And a whole life is not enough: How many years will it take ex-governor Nikita Belykh, who has been released, to repay the 47 million debt?

Former governor of the Kirov region Nikita Belykh was released after serving his entire sentence, but never paid a fine of almost 50 million rubles. What options does he have and how many years can this all drag on?

Former governor of the Kirov region Nikita Belykh was released on Friday after serving his entire sentence. The ex-official prepared for this moment in advance – he wrote a letter to journalists in which he asked not to disturb him in the near future. According to him, to take care of his health, loved ones and work with lawyers. Belykh’s lawyers are needed not only because of the ongoing criminal cases against him, but also because of the fine of almost 50 million rubles awarded to him, which he never paid.

Why Nikita Belykh was tried

Let us remind you that the ex-official was detained in a Moscow restaurant on June 24, 2016. He took 150 thousand euros from a businessman Yuri Sudgaimer for patronage of the Novovyatskiy ski plant and the Forestry Management Company. Taken red-handed, the governor stated that the funds received were intended for the needs of Kirov.

Belykh’s appeal, which he addressed to the journalists who met him at the gates of the pre-trial detention center

On February 1, 2018, the Presnensky Court of Moscow issued a verdict under Part 6 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country) (receiving a bribe on an especially large scale). In addition, as an additional punishment, the court imposed a criminal fine for a corruption crime in the amount of 48.2 million rubles.

Why didn’t Belykh pay the fine?

Despite the fact that Nikita Belykh rewinded his sentence from start to finish, the debt has not gone away: during his imprisonment, the former governor still owes a huge amount. Now the FSSP has opened 21 enforcement proceedings against him for a total amount of 47.3 million rubles. Of these, 47 million is the debt for the fine, which includes arrears of expenses and enforcement fees. The remaining 300 thousand are tax collections, utility debts, state duties and enforcement fees.

More than 20 enforcement proceedings amounting to 47 million rubles. Almost all of them are criminal fines for corruption

While serving his sentence in the zone, Nikita Belykh worked as a librarian, a news presenter on the prison radio, and also in a sewing shop, sewing children’s toys. It is known that at that time his prison salary was about seven thousand rubles: in institutions of the Federal Penitentiary Service they usually pay prisoners this way – approximately at the level of the minimum wage.

At the same time, as the inmates themselves say, in reality only pennies reach their pockets: usually all income is spent on various expenses – food, taxes, etc. In the case of Belykh, as the media wrote then, half of his salary went to pay off the fine.

Thus, given that the former governor did not even work for the entire duration of his imprisonment, over eight years he could pay no more than 300 thousand rubles.

Nikita Belykh in the Ryazan penal colony No. 5

What Belykh property was seized by the court?

A year and a half before the verdict was pronounced – in August 2016 – the Basmanny Court of Moscow imposed a security arrest on the Belykhs’ property. The sanctions included a house and a plot in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region, a car, an apartment in Perm, a share in another Perm apartment, and 400 thousand rubles that were in the bank accounts of the former governor were arrested.

His lawyers tried to challenge the decision, but they were only partially successful: the court released the house and land in the Moscow region from arrest, agreeing that at that time they de jure belonged not to Belykh, but to his wife Ella.

The couple officially broke up even before he received the bribe. We are talking about a mansion in the village of Nemchinovka, officially located on seven acres of land. Despite the small plots, real estate here is expensive: the cost of houses in the neighborhood reaches 90 million rubles.

This is what the Belykh wife’s mansion looks like from a satellite. At one time Belykh acquired the land under it in his own name

What do Whites have now?

In Kirov, Belykh occupied an apartment on the street Andrey Upita. Two-room apartment with an area of ​​51.5 square meters. m is located in a new building almost on the outskirts of the city. The same ones in this house are sold here for 4.5–5 million rubles. Perhaps this was official housing.

In Perm, his ex-wife Ella lives in a high-rise building on Gazeta Zvezda Street. There, on the 17th attic floor, there is a 4-room apartment with an area of ​​173 square meters. Housing here is already quite Moscow-style – about 120 thousand rubles per square meter, that is, its market value could be about 20 million. It seems that this is where the Belykhs’ seized share is located.

The ex-governor himself in the regional center, it seems, can own an apartment with an area of ​​74 square meters. m in a Stalin building on the central Komsomolsky Avenue. There are currently no offers in this house, but in the neighboring ones the price per square meter fluctuates between 100-135 thousand rubles. Thus, this apartment can cost up to 10 million rubles.

Belykh took 150 thousand euros from businessman Yuri Sudgaimer for patronage of the Novovyatsky ski plant and the Forestry Management Company

How Belykh will pay 47 million

Considering that Nikita Belykh has not paid the fine during the entire eight years of his sentence, he now has several options.

The first is to get a job and pay off the debt from your salary. According to the court verdict, Belykh was deprived of the right to hold positions in government bodies, municipal bodies and the like for three years after his release, but at the same time the Moscow City Court lifted the restriction on him from holding positions in the field of education.

According to statisticsin 2024, the average salary of a university teacher in Moscow is 159,840 rubles, in college – 147,600, and in school – 127,670. Thus, even if Belykh gets a job as a teacher and gives his entire salary to pay off his debt, a 49-year-old an employee will need to work in higher education for 24.5 years—essentially up to age 74.

If you give only half of your salary to pay it off, Belykh will most likely not have enough life: for example, you will have to work for 50 years at the institute.

The second way is to sell off the property. The third is a declaration of bankruptcy. According to a lawyer from the International Association of Russian-Speaking Lawyers Maxima Kalinovabankruptcy is the worst option.