Another top manager of “Gazprom” in the near future will go to trial. This time it is Vyacheslav Kim, deputy head of Gazprom dobycha Nadym, who is accused of attempted fraud and attempted embezzlement of funds allocated for the capital construction of the company’s industrial facilities.

According to investigators, Mr. Kim, who is in charge of capital construction at Gazprom’s subsidiary, signed certificates of acceptance of work that was not actually completed, and then, in order to hide this fact, began to “put pressure” on one of the subcontractors, demanding, as they say investigators, “purchase construction materials worth more than 9 million rubles for the needs of other commercial organizations performing construction work at the facility.”

Interestingly, after a criminal case initiated a year ago, Kim was elected the mildest measure of restraint, not related to deprivation of liberty – “a ban on certain actions.” The leadership of Gazprom did not remove him from his post, but exactly a month after the initiation of a criminal case, the head of Nadym, Dmitry Zharomskikh, awarded Vyacheslav Kim “for many years of conscientious work and personal contribution to the socio-economic and cultural development of the region.” At the same time, the investigation admits that Vyacheslav Kim actively interfered with the investigation, put pressure on witnesses, most of whom were his subordinates, but was never sent to jail. As an opposite example, one can cite the case of the Minister of Transport of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Konstantin Dimitrov, who is suspected of embezzling funds allocated for the construction of the local subway. While under house arrest, he entered into correspondence with another defendant in this case, Yuri Lapshin, and was immediately placed in a pre-trial detention center. Apparently, the top managers of Gazprom are allowed more than others – after all, a respected and solid company …

However, sometimes it happens differently: the money-grubbing of thieving top managers amazes Themis so much that the term that the judge appoints turns out to be more than the prosecution requires. So, on June 22, 2022, Vyacheslav Yugai, Director of Gazprom Transgaz Nizhny Novgorod, was sentenced to 13 years in a strict regime colony with a fine of 200 million rubles. At the same time, the prosecutor asked for only 12 years for him … Such a harsh sentence was passed for a whole “bouquet” of corruption crimes. Here and bribes, and fictitious employment of the spouse, and pressure on subordinates, through which he demanded kickbacks from contractors, without disdaining anything. In addition to money, iPhones, household appliances, TVs, a motorcycle, and even a font for a personal sauna were used. The accused himself did not confess to his deed: they say, his subordinates slandered him. His Moscow apartment, as well as the money and valuables confiscated during the searches, were turned into state revenue. The management of Gazprom did not comment on the situation.

Another high-profile case against a top manager of Gazprom is being considered in Ufa – here, ex-deputy Kurultai and former head of Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat, Airat Karimov, are being tried on charges of major fraud.

According to investigators, this top manager of Gazprom managed to steal an entire children’s camp: he was arrested in April of this year on suspicion of committing a major fraudulent transaction. Allegedly, a Gazprom top manager illegally privatized the White Deer recreation center, which previously belonged to the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat company he heads.

Interestingly, two weeks before Karimov’s arrest, a criminal case was initiated against the mayor of Salavat, Igor Mironov, who, before becoming the head of the city, also worked in senior positions in Gazprom structures: until 2014, he held various positions: from leading specialist to head management, and in 2015 was appointed Deputy General Director for Production and Technology at Gazpromneft-Bitumennye Materialy. In 2016, Mironov is already the General Director of Gazpromneft-Bitumen Kazakhstan LLP, and from 2017 to 2019, he manages programs for operational projects at the SUOD Development Center of Gazprom Neft PJSC. After that, Igor Mironov briefly held the post of First Deputy Minister of Industry and Energy of Bashkiria, and in May 2020 he was “put in” as the mayor of Salavat.

Interestingly, at the end of 2022, Airat Karimov acquired 25% of the capital in Salavat Automation System Technologies LLC (AST), the very company to which Mironov, according to investigators, illegally transferred the power grids of the city of Salavat. Having taken local electric networks worth about 4 billion rubles into a concession for 50 years, the company, co-owned by Karimov, became a monopolist, providing profit for the ex-top manager of Gazprom and his family for half a century in advance for only 3.3 million rubles a year .

But after the investigating authorities stopped this corruption scheme, Karimov, already under investigation, left the founders of ASK LLC. It seems that the investigation will be looking into the corruption networks of Salavatov’s henchmen of Gazprom for a long time to come.

One gets the impression that corruption metastases have penetrated most of Gazprom’s structures. In March of this year, Alexander Sergienko, Director General of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Belgorod, was detained for taking a bribe.

Since last year, Kuban top managers of Gazprom have been “languishing” in the pre-trial detention center awaiting trial.

Alexey Rudnev – General Director of Gazprom Gas Distribution Krasnodar and Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Krasnodar, his deputy Alexander Sevostyanov, as well as deputy directors of the company’s branches in Sochi, Gelendzhik, Anapa and Krasnodar – Alexei Petrov *, Oleg Butkevich, Stanislav Bariev and Konstantin Lyuty . The number of defendants allows us to make an assumption that a well-organized group was operating in the Kuban. According to the investigators, the managers launched an illegal collection of funds for connecting residential and commercial real estate to gas networks, as well as for coordinating acts of commissioning gas distribution networks in the Krasnodar Territory.

The press service of Gazprom Gas Distribution Krasnodar refuses to comment on this situation in any way. As, however, in all other cases of arrests and detentions of top managers of Gazprom.

Alexey Miller and his team, who are entrusted with managing one of the main national wealth of Russia, continue to pretend that everything is fine with them.