20 hectares of St. Petersburg land officials profitably let go to the left

As it became known to Kommersant, the Prosecutor General’s Office approved the indictment in the criminal case of the former head of the Vsevolozhsk district of the Leningrad region, Alexander Sobolenko, and three of his accomplices. The defendants are accused of illegal withdrawal and further sale of a municipal land plot of almost 20 hectares. In addition, Alexander Sobolenko of the TFR is charged with the illegal acquisition and possession of a combat revolver.

First Deputy Prosecutor General Anatoly Razinkin approved the indictment in the case of embezzlement of a land plot in the elite Vsevolozhsk district of the Leningrad region. The main person involved in the investigation is the former head of the district administration Alexander Sobolenko. The charge of embezzlement on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) was also brought against the former head of Osinki SNT Alexei Ferents, as well as the deputy general directors of the Yurenergoservis company Alexander Smirnov and Region LLC Anatoly Sturov. In addition, they are charged with the legalization of the stolen (part 4 of article 174 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), and Sobolenko – illegal acquisition and storage of weapons (part 1 of article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The defendants, in addition to Alexei Ferenets, do not admit guilt.

As Kommersant previously reported, the Main Investigative Committee of the ICR was investigating this case for three years. It was launched as a result of two online receptions of the head of the committee Alexander Bastrykin, which he held in November 2021 with residents of the Leningrad region. Among other things, residents of the Vsevolozhsk district complained to Mr. Bastrykin about fraud with local land, as well as the reluctance of employees of the regional Investigative Committee of the ICR to investigate these crimes.

As a result, a personnel purge was carried out in the regional department of the committee, and all land files were seized from it and transferred to the central office of the TFR. On December 6, 2021, the former head of the Sobolenko district, who by that time had occupied the posts of general director of Lider LLC and deputy general director of Goodwin LLC, was detained in St. Petersburg and sent to Moscow, where he was arrested by the Basmanny District Court. Then the other defendants in the investigation were also detained.

As follows from the materials of the case, in the period from 2011 to 2019, the accused, acting as part of an organized group, “for the purpose of illegal enrichment” committed the theft of a municipal land plot of 19.9 hectares. It is located in the Beloostrovsky massif, where the market value of a hundred square meters of land is 1–1.2 million rubles.

To achieve this goal, as follows from the case file, Alexander Sobolenko, being the head of the district, in the period from December 12, 2011 to December 20, 2013, issued several decisions that removed the site from the jurisdiction of the district administration. The land was supposedly intended for transfer to large families, but ended up at the SNT “Osinki”. Subsequently, from August 21, 2012 to December 23, 2019, Ferenc, Smirnov and Sturov, according to the ICR, split the site into smaller plots, registering them as the property of their relatives and persons controlled by them. After that, the plots were sold at the market price to bona fide purchasers.

According to the calculations of the investigation, by their actions the defendants caused damage in the amount of more than 205 million rubles.

It also follows from the case file that no later than August 31, 2019, Alexander Sobolenko acquired a combat revolver, which he then illegally kept at his home. This revolver was found in his possession during a search.

It is also worth noting that for Alexander Sobolenko, who headed the district of the Leningrad region from 2007 to 2013, this is not the first criminal case. So, ten years ago, during a personal reception, he attacked local residents who came to him, for which he was soon sentenced to three years probation and resigned. A little later, he was detained on suspicion of hooliganism, but it did not come to a charge.

The materials of the embezzlement case will be considered by the Vsevolozhsk City Court.