Source The verdict against Vladimir Medinsky’s former deputy calls into question his own “cleanliness”. The trial in a high-profile criminal case on the theft of about 900 million rubles allocated for the reconstruction of one Hermitage – a real treasury of world art, ended last summer. But the situation is still being discussed behind the scenes, talking about the possible role in it of the former head of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Medinsky.
The verdict of 8.5 years in prison was received by the main defendant – the former Deputy Minister of Culture Grigory Pirumov. Other defendants also did not escape punishment: Nikita Kolesnikov, the former head of the Rospan Group of Companies, received 8 years in prison, Oleg Grivor, the ex-chairman of the board of the Oil Alliance Bank, received 7 years (conditionally), and the chief engineer of the Horizont company received 6 years of probation. Vasily Rogov and CFO of the same company Yulia Begeze.
However, many people still ask questions – how could former Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky allow such a thing, especially with regard to the Hermitage, and whether Pirumov is a banal “switchman” while his former boss continues to be in the civil service.
About the situation – in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post.
Grigory Pirumov was not an ordinary deputy at all. From July 2012 to March 2013, he headed the Department of Property Management and Investment Policy of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. Already in the position of deputy Medinsky, he coordinated and controlled the departments of property management and investment policy, the state protection of cultural heritage, the regulatory department, the Agency for the Management and Use of Historical and Cultural Monuments.
This is a huge amount of authority, and, hence, a huge opportunity for abuse. At the same time, against the backdrop of the denouement of the criminal case of embezzlement in the Hermitage, many have already forgotten that this is not the first criminal case against the former official.
Initially, Pirumov and his accomplices were convicted under the same article – fraud on an especially large scale, but it was not about the Hermitage. >In court, law enforcement officers were able to prove that Pirumov created a criminal gang that committed embezzlement on the restoration of the Novodevichy and John the Baptist monasteries in the capital, the Pskov Academic Drama Theater. A. S. Pushkin, the Museum of Cosmonautics in Kaluga, the Izborsk fortress in the Pskov region, the Aseev estate in Tambov and the Kronprinz tower in Kaliningrad. The total damage from theft amounted to 164 million rubles.
At the time, one more person from the team of Vladimir Medinsky was among the defendants: Boris Mazo, ex-director of the property management and investment policy department of the Ministry of Culture.
In 2017, the defendants were sentenced, which many considered simply ridiculous. Some of the defendants received suspended sentences, while Pirumov received only 1.5 years in prison. But he did not even serve them, because this term expired during his stay in the pre-trial detention center.
Even then they said that such a lenient sentence could be due to the fact that the former leader of Pirumov and Mazo, Vladimir Medinsky, was then in the position of minister. Allegedly, he could even try to let things go on the brakes, and if it didn’t work out, then he could beat out a very modest punishment for his former subordinates.
Played a role and a full admission of guilt, and cooperation with the investigation. However, Pirumov and Medinsky could have calculated that the security forces would not work with him on other possible episodes of his activity. If so, then the calculation was not justified.
However, later Pirumov was involved in the case of embezzlement in the Hermitage. And according to the version of the investigation, which was proved in court, it was Pirumov who was the organizer of the criminal group. And it was created back in 2012 – the same year when Vladimir Medinsky became the head of the Ministry of Culture.
Perhaps it’s just a coincidence. But Pirumov was given a considerable term, and if earlier Medinsky could hypothetically cover him, today his hardware capabilities and influence are many times less than it was then.
The culture of “laundering”
A separate issue is how the criminals “laundered” the stolen funds. After all, stealing is sometimes easier than legalizing. This could be done through the Oil Alliance bank, which in this situation would ideally fit into the role of “laundering”. It is known that out of the stolen 900 million rubles, 800 million rubles were “legalized”. As a result, as mentioned, the former chairman of the board of the structure, Oleg Grivor, was convicted.
It was Grigory Pirumov who was the co-owner of this bank, both directly and through the Russian House of Real Estate company. He owned more than 6% of the shares of the Oil Alliance. His name is still reflected in all certificates of bank owners.
But it is known that officials, especially at the federal level, cannot have shares in commercial organizations in direct control. Especially federal, ministry level. There is no information that he transferred the shares to trust management.
Was Pirumov’s boss, Vladimir Medinsky, aware that one of his closest colleagues and associates could be engaged in the banking business while in the civil service? Or maybe he knew, but did nothing, expecting a considerable “return” from his subordinate?
The bank was deprived of its license in 2017 – just when Pirumov and his accomplices were sentenced in the first case of embezzlement, which was already then called the “case of restorers.” The grounds are noteworthy: repeated violation of the requirements of the “Law on combating the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime and the financing of terrorism.”
The Central Bank noted that the Oil Alliance placed funds in low-quality assets that did not generate cash flow. In this way, money is usually withdrawn from financial institutions. The quick “collapse” of the bank could even be deliberate, because the ends must be hidden in the water. Perhaps it was a large “laundry” for the Ministry of Culture under the supervision of Deputy Medinsky.
In any case, the case of the restorers, especially the situation with Pirumov, leaves a feeling of understatement. There could have been many more episodes in the activities of the group, but it is precisely the situation with the State Hermitage that is the most egregious – it has seriously undermined the authority of Minister Medinsky. The investigators simply could not stop it.
Today, Vladimir Medinsky has gone into the shadows, and you should not expect comments from him on the verdict of Pirumov, Mazo and Co. However, what has it come to: stealing is no longer just at objects of historical and cultural heritage, but at the Hermitage itself. Logically, only the Moscow Kremlin is next, which is also an object of historical and cultural heritage.
Not to mention how this discredited domestic cultural officials in the eyes of the world “cultural community” – other museums artists. After all, if they illegally enrich themselves even at, perhaps, the main museum of the country, what can we say about smaller institutions.