Lie low in Aqua City: who is Plenipotentiary Trutnev covering up in the case of 100 million?

The ex-governor of Sakhalin Oleg Kozhemyako and the current prime minister of the region Alexei Belik could have been involved in the scandal with the commissioning of the water sports complex in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

According to the correspondent The Moscow Post in the Sakhalin region, Aleksey Uspensky was nevertheless removed from the post of Minister of Economic Development against the background of the transfer of his criminal case to court. The ex-official is accused of criminal negligence.

According to investigators, in 2018 he signed the act of acceptance and transfer of the Aqua City water sports complex, although it was not suitable for operation. The budget of the Sakhalin Region suffered damage in the amount of more than 96 million rubles in this way. Wrote about it The Moscow Post.

On Sakhalin, many do not doubt that Ouspensky could have been involved in that unhealthy situation, but they perceive him, rather, as a scapegoat. The reason is simple: the work was carried out under the former governor Oleg Kozhemyako (the current governor of Primorsky Krai), who could not help but be aware of the situation. But formally, he remained outside the investigation.

In addition, the work was accepted by a special commission, where the old-timers of Sakhalin politics, including those appointed by Mr. Kozhemyako himself, sat. The work as a whole should have been endorsed by the current head of the Sakhalin government, Alexei Belik, because Uspensky is his subordinate. There was no information about a possible interrogation of Belik yet – he calmly works in his place.

Other possible participants in the scandalous situation remain in the shadows. One way or another, entrepreneurs Konstantin Reznitsky and Igor Koptelov took part in it. The family of the local oligarch Roman Alperovich is directly related to the management company of the long-suffering complex. Surprisingly, law enforcement officers have not yet had any complaints against them either.

Nor was the new governor Limarenko able to show them anything, apparently reacting to this scandal on the principle “Not my problem, deal with it yourself.” At the same time, we note that he left the head of government Alexei Belik, who was the chairman of the commission for the acceptance of the water sports complex, in his post. The document bears his signature. What does it mean?

However, it’s no secret that locals call Belik a “signer” behind his back – supposedly he is only a conductor of the governor’s will. To mention him means to look away both Kozhemyako and Limarenko.

“Regnum” wrote how, back in 2018, Belik (it’s not clear on whose initiative) personally approved the reduction of the housing improvement program for large families. The decision is clearly dubious and unpopular – unless you have full support in the regional administration.

Cover from the Far Eastern Federal District

At the same time, Aleksey Belik is not even called the man of Kozhemyako or Limarenko, but the man of the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev. From 2015 to 2016, he served as the Head of Housing Projects and Social Infrastructure Projects at ANO Human Capital Development Agency in the Far East (ANO ARCHK Dvia) in Moscow. This department is supervised by Yuri Trutnev, like many other Far Eastern institutions.

Trutnev also oversaw the ANO “Agency of the Far East for attracting investments and supporting exports” (ANO API), where his protégé Leonid Petukhov met. Among other things, Petukhov was noted for his brisk work in post-Maidan Ukraine, and only then, upon his return to Russia, he was appointed head of the ANO API. The Moscow Post talked about it too.

Petukhov was “guided” to the point that in September 2020 security officials came to the ANO API with a search. ANO distributed funds with support from the budget for investment projects in the region. As a result, even the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, had to reassure the public, assuring that the searches would not slow down the implementation of programs for the development of the Far East. Wrote about it “News”.

But for Petukhov, this did not end in anything bad. He safely resigned, and then was “warmed up” in the position of top manager of AFK “Sistema” Vladimir Yevtushenkov. The ANO itself was abruptly abolished.

So far, the reasons for the search conducted there are not disclosed. But there is talk that Trutnev “covered up his man”, and at the same time got him a new job.

Alexey Belik

If this is so, and Alexei Belik is really Trutnev’s man, why be surprised that there are no questions to the head of the government of Sakhalin about Aqua City? Coincidence or not, but today ANO “ARCHK Dvia”, where Belik worked, also located in the stage of liquidation – and this in the presence of assets of more than 100 million rubles!

When Mr. Belik worked at ANO “ARCHK Dvia”, Valentin Timakov was the director there. He “retired” from the ANO in 2018, later Belik. Immediately moved to the position of Director of the Human Resources Department of UniCredit Bank JSC. Perhaps, earlier ANO through Timakov, and even Belik, were connected by some informal relations?

Support team

It is logical to assume that Trutnev can cover Belik. But the current chairman of the government of Sakhalin is not only one of those who signed the certificate of acceptance of the complex.

Belik is a member of the Board of Directors of the Sakhalin Region Development Corporation. Like other signatories of the commission, they must be familiar with each other. Other “signatories” work in the same council – Vladimir Sidorenko and Anton Zaitsev.

