The criminal chronicle of the Irkutsk region of recent years is simply seething with news about the detention of black lumberjacks, smugglers and officials who are taking budget money into their hands. In the Irkutsk pre-trial detention center, there are full cells of accountants, economists, directors and office workers who have been smuggling strategic resources for a long time, fraudulently with VAT, or simply helped to embezzle the federal budget in the forestry sector.
But in this material we will tell you about the largest forest smuggler and swindler, whose name is forbidden to be mentioned in any procedural documents of the investigative committee, in the affairs of the operational records of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB. His last name is at best referred to as “an unidentified person from among the leaders” or as an accidental witness. However, the name of the forest Escobar is quite well known to all the small dealers in the black market of timber and the so-called “cashers”. Today we will talk about the gray cardinal of the shadow market of timber Sergei Belousov and his patrons, the security forces.
We decided not to waste readers’ time on retelling insider rumors about Belousov’s activities with half-hints “I guess” or “most likely.” Let’s start the story about Belousov and the accomplices of his criminal activity by presenting the text of the judicial act and several materials from the investigating authorities.
So, the story of one robbery of the federal budget began in correctional colony No. 15 of the GUFSIN in the Irkutsk region in 2015, when it was headed by the now arrested for fraud and taking a bribe Andrey Vereshchak. This whole story would have gone completely unnoticed by the curator of the colony from the FSB in the Irkutsk region, the prosecutor’s office for the supervision of correctional institutions, the anti-corruption departments of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Irkutsk region, if it were not for the vigilance of the inspection of the Federal Tax Service for the city of Angarsk. The inspectors of this body, understanding the issues of tax evasion by the correctional institution, came to the largest corruption scam.
Vereshchak, Siberia and the state contract
On February 13, 2018, the decision of the Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service for the city of Angarsk, Irkutsk Region No. 12-47-16 was born on bringing FKU IK-15 of the GUFSIN of Russia in the Irkutsk Region to liability for committing a tax offense on additional charges to the colony of a variety of taxes, penalties and fines in the amount of about 7 million rubles.
A thief and a bribe taker, who was then the head of IK-15 Andrei Vereshchak in 2018 knew how to be friends. He had very close relations with law enforcement agencies, therefore he very quickly agreed that the decision of the tax inspectorate in the department for the investigation of tax crimes of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Irkutsk region and in the regional TFR in the Irkutsk region was read with closed eyes. That is, the law enforcement agencies, as it were, should have a weak reaction to the damage to the colony of 7 million, in the form of additional taxes. But where these taxes came from and what Vereshchak did, getting on these taxes, the regional TFR and the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs should not have found out.
Probably, Vereshchak generously thanked the high chiefs of law enforcement agencies for such a service. Usually, when such egregious facts are revealed, criminal cases are immediately initiated with long terms for the defendants.
But in this case, Vereshchak’s tricks with budget money, discovered and described in detail in the decision of the tax authority, went unnoticed. On October 5, 2018, the senior investigator of the 4th department of the regional Investigative Committee of the ICR, Shalbaeva, issued a decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case.
There it is very ornately explained that Vereshchak did not commit tax crimes, but Shalbaeva modestly kept silent about other crimes in the form of forest smuggling fraud.
However, it was not enough for Vereshchak and his accomplices to stay with the money and be free, they decided to punish the tax inspectorate of the city of Angarsk in court and recapture all the taxes with fines accrued by the colony.
The decision of the tax inspectorate was appealed in court. And this trial was miserably lost.
And now we read the decision of the Arbitration Court of the Irkutsk Region dated May 28, 2019 in case No. A19-17724 / 2018, verified by all instances, including the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. There, on 54 sheets, all the facts of the fraudulent actions of the Vereshchak group and his accomplices in the execution of a state contract were evaluated and verified.
