Alexander Bastrykin picked up the “Northern Pearl”

Andrei Kudrin, chairman of the elite SNT Northern Pearl in the Leningrad region, who also has the status of a lawyer, was arrested in Moscow for embezzlement. This happened after residents of the cottage village complained about the future defendant to the chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, from whom they collected various contributions for the improvement of the territory. However, citizens did not see significant improvements.

The Basmanny District Court of Moscow, having satisfied the petition of the investigator of the Main Investigative Directorate of the ICR, took into custody for two months 52-year-old Andrei Kudrin, chairman of the SNT “Northern Pearl” near Sertolovo in the Leningrad Region. He is suspected of embezzlement committed by a group of persons using their official position on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The investigation believes that the man withdrew money from the contributions of summer residents through affiliated persons to the accounts of a third-party company.

At the moment, we are talking about 20 million rubles, but the activities of the leadership of the partnership are still being studied by law enforcement officers, so it is possible that the amount will increase.

As it became known to “Kommersant”, on Wednesday, June 7, the security forces raided the place of residence of the chairman of the SNT. Several other people were detained along with him, including accountant Natalia Baykova and an acquaintance of Mr. Kudrin, Maria Kozhukhova. The court sent the latter under house arrest, and Andrei Kudrin himself was placed in a pre-trial detention center until August 6. The defense side asked for a milder measure of restraint, but the court refused, agreeing with the position of the investigation that the defendant could escape.

Residents of the cottage settlement, which is considered elite, accused the manager of the partnership of extortion and empty promises regarding the improvement of the territory. Citizens could not achieve a full-fledged investigation of the activities of the leadership of the SNT for five years – criminal cases against Mr. Kudrin were either initiated or closed, until the summer residents finally got an appointment personally with the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin. With his filing, the investigation was resumed by the central apparatus of the TFR.

The case file states that the board of the Northern Pearl collected mandatory targeted contributions from local residents, including a fee in the amount of 755 thousand rubles. for the development of infrastructure, gas supply – from 250 thousand to 450 thousand rubles, as well as for connecting additional power capacities – 5 kW were allocated to one site, and each additional kilowatt cost another 40 thousand rubles. However, as summer residents complain, none of this has really been done.

Another targeted contribution, almost 25 thousand rubles, had to be given for the repair of the access road.

“They promised crushed asphalt, in fact they brought crushed stone of different fractions. Because of this, after six months of operation of this road in the spring, she swam. There were repeated cases of cuts by these protruding stones on the wheels of cars, ”Margarita Bezyazykova, a resident of SNT, told Kommersant.

Citizens also claim that they were left without access to general meetings and thus deprived of the right to participate in the election of board members. In a conversation with Kommersant, SNT lawyer Marat Kruglov explained that he was not aware of any complaints from summer residents, but at the same time confirmed that civil courts were still taking place. “We (in SNT. – Kommersant) have 2 thousand people living – only a few are suing. These are all private disputes,” he said. When asked by Kommersant if there are financial claims among them, the lawyer replied: “Including financial ones.” Mr. Kruglov declined to comment on the criminal case against Andrei Kudrin.

In addition, the investigators are studying the involvement of the chairman of the association himself in the non-payment of fees for more than 40 plots acquired by him. Specific amounts have yet to be established, however, according to various estimates, we are talking about hundreds of millions of rubles.

Andrei Kudrin has already been on the radar of law enforcement in 2020. Then he was detained along with another member of the board of SNT, Vadim Rusyaev, on charges of abuse of power and deliberate destruction of other people’s property for the demolition of the house of a resident of the village of Alexander Tarakanov, as well as fraud with all the same plots and contributions. However, later these criminal cases were closed. After the recent detention of Andrei Kudrin, several residents of the Northern Pearl went to Moscow on purpose and demanded the arrest of the head of the partnership in front of the Basmanny Court.