Forbes: ranking of the largest bribes in Russia of the 21st century

Journalists from Forbes selected the largest bribes involved in criminal cases over the past 19 years, making a rating of them. The former leader of the Sakhalin Oblast, Alexander Khoroshavin, became the leader of the rating, and the transport investigator from Moscow became an outsider.

When compiling the rating, its authors were guided by the principle that only bribes received in one tranche or regarded by investigators as one episode were counted. Because of this, there was no place in the rating for the “second Zakharchenko”, FSB Colonel Kirill Cherkalin with his bribe of $ 850 thousand - he received money in installments for several years. The heroes of the ranking were ministers, governors, mayors, judges and security forces.

The first place in the ranking went to Sakhalin`s former head, Alexander Khoroshavin, and his $ 5.6 million, which he, as the court found, received a kickback from Nikolai Cran, co-owner of the Sakhalin company Energostroy. The businessman paid the governor for the right to obtain a contract for the construction of the fourth power unit of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk CHP - this follows from his testimony. Crane died in hospital from a heart attack, and Khoroshavin was sentenced to 13 years in prison. In total, he was charged with receiving more than 520 million rubles of bribes. Later, the court confiscated from convict Khoroshavin a billion rubles found during a search, as well as other property — several apartments in Moscow, a house and land plots in the Moscow region and two Bently cars.

Second place - the former Minister of Economic Development of Russia Alexei Ulyukayev. The head of Rosneft Igor Sechin, who personally handed him a bag with $ 2 million and a basket with sausage, led him under the charge of bribery. Before that, Sechin managed to complain to the FSB about the minister allegedly extorting a bribe from him, he invited Ulyukayev to his office and gave him the money. Ulyukaev after his arrest (in November 2016) stated that the money was lent to him by deception under the guise of a gift. The court sentenced the former minister to eight years in prison and a fine of 130 million rubles.
 

Third place went to a little-known official from the Tver region, the former head of the Konakovsky district, Viktor Krysov. Despite the low position, Viktor Krysov knew exactly what he wanted - 45 million rubles ($ 1.46 million to the exchange rate for 2010). In return, the official promised entrepreneurs not to dispute in court a deal to sell 8 hectares of municipal land in his area for the construction of a recreation center. Krysov was sentenced to 8 years and 9 months in prison.

In fourth place is the former Inspector of the Accounts Chamber of the Ministry of Defense Yuri Gaidukov. The court found that the officer, for several million euros, had promised to close his eyes to the irregularities in the spending of budget funds on the NPO Energomash, which produces rocket engines. The bribe taker managed to get only $ 1.39 million (€ 1 million at the exchange rate for September 2007). He did not admit his guilt.

Fifth place - the former governor of the Tula region Vyacheslav Dudka. The amount of bribes - $ 1.27 million (40 million rubles at the exchange rate for November 2010). He wanted to receive money from the management of the GRINN Corporation for coordinating the construction of a hypermarket in the Tula region. The case was based on the testimony of intermediaries, Dudka never admitted his guilt. He was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison, in 2018 he was released from prison on parole.

Sixth place - a high-ranking investigator Dmitry Dovgy, who headed the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee at the Prosecutor`s Office. The court found him guilty of receiving € 750 thousand ($ 1.13 million at the rate of February 2008) for refusing to institute criminal proceedings against the owner of Investsotsbank Ruslan Valitov. Dovgy was sentenced to 9 years in prison, but was released early - after 6.5 years, in 2015. The ex-investigator did not plead guilty and explained his case in conflict with the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin.

Oleg Alekseev, the former deputy head of the credit organizations of the Federal Tax Service, was in seventh place in the ranking. Exactly $ 1 million managed to get the taxman, before he was detained red-handed. In total, he was counting on $ 5.3 million in exchange for resolving the tax problems of the Russian Capital Bank. In 2007, the court sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

Nikolai Utkin, mayor of Togliatti, was extorted with 150 million rubles from the director of a construction company - for this amount the town governor promised to rent 150 hectares on the embankment of the Avtozavodsky district of the city. While the entrepreneur did not agree to pay the administration was delaying the coordination of project documentation. The mayor was detained in May 2007 when he transferred the first part of a bribe in the amount of 25 million rubles ($ 972 thousand at the exchange rate for May 2007). The court found Utkin guilty of bribery and abuse of office, but in 2012 he achieved parole.

Perhaps the most famous billionaire police officer Dmitry Zakharchenko ranked ninth in the ranking. The investigation imputed a $ 800,000 bribe to the former head of the “T” department of the GUEBiPK Ministry of Internal Affairs, received from Moscow restaurateur Medi Duss. According to the prosecution, the colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Zakharchenko pressed the entrepreneur through his subordinates - he initiated unreasonable inspections of the business and delayed the supply of seafood at the border. Zakharchenko received wide popularity after searches in his apartment and his relatives` apartment - operatives “scraped the bottom of the barrel” more than 8 billion rubles in different currencies. Neither Zakharchenko nor his relatives could explain the origin of the money. The Prosecutor General’s Office considered the funds illegally acquired property and authorized their confiscation. Also, the Zakharchenko family selected elite apartments, cars, land participants and bank accounts in favor of the budget. The former policeman is on the dock. The verdict in his case will be announced in the Presnensky Court of Moscow on June 10.

The top 10 is completed by the former mayor of Krasnoarmeysk, Mikhail Bulgakov, who in 2007 tried to get $ 5 million from the management of the investment and construction company Svyatogor. Without money, the mayor did not want to give the company permission to build a neighborhood. The official managed to get only $ 750 thousand, he was detained at the first tranche. The court sentenced him to 7.5 years in prison.

At the 11th place is the ex-judge of the Arbitration Court of the Krasnodar Territory Sergey Rusov. He was detained red-handed in January 2013 in his office, a model of a bribe of 19 million rubles (equivalent to $ 631,000) was withdrawn from him. The judge was handed over to the judge by a lawyer from the Kaliningrad construction company SME Rossban, which was suing in arbitration with the Sochi mayor`s office: officials tried to recover a penalty of 950 million rubles from Rossban for the breakdown of construction deadlines. The judge-corrupt official never made a decision on the dispute - he was detained immediately after the transfer of money. Rusov was sentenced to 10 years in a penal colony and fined 200 million rubles.

The high-profile case of bribe takers from the top officers of the Investigative Committee brought the 12th place to the former head of the TFR of the TFR Mikhail Maximenko. He was convicted of receiving $ 500 thousand from businessman Oleg Sheikhametov. For money, Maksimenko allegedly promised to release the authoritative entrepreneur Andrei Kochuykov, nicknamed Italian, who is close to the thief in law, Zacharius Kalashov (Shakro Molodoy). Also, the defendants in the criminal case of Maksimenko turned out to be his deputy, Alexander Lamonov, and the leadership of the capital`s central board of the department, Alexander Drymanov and Denis Nikandrov. In 2018, Maksimenko was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

13th place, Grigory Domovets, former deputy head of the department of the Moscow Interregional Investigation Department for Transport of the Investigative Committee of Russia. Bribe: $ 500 thousand, detained in 2010. The money was received from the director of the Naro-Fominsk Cold Storage Plant. For $ 4 million, the investigator agreed to remove the arrest from the smuggling consignment of meat and not to prosecute the manager. The housekeeper was arrested while receiving the third tranche. At trial, the investigator assured that all the money was intended for his superiors. The Moscow City Court sentenced Domovts to 3 years in a strict regime colony, the authorities were acquitted.

Translated by IVC

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