue, the Murmansk scandal will become a new “Gaizer case.”
[tv21.ru, 10/19/2017, “What is known about the arrest of former vice-governor Igor Babenko”: The government of the Murmansk region officially commented on the information about the arrest of the former deputy governor.
This is what the head of the media relations department Dmitry Ishchenko said.
“The principled position of the government is the maximum openness of the executive authorities of the region for the investigative authorities to clarify all the circumstances that interest them... As the governor has repeatedly said, there are no untouchables, and the investigative authorities will give an accurate assessment of all identified facts” - K.ru insert]
Should Igor Babenko be left in pre-trial detention or should he be released under house arrest? Today the court of appeal decided the issue in the case of the former vice-governor. A week ago, by decision of the Oktyabrsky Court, he was sent into custody for 2 months in a pre-trial detention center. The defender appealed this decision, considering that this was too harsh a measure.
27.10.2017, 20:10
Should Igor Babenko be left in the pre-trial detention center or should he be released under house arrest? Today the court of appeal decided the issue in the case of the former vice-governor. A week ago, by decision of the Oktyabrsky Court, he was sent into custody for 2 months in a pre-trial detention center. The defender appealed this decision, considering that this was too harsh a measure.
In the courtroom are employees of the prosecutor's office, Igor Babenko's wife, and several listeners. The former vice-governor Igor Babenko himself is now in Moscow in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center, so communication with him is organized via video conference.
Igor Babenko was detained on October 18 and charged with fraud using his official position. We are talking about thefts in the government of the Murmansk region. Two more former officials of the regional government, Georgy Blagodelsky and Eduard Nikrashevsky, are being charged in the same criminal case. A week ago - on October 20 - former deputy governor Babenko was sent into custody for 2 months. The prosecution believes that he may interfere with the investigation or escape from justice.
The lawyer filed an appeal. He claims that his client did not exert any pressure on other defendants in the case and did not try to escape.
Igor Koplikov, lawyer: “Igor Leonidovich Babenko is accused of committing theft by deception of funds in the region of 99 thousand 900 rubles, for which Igor Leonidovich is currently charged. We believe that the choice of a preventive measure in the form of detention does not correspond to the circumstances that we currently have in the criminal case.”
Irina Kuznetsova, head of the department for supervision over the implementation of anti-corruption legislation of the prosecutor's office of the Murmansk region: “Regarding the fact that the amount of imputed damage today is 99 thousand, I want to say that this does not affect the very qualification of Article 159 Part 3, the court is at the initial stage of the preliminary investigation.”
Former vice-governor Igor Babenko does not admit his guilt in fraud. At the same time, he stated that he was ready to cooperate with the investigation.
Igor Babenko, accused: “I would like to note once again that since the initiation of the criminal case against Blagodelsky and Nikrashevsky, I have not made any attempts, despite the fact that I was in office and was not fired from my job. There were no facts of my interaction or attempts at pressure on my part. As I stated in the court of first instance, I am ready to cooperate with law enforcement agencies as part of the investigation into the circumstances of the case. I did not and do not intend to hide from the investigative authorities.”
Despite all the lawyer’s arguments, the regional court upheld the decision of the first instance court. Igor Babenko will be kept in the pre-trial detention center until December 17 this year.
Earlier this week, Governor Marina Kovtun spoke out about the criminal case against government officials and the arrest of her former deputy.
Marina Kovtun, Governor of the Murmansk Region: “I hope that the investigators will unambiguously establish all the circumstances of the case, determine the degree, severity of guilt and motives of each person involved. We are primarily interested in this. At the same time, I must state that for about a year now I, as the highest official of the region, and the government of the Murmansk region as a whole have been experiencing serious pressure from law enforcement agencies. In particular, it is expressed in massive inquiries, inspections and other acts of intimidation.”
Meanwhile, journalists are already ready to sign a petition in defense of the arrested Igor Babenko, who began his career in the naval newspaper “On Guard of the Arctic.” Today, the chairman of the Murmansk regional Union of Journalists of Russia, Nikolai Bakshevnikov, who has known Igor Babenko for 20 years, expressed his point of view.
Nikolai Bakshevnikov, Chairman of the Murmansk Regional Union of Journalists of Russia: “What is happening to him now or what they are doing to him now, in my opinion, does not fit into any gates. Well, such a person could not do such a thing. This, as they say now, is a setup, an elementary setup. This is a normal, honest person. I can confirm this at any level. And I think it’s not just my opinion.”
Elvira Serga, journalist: “I want to say this not as the editor-in-chief of the regional TV-21 channel. And as a member of the Union of Journalists of Russia. I've been in this profession for 25 years. And all these 25 years I have known Igor Leonidovich Babenko as a deeply decent, crystal-honest person. I worked under his leadership at the newspaper “On Guard of the Arctic”. The whole situation that is now happening around his name is very reminiscent of a provocation, I think so. “I urge the entire journalistic community of both our region and Russia not to speculate on facts, not to distort the information received, not to base their stories and publications on some kind of speculation, but to remember the main principles of journalism - objectivity and reliability.”
As for the petition in support of Igor Babenko, it is not yet known to whom it will be addressed. But, as Nikolai Bakshevnikov noted, even without addressing someone personally, journalists will be able to express their opinion. And is it important.