So. On May 25, 2015, Andrey Vereshchak, the head of IK-15, concludes a state contract No. 0334100006315000088_202989 with a certain Sibir LLC, which acts as a contractor under this contract. The amount of this contract is 64,102,500 rubles. It includes expenses for the provision of services, the use and maintenance of the necessary equipment (chainsaws, tractors, timber trucks, etc.), as well as fuel, lubricants and other consumables, expenses associated with the operation of vehicles and equipment, insurance, security , wages of the contractor’s employees, all taxes, fees and other related expenses payable (clause 3.1. of the contract).
And now let’s see what kind of enterprise “Siberia” is, which undertakes the execution of such complex works that are beyond the strength of the colony. And so the tax inspectorate found out that Siberia LLC is a company of one single employee – its director Sidorova E.A., who lives in a one-room apartment on Mira Street in Irkutsk, where the company is registered. This “ooshka” has no property, equipment and specialists.
From the protocol of interrogation of the happy owner of 64 million Madame Sidorova E.V. It follows that the witness did not exercise control over the progress of work under the contract dated May 25, 2015, concluded with the institution, since she does not know who specifically performed the work specified in the contract. Among other things, Sidorova E.V. said that her company worked only under a state contract dated May 25, 2015. Never worked anywhere else. Who and under what circumstances offered to participate in the tender explained that she received a call from the Department of the GUFSINA and was offered to participate.
That is, Sidorova, who lives in a one-room apartment, received a call from the GUFSIN and offered to receive almost 65 million budget money into her company’s account. The representatives of the customer themselves also could not explain in court where this Sidorova came from.
As soon as “Siberia” received the state contract, it was transferred the next day under subcontracting agreements by a certain LLC “Lime” and LLC “Lesstroylogistics”. The total cost of work under the contracts amounted to 63,778,750 rubles. But in court it turned out, from a comparative analysis of subcontracts concluded by Sibir LLC with Lesstroylogistika LLC and Lime LLC, that these contracts were concluded for the performance of the same work.
That is, these contracts were as fictitious as the state contract with Sidorova itself. He was imprisoned to stupidly steal budget money. But what does Sergei Belousov have to do with it, we will tell further.
Schematic Organizer
Vereshchak alone was unable to develop and crank out the entire scheme for the development of federal money in such an amount. That is why the short-sighted prison warden Vereshchak offered his services in implementing the scheme for appropriation of budget funds by an experienced swindler Sergei Belousov. It was he who provided front companies, fake entrepreneurs and fictitious documents for a successful robbery of the federal budget.
As the Arbitration Court of the Irkutsk Region pointed out: “FKU IK-15 of the GUFSIN of Russia for the Irkutsk Region was a participant in the concerted actions of a group of individuals and organizations (Vereshchak A.G., Dolgikh A.S., Sidorova E.V., IP Ivanova, OOO Lime ”, LLC “Siberia”), aimed at obtaining unreasonable tax benefits and leading to budget losses in the form of lost taxes: VAT and corporate income tax, as well as lost profits of the Federal State Institution due to the low sale price of timber products.
That is, they not only stole money from the state, but also gave away the cut wood for nothing. But we understand that if the budget lost money, then someone found it and appropriated it.
At the court session of the Arbitration Court, the entire chain of withdrawal of budget funds through Belousov’s “pockets” was established. The court pointed out: “It has been established that FKU IK-15 of the GUFSIN of Russia transferred 64,102,500.00 rubles to Sibir LLC for the performance of work under the state contract, Siberia LLC, in turn, transfers Lime LLC 51,529,512.48 rubles, LLC Lime transfers 14,000,000.00 rubles to Sole Proprietor Ivanov (last name has been changed), the final contractor in this scheme for performing work and services under a government contract. wherein, interrogated at the hearing head Ltd. Laim» Dolgikh A.C. confirmed that Lime LLC did not perform work under the state contract, but only acquired timber.
The corresponding contract was concluded with IP Ivanov. Thus, the amount of 37,529,512.48 rubles of budget funds was not actually used for its intended purpose. No evidence to the contrary has been presented to the court.” The tax authorities were only able to identify the signatories of the entire chain of appropriation of budget money, and by the way, those who cashed this money and probably brought it to Belousov’s table in sports bags.
