10 years of general regime and a fine of 129 million rubles – this was the price of a bribe of 25 million received by the ex-Minister of Culture of Crimea Arina Novoselskaya during the construction of a new puppet theater in Simferopol. The bribe was handed over to the official by the owner of the Meander company Evgeny Yarmosh – defendant in another high-profile case of laundering 191 million rubles during the reconstruction of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory. At the same time, Arina Novoselskaya gained wide popularity even before her arrest – in the spring of 2021, she swore obscenities during a live broadcast of a meeting of the Crimean government, and then outraged the residents of Kerch, calling the symbol of the city – griffins on the Mithridates stairs – eagles.
Testimony against Arina Novoselskaya was given by the owner of Meander Yevgeny Yarmosh. In 2021, while dealing with another criminal case, he recalled that three years earlier he paid an official 25 million rubles in exchange for a state contract for the construction of a children’s theater arts center. Novoselskaya was detained in November 2021 in Crimea, then taken to Moscow, after which the Moscow Basmanny Court sent her to a pre-trial detention center. She pleaded not guilty to the charges.
shocking official
All the defendants in this case are prominent people. Arina Novoselskaya began her political career back in the years when the peninsula was part of Ukraine. In 2009, she was appointed Deputy Minister of Culture of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. And in the spring of 2014, after the annexation of the peninsula to Russia, she took the post of Minister of Culture.
“I dream that in 10-20 years, when I retire, the period when Novoselskaya worked would not pass without a trace,” the new minister said in one of their interviews. But she was remembered mainly for public scandals.
In the spring of 2021, at a meeting with the head of Crimea Sergei Aksenov she cursed publicly, thinking that her microphone was muted. Then Novoselskaya apologized.
Almost immediately, she outraged the inhabitants of Kerch, calling the symbol of the city – the sculptures of griffins on the famous Mithridates stairs – eagles. She stood out for her bright images, jewelry and revealing outfits.
Conservatory “mothballed”
Loud fame was also acquired by the Meander company, which “surrendered” the ex-minister. She was known in the restoration market for multibillion-dollar contracts for the construction and restoration of cultural heritage sites in St. Petersburg, Moscow and the Crimea.
But in the fall of 2020, Yevgeny Yarmosh and company CEO Elena Zavadskaya were arrested on suspicion of fraud and money laundering during the construction of the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory.
According to investigators, the firm was not going to reconstruct the conservatory from the very beginning. It follows from the materials of the case that, having won a contract and received 191 million rubles in advance on her account, she entered into a number of fictitious contracts with controlled legal entities. To create the visibility of the work performed, Meander transferred 51 million rubles to the accounts of these legal entities. But the conservatory was never restored.
Now the work is ongoing – last year the authorities of the Northern capital approved a new project for the reconstruction of the long-suffering object. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2024.
The very same beneficiary of Meander is facing a serious sentence – his criminal case is now being heard by the Krasnogvardeisky Court of St. Petersburg. The next meeting was held on July 18, the day Arina Novoselskaya was sentenced.
The fate of the theater
As for the theater in Simferopol, Meander lost this contract in the summer of 2020. The building was promised to be commissioned by the end of 2022, but since then the estimated cost of the facility has doubled, the Crimean Ministry of Construction told Izvestia. Such a critical rise in the cost of the object has led to the fact that it will actually be commissioned only in 2024-2025, the ministry said.
Despite the violations committed by Meander, the already built “box” will not be demolished: the new contractor will correct the shortcomings, he will dismantle part of the work performed, the ministry specified. Currently, several companies are being considered for this role, which have a license to carry out restoration work and specialized types of finishes.
“The city really needs this facility, therefore, most likely, the contract will be completed ahead of schedule – by the end of 2024 we will try to complete it and put it into operation,” a representative of the department told Izvestia. — We coordinated the project with our state customer — the Ministry of Construction of Russia. We hope that the state contract will be concluded and the contractor will work at an accelerated pace without payment delays.
The basics of rollback
Arina Novoselskaya, who arrived at the court in jeans and a T-shirt, but with makeup and hair, listened to the verdict calmly and told the court that she understood it. Before the verdict was announced, she was taken to the “aquarium”, but for some reason they did not remove the handcuffs. Novoselskaya’s common-law husband and girlfriend came to court to support Novoselskaya.
“There is nothing new in the “act” of the convict: the practice of bribery or, simply put, a kickback to an official for a particular construction contract is a “common place” in the “primer book” of corruption crimes, the head of the law firm Center for State Order Placement told Izvestia Alexander Stroganov. The practice of kickbacks is not a purely Russian invention and is common throughout the world, he said.
Despite the openness of the competitive procedures, officials of the level of Arina Novoselskaya always have special opportunities to influence the outcome of the case. As a result, the “necessary” contractor comes to victory in the auction, the lawyer noted.