The businessman sat down for 2 years for a gift

Two years in prison for giving an unusual bribe to the now former Deputy Minister of Transport Vladimir Tokarev received the general director of Expert Center LLC Vladimir Kolpakov.

The official gave back $10,000 and a bottle of Beluga vodka given to him on New Year’s Eve, but already under the control of the FSB officers. At the same time, the merchant himself claimed that he did not count on any preferences from Mr. Tokarev and became a victim of his own stupidity and vanity. Interestingly, Vladimir Tokarev was also under investigation in January 2022 – he is accused of a particularly large-scale fraud.

The criminal case on the fact of attempted bribery of an official on an especially large scale (part 3 of article 30, paragraph “b” of part 4 of article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) was considered by the judge of the Basmanny District Court Evgenia Nikolaeva for almost a year.

It is based on the events that took place on December 30, 2019. On that day, Vladimir Kolpakov, whose firm is engaged in the certification of products for the repair of railway transport, decided to pay his respects to Deputy Minister of Transport Vladimir Tokarev, whom he had known for about half a year.

Since the official was busy, the merchant, through an assistant, gave him a package with a bottle of Beluga vodka and a box from under an expensive tie, in which he put $ 10,000 instead of an accessory. As follows from the case materials, having received a gift, Mr. Tokarev decided to return it.

However, he previously reported to the FSB that he had been given a bribe “for patronage.” The official allegedly told the Chekists that “if it were just a gift, then a bottle of vodka would be all right, but money is already too much.” As a result, when Vladimir Kolpakov ended up in the official’s office on the same day, the operatives had already installed audio and video equipment there.

According to Mikhail Ter-Sarkisov, a lawyer defending the businessman, for an hour and a half, Mr. Tokarev tried to get his client to have a “frank conversation”, but he claimed that he only wanted to congratulate the official on his past birthday (the official was born on December 28) and the upcoming New Year .

As a result, Vladimir Kolpakov was still detained at the exit from the office, and a few days later, at the request of the investigator of the Main Investigative Committee of the ICR for Moscow, the Presnensky District Court of Moscow sent him under house arrest.

In the Ministry of Transport, it became clear that the alleged bribe taker Tokarev actually plays a completely different role – the initiator of the investigation.

The official told law enforcement officers that he had a birthday two days earlier, then it was time for New Year’s greetings, and as a result, on the evening of December 30, he was forced to stay at work to sort out dozens of gift bags with calendars and diaries brought by numerous visitors. One of the sets of the Deputy Minister was of interest, because next to a bottle of Beluga vodka there were not traditional sweets, but a box with a tie. Wishing to immediately try it on, the official opened the cardboard box and found next to the accessory a bank bundle of hundred-dollar bills. Together with the applicant, law enforcement officers established that the dubious gift was presented to the Deputy Minister by the most authoritative specialist in the field of railway transport, the general director of Expert Center LLC Vladimir Kolpakov.

Mr. Kolpakov and his subordinates have been evaluating the products manufactured by various enterprises for the needs of Russian Railways for many years, and have issued appropriate certificates to the partners of the state corporation. The expert was a regular member of the non-profit partnership “Association of Railway Equipment Manufacturers”, and for many years of active work in his field he was even awarded the Medal of Merit.

According to lawyer Ter-Sarkisov, Vladimir Kolpakov pleaded not guilty to the incriminated act.

“His actions can be called stupidity, but not a crime. He did not count on any preferences from the deputy minister, if only because the activities of his company depended only on the Federal Service for Economic Development, which is part of the Ministry of Economic Development. And the gift itself, as my client believed, corresponded to the status of an official, ”said Mikhail Ter-Sarkisov.