A number of key witnesses have been interrogated in the criminal case of Oleg Kruchinin, former head of the Volga Department of Rosprirodnadzor, accused of taking bribes. Director of LLC NTN Anton Lyubakov told how he handed over cash to the accused, putting them in the lawyer’s nightstand. Andrey Chernyshev, the former head of the departmental laboratory, said that for the head of the department he collected money from several heads of branches and also transferred them through a lawyer. At the same time, the witnesses contradicted their testimonies, which were given during the investigation, and the defense of the accused Kruchinin tried to understand for what kind of his actions or inaction in the service he allegedly wore hundreds of thousands of rubles through an intermediary.
The Nizhny Novgorod District Court of Nizhny Novgorod continues to consider a criminal case against Oleg Kruchinin, the former head of the department of Rosprirodnadzor in the Volga Federal District and the Samara-Ulyanovsk department of Rosprirodnadzor. He was charged with taking bribes in excess of 11 million rubles, almost the entire case is based on the testimony of witnesses. FSB operatives confiscated more than 100 thousand rubles from the pockets of the detained official during the arrest. labeled bills.
One of the key witnesses was interrogated director of LLC NTN Anton Lyubakov, dealing with industrial waste. He said that on February 6, 2018, a fire broke out on the territory of his enterprise. Inspectors from the department of Svetlana Radionova inspected the site, and competitor Dmitry Lavrov, who was well acquainted with Oleg Kruchinin from LUK-Regions LLC, promised Mr. Lyubakov to resolve the issue if he accepted his batch of waste for temporary storage.
According to the testimony of the witness, he agreed, and the audit of the supervisory agency “ended in nothing.” After that, Anton Lyubakov concluded that Dmitry Lavrov had solved the problem in the department of Rosprirodnadzor, and on the advice of a competitor, he decided to establish closer relations with Oleg Kruchinin.
“At that time I was engaged in expanding the license for additional types of waste. The market was very anxious, there was an economic war between Lavrov and Tarabarin (Lev Tarabarin, a shareholder of the Real-Invest group. – Kommersant-Privolzhye). Lavrov was proud of his acquaintance with Kruchinin, saying that he solves problems for him. I was told that soon LUK-Regions would crush the entire market, become monopolists, and they would strangle us all, ”said the witness.
According to the witness, in his office, Oleg Kruchinin hinted that Anton Lyubakov should provide all possible financial assistance. The director of NTN decided that 200 thousand rubles should be given out of the profit. Monthly is not difficult, but it’s a pity. For about six months, he delayed the first payment, until Oleg Kruchinin, at one of the meetings, advised him to “fulfill his obligations” through the lawyer Rafail Guliyev, whom he called his friend. Anton Lyubakov claims that in Guliyev’s office he gave him a wad of money, which the lawyer put away in the bedside table. In addition, two or three times the entrepreneur took money personally to Oleg Kruchinin to the country or home. Money through the lawyer Guliyev was transferred to Oleg Kruchinin even after he left to work in Samara.
Anton Lyubakov paid for the fact that he had no problems with obtaining a license, and his company was not checked. In total, from February 2019 to November 2021, the director of NTN LLC transferred about 6.8 million rubles.
Andrey Chernyshev, the former director of the Center for Laboratory Analysis and Technical Measurements in the Volga Federal District (TsLATI), said that Oleg Kruchinin helped him get a job as a deputy director at this institution. According to the witness, the patron told him that he expected at least 100,000 rubles from the laboratory center. per month to cover certain expenses. The director of TsLATI could not give such an amount from his salary, therefore he puzzled the leaders of the Mordovian, Orenburg, Ulyanovsk and Penza branches of TsLATI to be dumped for the needs of “higher management”.
Branch directors agreed to give 20-25 thousand rubles each, but they could not manage such amounts. Therefore, the required 100 thousand rubles. gathered for two or three months. The collected money was also referred to the office of Rafail Guliyev. After Oleg Kruchinin moved to Samara, the amount of fees increased. In Nizhny Novgorod, by this time, a criminal case had already been opened on the facts of extortions in TsLATI, Andrei Chernyshev stopped collecting money and told Oleg Kruchinin that he was ready to quit. He reassured him, saying that there was no need to leave, but then expressed dissatisfaction through third parties.
The deputy traveled to regional branches and collected 400 thousand rubles. in cash and handed it over to Mr. Kruchinin personally during a business trip to Samara.
When the defendant’s lawyers asked why he took the money and what he wanted to get for it, Andrey Chernyshev stated that he “took into account” Oleg Kruchin’s request for increased expenses and “as a soldier, accepted this for execution.” However, why he agreed in principle to collect money, the former director of TsLATI could not clearly explain. He said that the money was collected for “certain expenses”, including winter tires for official cars, which greatly upset the state prosecutor.
In the protocols of the investigation, it was written that bribes in the total amount of 1.9 million rubles. Andrey Chernyshev handed it over “for general patronage”, fearing that he would be fired.
However, later the witness, according to him, realized that Mr. Kruchinin could not influence his dismissal, because TsLATI reports directly to the head of the federal service. The former director of the laboratory stressed that he returned all the money to the heads of the branches against receipts, so they have no claims against him.
Interrogation of witnesses in the case will continue in February-March. Oleg Kruchinin does not admit guilt in taking bribes, and the defense is preparing to provide evidence of his innocence.