Leninsky District Court January 18 sentenced ex-mayor of Vladivostok Oleg Gumenyuk in a criminal case on taking bribes on an especially large scale.
Based on the totality of episodes of crimes, the punishment will be 16.6 years in a strict regime colony. Gumenyuk will also have to pay a fine of 150 million rubles. The court verdict retained interim measures in the form of seizure of property and funds of the ex-mayor in the amount of more than 36 million rubles.
The ex-mayor was also deprived for 12 years of the right to hold positions related to the exercise of the functions of a representative of power, the performance of organizational, administrative, administrative and economic functions in state bodies, local governments, state and municipal institutions, state corporations.
Gumenyuk served from April 2019 to May 2021.
Recall that last week the former mayor delivered his last word, in which he considered himself completely innocent. “There is not a single piece of evidence in my case, not a single proof, not a single witness, except Sergei Sirotin. Nothing, there is only “maybe,” said the former mayor. “During the search, nothing was found. During my six years of work in government, I bought one Toyota Land Cruer Prado car for 3 million rubles, of which I took 1.5 million on credit. And that’s it – nothing else. I invite everyone home to see how I live: no golden toilets. I have not done repairs in the house for 15 years.”
“There is no evidence. Indeed, we will appeal, we will fight. <…> You know, on “Youtube” the last word was seen a lot … I repeat once again: all my words that I spoke at the last word, they have been proven, first of all, in my case. There is not a single witness in my case, except for Sergei Sirotin – this is a friend who was 15 years old. <...> Not a single telephone conversation, not a single witness, except for a person who changes his testimony in court, ”Oleg Gumenyuk managed to tell reporters after the verdict was announced.
Both sons of Oleg Vladimirovich are shocked discussing the verdict in the corridor of the court. Gumenyuk is taken out of the hall, he shouts loudly: “I said, this is a trial! I will say it everywhere, let them do what they want with me! The convoy takes the former mayor away. Recall that Gumenyuk himself completely denies guilt and believes that his former friend, previously convicted Sergei Sirotin, slandered him in order to shorten his term. The former mayor told the court and the press about this during his long last speech.
At the end of November 2022, the court found businessman Sergei Sirotin guilty of mediation in bribery in the case of Oleg Gumenyuk. According to investigators, from December 22, 2018 to February 24, 2021, he transferred at least 31 million rubles to Gumenyuk. “for the general patronage and connivance of the activities of the MBU “Necropolis”. For this, the court sentenced him to four years in a strict regime colony (of which he spent a year and a half under house arrest) and a fine of 62.5 million rubles. At the same time, the press service of the Primorsky Territory Prosecutor’s Office reported that the businessman pleaded guilty and concluded a pre-trial cooperation agreement with law enforcement agencies.
Sirotin was sentenced on November 14, 2022. He admitted his guilt and entered into a pre-trial cooperation agreement, under which he testified against Oleg Gumenyuk. However, the final sentence was much harsher than he expected. He was fined twice the amount of the bribe and was given a real term with serving in a strict regime colony.
Without giving up their guilt, Sirotin and his lawyers filed an appeal with the Primorsky Regional Court with a request to replace under Art. 73 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation a real term for a suspended sentence. On January 16, the Judicial Board considered the complaint and left the decision of the first instance court unchanged. Thus, the sentence Sirotin entered into force.
Recall that Gumenyuk himself was accused of crimes under Part 6 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (receiving a bribe on an especially large scale). 31 million rubles received from Sirotin is just one of the episodes of the criminal case. According to law enforcement agencies, the ex-mayor of Vladivostok first began to take money while still working in the regional administration, within the walls of which he headed the economic department.
Investigators calculated that Gumenyuk received bribes in the form of money and in the form of illegal provision of property services to him, his son and a commercial organization controlled by his son in the total amount of over 6.9 million rubles.
The prosecutor’s office of the Primorsky Territory asked the court to sentence the ex-mayor of Vladivostok Oleg Gumenyuk to 17 years in prison with a fine of 150 million rubles.
Perhaps one of the most high-profile scandals under Oleg Gumenyuk, which glorified Vladivostok literally throughout Russia, was the installation in September 2020 granite benches downtown. Funeral benches resembling tombstones, with the same flowerpots, were criticized not only by the residents themselves, but also by architects, artists, in a word, by all those who are involved in the understanding of “beautiful”. After wide publicity and public outcry, the “funeral” benches were removed, and the mayor had to make excuses for an unfortunate mistake for a long time, assuring that the administration had not spent a penny on mourning granite.
Despite the high rank for two years at the head of the administration of Vladivostok, Oleg Gumenyuk remained faithful to his hobby – motorcycle racing. Moreover, the mayor participated in almost all city competitions, taking prizes, yielding victory only to his sons, who share sports interest with him. By the way, one of the arguments for the resignation of Oleg Vladimirovich was just the Avangard stadium – the mecca of seaside motorcycle racing. The mayor was supposed to restore the stadium back in 2019, however, according to the governor of the region, the task has not been solved so far.