Source In Rostov, an alleged member of the “Pokrovsky” OPS was detained. Retired FSB Colonel Sergei Yechkalov, who actually headed the security service of the Pokrovsky Concern, has been detained in Rostov-on-Don. He is suspected of extortion and participation in a criminal association. According to investigators, Pokrovsky managers used illegal methods to gain control over the assets of agricultural enterprises in the Krasnodar and Rostov regions. Earlier, Sergey Echkalov was arrested in absentia and put on international wanted list.
Retired FSB colonel Sergei Echkalov, who was on the international wanted list and the actual head of security at the Pokrovsky Concern, was detained in the Proletarsky district of Rostov-on-Don on Sunday. Lawyer Vladimir Chesnokov told Kommersant. He also published photos allegedly taken during the detention in his Telegram channel. According to DonMash, Sergei Yechkalov was detained in the house of the mother of Concern Pokrovsky beneficiary Andrei Korovayko.
Concern Pokrovsky includes 35 enterprises located in the Rostov Region and Krasnodar Territory. According to the concern’s website, its land bank amounted to 242,000 hectares in 2021, and the value of the land plots almost doubled during the year, from 36.3 billion to 67.8 billion rubles. In 2021, the group made a net profit of RUB 8.8bn and posted revenues of RUB 38.7bn (+33%).
Sergey Yechkalov’s defence was unable to get a comment – lawyer Alexander Verblyudov, who earlier took part in the trial on the man’s pre-trial detention, refused to talk to Kommersant.
Sergey Echkalov’s arrest in absentia was sanctioned in December 2021 by the Basmanny Court of Moscow. A preventive measure was imposed in the case of extortion and bribery of a witness (two counts under Article 163, part 3, a. and b., and one count under Article 309, part 4 of the Russian Criminal Code). Concern’s beneficiary Andrey Korovayko and his partner Arkady Chebanov are also suspects in the case.
The criminal case was initiated in early 2021.
According to investigators, the accomplices coerced the former wife of Vyacheslav Tsepovyaz (convicted in the Tsapki gang case for 20 years), co-owner and general director of OPKh “Slava Kubani” Ltd. Natalia Strishnaya, co-owner and General Director of “Slava Kubani” Limited Liability Company, to rewrite the company’s land to people connected with “Pokrovsky”.
In addition, Pokrovsky employees were accused of bribing Vyacheslav Tsepovyaz’s brother Andrey, allegedly to testify against Strishnaya and her relatives.
Sergey Echkalov is also a suspect in a criminal case initiated in April on forming a criminal association in the “Pokrovsky” Concern (part 1, article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Apart from him, Andrey Korovayko, Arkady Chebanov and Oleg Chebanov, director general of Trading House Valan LLC, part of the concern, are suspects in the case. “The investigation believes that the purpose of the criminal association was to take over the assets of highly liquid agricultural enterprises in the Krasnodar Territory and the Rostov Region, in particular the Kushchevsky agrocomplex,” a source in the law enforcement agencies told Kommersant.