The authorities of the region are not embarrassed that back in 2017, a criminal case was initiated against Vladimir Sidorenko. He was suspected of taking a bribe in the amount of 3 million rubles, but the official “showed active remorse” and the charges against him were dropped. Wrote about it “Sakhalin.info”.

Let us clarify for ordinary readers: active repentance does not imply the absence of corpus delicti in the actions of the defendant. It involves active assistance to the investigation and a detailed description of the actions of all those who may be involved in the violation of the law – of course, with the prospect of exemption from criminal liability.

Apparently, that’s what happened. Sidorenko remained in power, at the same time getting the opportunity to spoil the lives of his former colleagues. And then he turned into an expert in the acceptance of an unfinished water sports complex. For some reason, the locals also consider him guilty of the failure of the garbage reform in SO.

Serious questions could arise to Anton Zaitsev. Initially, he was the Minister of Sports, Oleg Kozhemyako invited him to the team. Now Zaitsev is already deputy chairman, he works hand in hand with Belik. Since Aqua City is a sports facility, it was Zaitsev who oversaw its construction. But he also remained “out of work” (in the sense of criminal cases).

By the way, earlier one of Zaitsev’s subordinates, the ex-director of the Sakhalin Center for Technical Sports (TsTVS) Dmitry Tretyakov also became a defendant in a criminal case under the article “Negligence”. Writes about it “Sakhalin.info”. The institution headed by him purchased hangars for the WorldSkills finals for 10 million rubles more than it could have. However, it was later – in 2019.

Businessmen out of business

But they are officials. And what about the business, which was supposed to have a large gesheft from the construction of “Aqua City”? The complex was erected by LLC “City Management Company” of businessmen Konstantin Reznitsky and Igor Koptelov. The company was created just two years before the project. Among its state orders, there is practically only one of these projects. The amount is 3.2 billion rubles, the funds were received from the Ministry of Economic Development of the Sakhalin Region.

And almost immediately after this project, in 2019, the company was liquidated. But here’s the bad luck – at the end of 2019, a hole of 368 million rubles was discovered in its assets. Even before that, Igor Koptelov left the list of owners, only Konstantin Reznitsky remained such.

But they still had another common business, no less dubious – OOO “Brilliant”. At the end of 2020, the company showed the value of assets in the amount of minus 122 million rubles. And this is with a revenue of 795 million, a profit of 19 million rubles! There are also government contracts. But it is interesting that the shares of both businessmen are pledged to VTB Bank, that is, their “plans” are served by a structure with state participation. Are they going to repay their debts, and are they still in Russia?..

Igor Koptelov is a “serial businessman” at all – he turned out to be the founder of more than 30 companies, many of which have signs of fictitiousness. And they also have multi-million dollar government contracts. For example, Koptelov, a manufacturer of plastic products, Master Bill Sakhalin, found state contracts for almost 15 million rubles, but there was not a single employee in the state. The authorized capital of the company is 10 thousand rubles. And such a counterparty did not cause questions from officials Kozhemyako and Limarenko?

Another dark horse in the history of Aqua City is businessman Roman Alperovich, who was called the beneficiary of the management company – JSC Kinomir, which served the facility. The company’s tasks were precisely the commissioning of an area with attractions, but things are still there.

Beneficiary or not, Alperovich is still the director of this firm. And here’s the bad luck, after 2018 (that is, already at the end of 2019) the structure gone minus the value of assets by 77 million rubles. Is this a coincidence, or is this the fashion of those who were related to the water sports complex? ..

Alperovich is the general director of the design and construction company Sakhalin-Engineering and an ex-deputy of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Duma. And he, Alperovich, as well as some other above-mentioned heroes of this publication, was involved in a criminal case (as a witness) about bribery of the former head of the region Alexander Khoroshavin. He wrote about that high-profile case “Kommersant”.

In 2014, Alperovich participated in the election campaign of deputies of the City Duma of the 5th convocation. Then he became a deputy in constituency No. 7. But it turned out that he did not really want to participate in the elections and agreed only to protect his business. The witness told the court that Andrey Lobkin, the ex-mayor of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, suggested that he go to the fifth convocation in an “ultimatum form”. The latter was allegedly supported by Khoroshavin, and Alperovich could be asked to sponsor Lobkin’s election campaign.

These are far from all the skeletons in the cabinets that we managed to find from people who had something to do with the construction of the long-suffering center. An assessment of such things should be given by the investigation and the court.

It is hard to believe that only Aleksei Uspensky can be to blame for what happened. So maybe law enforcement officers should “dig” more? …