The Sovetsky District Court sentenced Vadim Vlasov, former Minister of Transport and Highways of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, to four years in prison for abuse of office. The ex-director of the Main Directorate of Highways (GUAD) Denis Tsvetkov, who testified against him, received a suspended sentence. The court ruled that at the road maintenance auction organized by GUAD, some participants were weeded out in favor of others under the pretext of allegedly unreliable bank guarantees. Vadim Vlasov pleaded not guilty and stated that Denis Tsvetkov slandered him in order to receive a more lenient punishment. The defense of the former minister intends to appeal against the decision of the court.
On Tuesday, the Sovetsky District Court announced the operative part of the verdict to the former Minister of Transport of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Vadim Vlasov and the ex-director of the state institution “Main Directorate of Highways” (GUAD) Denis Tsvetkov.
The ex-minister was accused of three episodes of abuse of office, and his accomplice was charged with complicity in these crimes. According to the plot of the criminal case, from October to December 2018, the defendants prevented the conclusion of state contracts for the maintenance of roads (cleaning and minor repairs) with some contractors. According to the materials of the investigation, Minister Vadim Vlasov controlled the distribution of contracts and gave Denis Tsvetkov illegal instructions to refuse to conclude state contracts with Dorozhnik LLC, Knyagininskaya DSK and Davis, entrepreneur Ivan Semov. The companies owned by the entrepreneur previously won electronic auctions for the maintenance of roads in the Pilninsky, Sergachsky, Sechenovsky, Kstovsky, Knyagininsky, Krasnooktyabrsky, Pochinkovsky, Bolsheboldinsky and Vachsky districts, but did not conclude contracts with them.
According to investigators, the Minister of Transport acted in the interests of entrepreneur Alexander Vasin and his companies, which compete with those of Ivan Semov.
The accused Denis Tsvetkov testified against Vadim Vlasov, according to him, the minister asked him to persuade Ivan Semov not to participate in the auctions. When that didn’t work, GUAD prepared denials for the winning companies, citing allegedly false bank guarantees they had provided.
According to Mr. Averbakh, a representative of the injured entrepreneur Alexander Semov, within ten days, which is given for signing the contract, the organizer of the auction drew up a protocol stating that the guarantee issued by NBD-Bank does not meet the requirements of the law. “This pretext was far-fetched: before, bank guarantees were accepted,” Mr. Averbakh emphasized. The reasons for refusing to conclude contracts, GUAD employees called the absence of fines and penalties and obligations to third parties in bank guarantees. “However, the bank guarantee in any case covered the fines, and obligations to third parties can be recovered by way of recourse – this also does not harm the budget,” the lawyer specified.
He added that some companies that were refused to conclude an agreement after winning the auction have been operating on the market since Soviet times and were surprised by such decisions by GUAD.
In addition, according to investigators, Denis Tsvetkov, at the request of Vadim Vlasov, persuaded other competitors of the businessman – Spartak S LLC and Vachskoe DRSU – to become subcontractors of Alexander Vasin’s Kvartsit-NN LLC, which had no base and road equipment in the area service. The prosecution also argued that front organizations participated in the auctions. According to the state prosecutor, by his actions Vadim Vlasov damaged the authority of the Ministry of Transport and “created an opinion about the incompetence, impunity and permissiveness of the actions of civil servants.”
The investigation estimated the damage from abuse at the GUAD auction at 39.1 million rubles.
Vadim Vlasov pleaded not guilty from the very beginning of the investigation. He stated that he did not interfere with the powers of the GUAD to organize road auctions, and the entire charge was based on the testimony of Denis Tsvetkov, who slandered him.
The former director of GUAD partially confessed to complicity in the minister’s abuses, saying that he was not privy to his plans and only followed his instructions. At the announcement of the verdict, he appeared with a heavy checkered bag, apparently preparing to go to the pre-trial detention center, and Vadim Vlasov left his things in the car, probably counting on an acquittal or a suspended sentence. However, Judge Vitaliy Bondarenko sentenced him to four years in a penal colony, also depriving him of the right to hold civil service positions for three years. Denis Tsvetkov, who denounced the minister, was punished more humanely – he was given a 2.5 year suspended sentence.
Vadim Vlasov intends to appeal against the guilty verdict. “I do not agree with the verdict, the situation is not my fault. Tsvetkov slandered me in order to relieve himself of responsibility, which is why he has a suspended sentence. This was a condition of his agreements with the investigation, ”the convict said before he was taken away by the convoy.
Denis Tsvetkov did not comment on the verdict and claims from the former curator.