Forest smugglers
Only one criminal case was investigated for members of the Belousov group. Investigator of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Olga Shilova Belousov’s patrons did not allow revealing the whole scheme of timber smuggling. In this case, Alexander Sergeevich Dolgikh was sentenced to a suspended sentence in December last year by the Balagansky District Court and only under the article for illegal logging. Interestingly, the district prosecutor filed an appeal against a too lenient sentence, but soon the appeal was withdrawn on a call from the deputy prosecutor of the Irkutsk region.
According to the chief accountant of Lime LLC Bushmakina, in 2014-2015 alone, Belousov-controlled enterprises illegally harvested, that is, stolen, 700 thousand cubic meters of round wood from the lease of forest land of the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service in the Irkutsk Region. The relationship between Belousov and the Federal Penitentiary Service was “regulated” by an employee of IK-15 Anenko Dmitry, who was directly subordinate to the former head of IK-15 Andrey Vereshchak.
Belousova controlled and maintained all the “black” accounting of enterprises Natalya Borisovna Davidenko. Davidenko transferred the budget money from Sibir LLC to Lesstroylogistika LLC under a fictitious subcontracting agreement, and then the money was sent to Fart LLC for cashing out. At the same time, from the total amount of funds received in 2015 to the account of Fart LLC in the amount of 29,904,476.00 rubles. cash in the amount of 25,481,000.00 rubles. (85%) were transferred to the cards of individuals, i.e. cashed out.
The money stolen from the budget was similarly distilled from Belousov-controlled Lime LLC and Igirma LLC by a certain IP Krivosheina O.M. ostensibly for the performance of a contract. And then the funds received from Igirma LLC in the amount of 9,726,000.00 rubles (86% of the funds received) were cashed out by IE Krivosheina O.M. through ATMs.
But the court did not name the main beneficiary of the entire chain of development of budgetary funds, which is Sergey Belousov, to whom all members of his community were subordinate and from whom they received their share of shadow income. We can assume that it was Belousov who created a criminal community with an extensive system of embezzlement of budget funds, illegal logging of forest plantations and subsequent smuggling of strategic raw materials to China.
On the trail of smuggling
Relations with customs at Belousov’s enterprises were handled by a former employee of the Usolsky customs post, and now the commercial director of Lime LLC Maklakova Svetlana Borisovna (Davidenko N.B.’s sister). She dealt with issues related to timber smuggling to China. Through the Usolsky customs post, two or three times, the same documents on the origin of the timber for export were “chased away”.
This division of Belousov’s criminal community just provided him with maximum enrichment through the export of stolen timber abroad.
What did the tax authorities establish in this part? We read further the court’s decision: “At the same time, according to state contracts dated 03.20.2015 No. 54v, 55v, 56v, 57v, which FKU IK-15 of the GUFSIN of Russia in the Irkutsk region fulfilled, which is confirmed by the issuance of the relevant invoices and payment for the services rendered to the FKU IK-15 of the GUFSIN of Russia in the Irkutsk region, on 06/10/2015, felling (cutting) of the forest in the amount of 72,000 m3 was completed.
Therefore, at least 10 days before the start of felling (cutting), the end of which was registered on 06/10/2015, all forest declarations were issued for the allowable volume of wood removal in 2015 – 50,000 m3 …. At the same time, FKU IK-15 of the GUFSIN of Russia in the Irkutsk Region sold round timber in the amount of 50,000 m3 to Sibir LLC under a sales contract dated 02.03.2015 No. 15/2/1-89 at a price of 1,487.05 rubles per m3 for a total amount of 74,352,500 rubles, incl. VAT in the amount of 11,341,907 rubles. The address of the location of the timber being sold indicates the addresses of the forest plots, the forest user of which is FKU IK-14 of the GUFSIN of Russia in the Irkutsk region, similar to the addresses indicated in the state contract dated May 25, 2015.
