As it became known to Kommersant, on the second attempt, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow sent into custody the head of the directorate for the construction of communication networks (DSSS – a branch of Russian Railways) Alexei Romanov, accused of abuse of power. Earlier, the same district court, having rejected the corresponding petition of the TFR, limited the defendant to house arrest. The Prosecutor General’s Office, supervising the investigation, has achieved a review of the case.
For the first time, the Basmanny Court considered the petition of the ICR for the arrest of the head of the DSSS on March 17. It followed from it that the Main Investigative Directorate of the ICR detained Aleksey Romanov as part of the investigation of a criminal case on abuse of power (part 3 of article 286 of the Criminal Code) by unidentified persons from among the heads of the directorate. It was initiated on December 30, 2020 in the West Siberian Investigation Department for Transport of the TFR. According to him, Alexei Romanov until recently was listed as a witness.
Everything changed after March 16, with the case of abuse of authority, the materials of the investigation of the embezzlement by the management of PSK Remput LLC of JSC Russian Railways funds for an unspecified amount, but more than 1 million rubles, were combined, which constitutes a serious crime. It was initiated on March 26, 2021 by the Siberian Line Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia on the facts of especially large-scale fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). During his investigation, suspicions arose that Mr. Romanov could be involved in the theft.
According to some information, about 8.2 billion rubles were withdrawn from the Remput company, which has already been declared bankrupt, with the help of Inzhputstroy LLC, affiliated with the company.
Not only the money of the customers of the work, including Russian Railways, was withdrawn, but also the credit funds of large banks. Participation in these schemes of Alexei Romanov, according to the investigation, consisted in the fact that, with his knowledge, advance invoices were unreasonably signed for the above companies for work not completed on time.
Despite the severity of the charges brought against Mr. Romanov, Judge Elena Lenskaya refused to send him to a pre-trial detention center. The “criminal prosecution authorities,” it says in its decision, did not provide sufficient data indicating that Mr. Romanov could threaten witnesses and destroy evidence. In his regard, the judge limited himself to house arrest until May 16.
The representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office, who supported the GSU of the TFR at the meeting, filed an appeal with the Moscow City Court. The defendant’s lawyer also turned there, asking him to choose a preventive measure not related to the restriction of freedom.
The defender referred to the positive characteristics given to Alexei Romanov by both the management of Russian Railways and the trade union committee of the company.
They indicated that the removal of a top manager from work would adversely affect the activities of the entire directorate. Despite all these arguments, the appellate instance canceled the decision of the district court, ordering to consider the application of the Main Investigative Committee of the ICR again.
In a new meeting, the investigation added to the previous petition the suspicion that by staying at home, the head of the Russian Railways Directorate might hide. At the same time, the investigator referred to the FSB certificate attached to the case, from which it followed that Alexei Romanov, shortly before the charges were brought against him, was going to fly abroad.
The accused himself, in particular, said: his integrity is confirmed by the fact that, despite the two-year investigation of the case, he, not being limited in any way by the investigator, did not hide from the latter, appearing on the first call. Suspicions that now he can destroy documents or influence someone, Mr. Romanov called completely groundless, if only because there was plenty of time for this before. The judge did not hear the arguments of the accused – Alexei Romanov was taken into custody in the courtroom.