In Novosibirsk, the verdict was announced to the former chairman of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Aseev, accused of fraud with the privatization of a departmental cottage. The damage to the budget from the actions of the scientist was estimated by law enforcement officers at 46 million rubles. The court sentenced him to four years of probation and a fine of 500 thousand rubles, the cottage was returned to state ownership. The academician himself said that the case was fabricated and “no miracle happened”, he intends to appeal the court decision.
On Wednesday, June 14, in Novosibirsk, the verdict was announced to the former chairman of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Aseev. In 2020, he became a defendant in a case of fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the punishment is up to ten years in prison), initiated based on the materials of the FSB.
According to the investigation, in the period from October 2009 to June 2015, Mr. Aseev arranged for him, as the head of the SB RAS, to be provided with a cottage in the Novosibirsk Akademgorodok, which is federal property. Subsequently, a cottage of 600 sq. m was illegally, according to law enforcement officers, privatized. The academician allegedly convinced the members of the Presidium of the SB RAS that the cottage should become a residence for receiving foreign delegations. The repair organized there was paid for by the SB RAS. When signing the documents for renting a cottage, the scientist allegedly entered his daughter’s data into them, after which he organized her fictitious registration at the indicated place of residence and, on her behalf, filed a lawsuit against the SB RAS to recognize the ownership of the cottage in the order of privatization. The court, on the basis of fictitious documents, satisfied these requirements. “As a result of the illegal actions of the chairman of the SB RAS, his daughter’s ownership of a residential building worth about 46 million rubles was registered,” the investigation materials indicate.
In the debate of the parties, the state prosecution requested five years of probation for Alexander Aseev and a fine of 500 thousand rubles, and also proposed transferring the disputed cottage in Akademgorodok to state ownership.
The defense of Mr. Aseev called unsubstantiated the conclusions of the investigation that the academician allegedly convinced the members of the Presidium of the SB RAS that the cottage would serve as a representative residence for receiving foreign delegations.
According to the defense, from the very beginning the cottage was provided to the academician and his family for living.
The academician himself previously stated that, as a tenant, he had to provide cosmetic repairs to a residential building, while the cottage needed a major overhaul. Also, as the defense of Alexander Aseev reported earlier, he donated to the ownership of the Russian Federation a four-room apartment of about 137 square meters belonging to him and his wife. m in an elite house in Akademgorodok. “After moving into a service cottage and privatizing it by his daughter, he donated his expensive apartment to the Russian Federation, which transferred it to the operational management of the SB RAS,” said lawyer Gennady Shishebarov. The scientist himself has repeatedly declared his innocence.
The court, having listened to the arguments of the parties, sentenced Alexander Aseev to a four-year suspended sentence with a three-year probationary period, as well as a fine of 500,000 rubles. In addition, the court transferred the scientist’s cottage in Akademgorodok to the ownership of the state.
“The miracle did not happen. I counted on an acquittal, because there is no evidence of my guilt in the criminal case. The defenders prepared materials on 176 pages, where they completely rejected all the arguments of the prosecution. This case is fabricated, prepared to order. It is a pity that the court went on about the beneficiaries of this case,” Alexander Aseev said after the verdict was announced.
According to him, the criminal prosecution is connected with his principled position on preventing the development of the upper zone of Akademgorodok, which since 2014 has been included in the Unified State Register of Cultural Heritage Objects. As previously reported, the protected zone includes more than 1 thousand hectares of land, on which scientific institutes, a botanical garden and residential buildings are located. “You see what is happening to the city – uncontrolled development, and Akademgorodok is a tasty morsel. While I was working, the first thing that was done was the law on the cultural heritage of the upper zone of Akademgorodok. Without me, it would not exist, and I am grateful to everyone who participated in this. While I was chairman, we built 600 cottages for research assistants at cost. If this land went to the business, how much would they lose? This is the basis for making me a criminal, but nothing will come of them,” said Alexander Aseev.
According to him, now he and his lawyers will prepare a complaint against the court decision: “Of course, I will appeal in all instances. I’m determined to go all the way. I worked for 60 years at the SB RAS, my wife for 30 years. Why punish us?”