The Commission of the High Qualifications Board of Judges today, April 18, will arrive in Samara to check the activities of the chairman of the Sixth Court of Cassation, Alexander Efanov, said Alexander Khinshtein, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from the Samara region. According to the deputy, the commission, among other things, will check the purchase by the chairman of the court of a 0.5-hectare plot of land on Podzhabny Island, on which two houses have allegedly already been built. In addition, representatives of the body of the judiciary will check the information about Alexander Efanov’s expensive Breguet watches and about the Toyota Sequoia car he rented from a private organization. According to lawyers, such a case of creating a commission of the HQCC is unprecedented.
The Commission of the High Qualifications Board of Judges, headed by Deputy Chairman Vasily Tarasov, will arrive in Samara today, April 18. This was announced by the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Alexander Khinshtein. According to the deputy, the commission included representatives of the Supreme Court and the Judicial Department. In early April, the Presidium of the All-Russian Supreme Court of Cassation announced the creation of a commission to verify the information provided by Alexander Khinshtein, which allegedly compromises the chairman of the Sixth Court of Cassation. “For six months, I have been sending appeals to the VKKS, the Prosecutor General’s Office and other authorities that convict Efanov of dubious deeds and actions. Based on the collected materials, I openly assert that Efanov has no right to work in the judiciary, and even more so to occupy such a responsible position: he is “subordinate” to 9 regional courts of the Volga region, ”the parliamentarian wrote then in his Telegram channel.
• Alexander Efanov was born on February 1, 1960 in the village of Orlovo, Livensky District, Orel Region. In 1983 he graduated with a gold medal from the Military Law Faculty of the Red Banner Military Institute with a degree in military law. In 1996-2005 he was the chairman of the Samara Garrison Military Court. In July 2005, he became chairman of the Eleventh Arbitration Court of Appeal. In 2018, he was appointed chairman of the Sixth Court of Cassation. In January 2023, the Governor of the Samara Region, Dmitry Azarov, awarded Alexander Efanov the title of honorary citizen of the region.
In 2021, according to Alexander Khinshtein, the chairman of the court purchased a land plot of 0.5 hectares on Podzhabny Island for 860 thousand rubles. (17.2 thousand/sotka), while the market value of such property can reach up to 75 million rubles. Alexander Efanov bought the asset from Era LLC, co-owned by the son of the chairman Ivan Efanov, who heads the digitalization department of the administration of the governor of the Samara region, in 2014-2016. According to Kartoteka.ru, the owners of Era are now Mikhail Afanasiev, Maxim Kuptsov and Vera Kazacheva, who, according to Alexander Khinshtein, is Ivan Efanov’s mother-in-law. Prior to that, in 2011, Era in court ordered the administration to conclude a contract for the sale of a land plot of 40 hectares in Podzhabny with it. As follows from the case file in the electronic filing cabinet of the arbitration court, there is a recreation center on the site, registered as the property of Era. Later, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation confirmed the fact of Alexander Efanov’s affiliation with Era LLC. Judging by the materials published by the deputy, two large houses (350-400 m each) were built on the site of the chairman of the court and bank protection was completed.
At the end of 2022, Alexander Khinshtein reported that the head of the Sixth Court of Cassation uses a car belonging to the structure of Ton-Avto Group of Companies, which, according to the parliamentarian, is “a gross violation of anti-corruption legislation.” The cost of renting a Toyota Sequoia is allegedly 30 thousand per month, which is 5-10 times lower than the market price for such a service. Moreover, in the declarations of the judge for 2019, 2020 and 2021, the Toyota Sequoia car does not appear. The facts of buying a land plot and renting a car are also checked by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation.
In addition, as Alexander Khinshtein reported, in 2021, Alexander Efanov’s wife Olga Efanova, who is retired, purchased a Lexus LS600 worth more than 22 million rubles, and the chairman of the court himself wore a watch “outwardly indistinguishable from Swiss Breguet, which cost at least 16 million rubles. In the Sixth Court of Cassation, Kommersant was told that they still did not comment on Alexander Khinshtein’s data on the chairman of the court.
According to Maria Spiridonova, a member of the Association of Lawyers of Russia, such a case of creating a commission of the HQCJ is unprecedented. “The main purpose of such a commission is to check the chairman of the court or the judge, in respect of whom the power of supervision is assigned to the HQCJ. The main range of issues during the investigation includes the presence of violations that entail disciplinary sanctions for judges. So, this includes violations of anti-corruption legislation, judicial ethics, or the commission of unlawful acts,” Maria Spiridonova explained.