The arrest of the three St. Petersburg generals has already passed the second year, but there is nothing in the case other than incomprehensible examinations and strange conclusions of the investigation. As it turned out, no matter how hard they looked, they could not find any traces of the bribes received. About the end to which the trial of the ex-assistant minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, general Sergei Umnov and his fellow sufferers, the editors of Kompromat.group found out
Hour of trouble
The clock on the investigation into the case of St. Petersburg generals Semenov, Umnov and Abakumov is ticking so that it can be heard far beyond the borders of the two capitals. In 5 months, the case will be 2 years old, and the burden of prosecution is still dubious and shaky. As we wrote in our previous material, now the case is at the stage of familiarization with the case materials, but, just as the St. Petersburg generals and their lawyers did not read, they have not read anything really supported by evidence there.
Despite the fact that dozens of people are involved in the case, many more were interviewed and the criminal case contains 89 volumes, according to defense lawyers, no real evidence of the guilt of those arrested was found. Let us remind you that the case is related to the work of the Fund for Assistance to Programs of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in connection with the transfer of money there by commercial MREOs of the city. During the investigation, the case was reclassified as charges of accepting bribes.
It is with bribes, according to General Sergei Umnov and his comrades in misfortune, that things are not going well for the investigation. It turns out bad, one might say. It recently became known that experts could not answer where he and his high-ranking accomplices in uniform shared the bribes he was accused of. In general, if you look at it impartially, there is some kind of mysticism going on in this case.
Let’s start in order. As we have already written, there are several businessmen from the Northern capital in the case; they are accused under Art. 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism). They are accused; in 2013–2019, they were engaged in automotive technical examinations at the examination departments of the local State Traffic Safety Inspectorate. Allegedly, in order to work successfully, they paid monthly bribes to the leadership of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. These businessmen are now under recognizance not to leave. Five more people, who were former experts, decided to cooperate with the investigation and admitted that they had given bribes to the generals. Thus, they became witnesses, successfully avoiding criminal liability.
Burden of Evilness
But as you can see, this did not make the investigation any easier. It did not become any clearer to those under investigation. Today, the investigation is convinced that a dozen people handed over 11 bribes to the generals “on an especially large scale.” The total amount of bribes is approx. 65 million rubles. The financial examination came to this conclusion. Everything would be fine, but there is a nuance. This figure has not been confirmed. The prosecution does not have any definitive evidence that the generals received these bribes. Because none of them received money in their hands, and the bribers did not give it to anyone personally. The funds went to the city NGO “Fund for Assistance to Municipal Internal Affairs Programs”.
The investigation cannot yet clearly explain where these millions were spent and for what specific purposes. So far, only a small part of this amount has been substantiated in the case. This includes cars and fitness memberships.
It was precisely from this financial mess that those ridiculous accusations that we wrote about in our previous materials arose. Namely, the investigation believes that Umnov developed a cunning plan, according to which his accomplices were to receive bribes from businessmen in the form of donations to the Fund’s accounts. Some of them went to good deeds, and the other part paid for services and benefits for Umnova, Abakumova, Semenov, Spear and persons close to them.
This includes renovations in the general’s office, the purchase of office equipment for police departments, the purchase of furniture, the organization of concerts at the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall for the families of employees and veterans, and “organization of holidays with food delicacies” for the same employees to celebrate the traffic police day. By the way, the investigation assessed the delicacies eaten by the greedy mouths of the unfortunate traffic police officers at 3 million rubles.
Like, it’s not allowed, traffic cops eat so deliciously. This is bad manners. Such nuances, for example, as the fact that he did not have to drive the SUV accused of Umnov – he went to work in Moscow, the investigation is apparently not particularly interested in. As well as the fact that he also did not have a chance to visit the renovated general’s toilet. However, the former head of the St. Petersburg Main Directorate learned from the case materials how he won the hearts of his employees with the help of banquets with delicacies on the day of the traffic police. He was also not present at the banquet itself.
Wind of guilt
We have already written about how Sergei Pavlovich evaluates the work of the investigation.. The defense is of the opinion that the investigation classifies the crimes in a way that directly contradicts the explanations of the plenum of the Supreme Court of Russia (*aggressor country). However, as everyone knows, these clarifications of the plenum are not for the investigation; they are read mainly by judges and lawyers. But the law, in general, does not oblige judges to follow them. It’s more of a practice that you need to skim over periodically in order to be on trend and get your bearings on time.
But where the investigation will focus is not yet clear. It is definitely clear that much will depend on great political will, or on new winds and circumstances. Since the end of the investigation is already close, by the time the case is transferred to court, it will already become clear in detail How disgraced generals will be tried.
Old-timers believe that everything would be decided by Kolokoltsev’s resignation, which many have been eagerly awaiting for several years now. During this time, the minister was already sent home from his chair several times, but the long-awaited resignation never took place. Large rotations are possible after the elections, as traditionally happens in high circles. This time, appointments and resignations may be unexpected, because in addition to crime detection statistics, other factors will be taken into account. Such, for example, as the number of caught corrupt officials who worked under the command of one or another police leadership. But these are, for now, only approximate estimates of what could affect the generals’ cause.
The former comrades who support them really hope that the case will be heard in St. Petersburg, the hometown of all the accused and, in fact, “at the place where the crime was committed.” But knowledgeable people are skeptical about such prospects.
In the meantime, the investigation needs to come up with new reasons why the court will once again extend the generals’ detention.