That is, from the Belousov colonies, through Madam Sidorova’s “oshka”, he received and bought only documents for the export of timber, and illegally harvested timber, which allegedly was legally acquired in the forest plots of the Federal Penitentiary Service, went abroad. And now let’s pay attention to the price of 1,487 rubles per cubic meter of coniferous forest. The average export price of roundwood in 2015 was about 8,000 rubles per cubic meter. Good business?
So we see that Belousov took the timber at a price that was 5 times lower and he was also paid extra for it under fictitious government contracts that no one executed, and the money was cashed out through garbage companies and flowed into Belousov’s pockets.
And by the way, the decision of the court also states in detail about the timber smuggling scheme: “From the information contained in the Unified State Automated Information System for Accounting for Timber and Transactions with It (EGAIS), a reflection of the sale of round timber FKU IK-15 of the GUFSIN of Russia in the Irkutsk region was established to the address LLC Sibir, LLC Sibir reflects the sale of roundwood to LLC Lime.
This information is confirmed by the sales book of Sibir LLC for 2015, which reflects the sale to Lime LLC in the amount of 75,102,500 rubles, incl. VAT in the amount of 11,456,313 rubles.
Lime LLC is an exporter of roundwood. The average export price of roundwood in 2015 was about 8,000 rubles per m3.
At the same time, the contract for the felling (cutting) of this forest was concluded by FKU IK-15 of the GUFSIN of Russia for the Irkutsk region with the FKU IK-14 of the GUFSIN of Russia for the Irkutsk region on March 20, 2015, an agreement for the purchase of this felled unprocessed wood of the FKU IK-15 of the GUFSIN of Russia for the Irkutsk region FKU IK-14 of the GUFSIN of Russia for the Irkutsk region was concluded on 03/23/2015.
Consequently, FKU IK-15 of the GUFSIN of Russia for the Irkutsk Region concluded an agreement with Siberia LLC on March 2, 2015 for the sale of timber that did not belong to the institution at the time of the conclusion of the agreement.
And how, one wonders, did the employees of the Usolsky customs post pass wood according to such documents? It was for this that Maklakova was sitting at Belousov, who closely and fruitfully “worked” with customs.
Well, in general, what does Belousov have to do with it? Even if he is related to all these firms, and even if his employees bought stolen timber and sent it to China. He couldn’t have guessed anything like that.
Let’s turn to the testimony of one of the participants in the criminal scheme, IP Ivanov (last name has been changed), which he gave on April 6, 2021 to the operative of the OSB GUFSIN in the Irkutsk region: “I have been issued an IP since 2011. But I did not carry out any activity. I exported timber for Lime LLC, which belongs to Belousov. I did not carry out any work on the construction of roads and the repair of bridges. I gave false explanations to the investigator Shalbaeva at the request of Belousov, who asked to help Vereshchak avoid punishment.”
That is, the owner of the scheme not only supervised the withdrawal of budget money to enterprises controlled by him, but also helped to falsify evidence of his crimes.
A lot remains to be said about Belousov’s shadow activities, but, probably, after reading this publication by the staff of the Prosecutor General’s Office, as well as the central apparatus of the ICR and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, our hero will already be arrested and will join his accomplice Andrey Vereshchak in SIZO-1 in Irkutsk.
What should the rest of the participants in this criminal scheme do now – Maklakova, Davidenko, Dolgikh, Bushmakina, who signed fictitious documents, prepared forged contracts, cashed money stolen from the budget through their bank cards? What should the former FSB officer Valery Varennikov do, who, while still in the service in the authorities, agreed to accept an apartment from Belousov for 12 million rubles. And now Varennikov serves with Belousov and is responsible for his safety from law enforcement agencies.
As point 2 of the note to article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Organization of a criminal community”) tells us, a member of such a community who voluntarily ceased participation in it and actively contributed to the disclosure or suppression of the activities of a criminal community (criminal organization) is exempted from criminal liability if in his actions does not contain any other crime.
Therefore, we strongly recommend that employees of Belousov’s structures already now, without waiting for the arrest and search, voluntarily submit a statement of surrender to any police department and state there all aspects of their participation in these structures.
