As it became known to Kommersant, the process in the so-called prosecutor’s case was completed in Moscow. One of the defendants, former First Deputy Prosecutor of Bashkiria (in 2009-2018) Oleg Gorbunov, who is on trial for taking bribes on a large and especially large scale, the state prosecutor asked to be sentenced to 19 years and pay 80 million rubles. fine. Mr. Gorbunov himself, according to Kommersant’s information, does not admit guilt.
In the Babushkinsky District Court of Moscow, the debate of the parties in a criminal case, the defendants of which are former high-ranking employees of the prosecutor’s office of Bashkiria, has ended. Among them are former First Deputy Prosecutor of the Republic Oleg Gorbunov, Prosecutor of the Sovetsky District of Ufa Ramil Garifullin, Deputy Head of the Department for Supervision of Criminal Procedural and Investigative Activities—Head of the Department for Supervision of Procedural Activities in the Bodies of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic Artur Sharetdinov, and also lawyer Rashid Safeev, businessman Feim Mukhitov and entrepreneur-lawyer, former deputy of the city council of Ufa Vadim Ramazanov.
Depending on the role of each of them, they are accused by the TFR of taking bribes (Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), mediation in bribery (Article 291.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and abuse of power (Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
During the debate, the state prosecutor asked to sentence most of the defendants to real terms. In his opinion, Mr. Gorbunov should be sent to a colony for 19 years and ordered to pay 80 million rubles. a fine, Mr. Garifullin – for 18 years and a fine of 80 million rubles., Mr. Sharetdinov to appoint 9 years and 24 million rubles. a fine, and Mr. Safeev – 9 years and oblige to pay 15 million rubles. The state prosecutor proposed to entrepreneurs Feim Mukhitov and Vadim Ramazanov to assign suspended sentences of 5 and 7 years, respectively, and 40 million rubles each. fines, since both, as Kommersant reported, cooperated with the investigation. At the same time, it should be noted that terms of 18–19 years are rarely required for alleged corrupt officials – they are not always appointed even for murders.
The criminal case was initiated by the Main Investigative Directorate of the ICR in September 2018. According to investigators, the first deputy prosecutor of Bashkiria Oleg Gorbunov, in particular, in 2017 for a bribe of 10 million rubles. Deputy Mayor of Ufa Alexander Filippov canceled the decision to initiate a criminal case against the official. Mr. Filippov, as Kommersant reported, was accused of exceeding his official powers (Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) in the implementation of the program for the resettlement of dilapidated housing (he was acquitted in 2020). The investigation considered Oleg Gorbunov’s alleged accomplice Artur Sharetdinov to be his colleague. It followed from the materials of the court that entrepreneur Feim Mukhitov gave evidence against Mr. Gorbunov. He said that he had given the prosecutor a bribe from Alexander Filippov.
The prosecutor of the Sovetsky district of Ufa, Ramil Garifullin, the investigation, in turn, suspected of receiving 5.5 million rubles. bribes from an intermediary Vadim Ramazanov. Messrs. Safeev and Mukhitov were also accused by the investigation of mediation in the transfer of bribes.
Oleg Gorbunov was one of the last to be detained. This happened, as reported by the investigation, when he tried to fly to Germany from Sheremetyevo Airport.
The criminal cases were merged into one proceeding. None of the accused prosecutors pleaded guilty during the investigation.
The criminal case was transferred in 2021 to the Babushkinsky District Court of Moscow for impartial consideration. In the same year, one of the defendants, Ramil Garifullin, complained to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation about the state prosecutor, who refused to consider his statement about the alleged falsification of the materials of the criminal case during the trial. However, no violations were found. The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow, like the Moscow City Court, left the accused’s complaint unsatisfied.
The informed interlocutor told Kommersant that Oleg Gorbunov has not pleaded guilty so far. According to him, he insists that he did not receive any bribes.
The verdict in the criminal case is expected to be announced on May 30.