From the detained vice-mayor Zarapin and the defendant brother of the vice-governor Gabuev, “strings” can be extended to the former head of the region Nikitin?
According to the correspondent MorningNews, the regional department of the FSB in the Tambov region detained 33-year-old deputy head of the administration of Tambov, Yury Zarapin. Two criminal cases of fraud have been initiated against the official. It is possible that in the event of a guilty verdict, the official will spend up to ten years in captivity.
According to “Kommersant”, the investigation has information about not the most plausible cases of Zarapin, which could have been committed in the period from June to November 2018 and from May to November 2020. According to investigators, Yuri Zarapin, together with the general director of Stroyengineering LLC Dmitry Popov, stole a total of 5.5 million rubles. budgetary funds allocated to the region within the framework of the national project “Safe Quality Roads”.
LLC “Stroyengineering” was the contractor of the “Directorate of City Roads”. Dmitry Popov is already under house arrest. Apparently, he or one of the witnesses in his case indicated the way to Zarapin to the law enforcement officers.
Considering a series of high-profile scandals related to the road sector in the Tambov region, one can safely expect that the investigation may turn their attention to other VIP suspects.
Oh, the roads are different …
Zarapin has been working at the Tambov City Hall since February 2021, and earlier he led the aforementioned municipal “Directorate of City Roads”. The violations imputed to him relate to his previous place of work.
In the mayor’s office, Zarapin oversaw the committees of urban planning and land use, roads and transport, as well as the administrative committee until his arrest. Whether there are violations in this part will probably become known after the check, which should follow the seizure of documents.
Photo: protambov.ru
Yuri Zarapin arrested on suspicion of fraud
Recently The Moscow Post published an investigation into the situation in the road industry in the Tambov region. This happened in mid-February, immediately after the murder of Viktor Vakulchik, deputy head of the Tambov Region Roads and Transport Department, who was attacked with a knife right in the entrance of his house.
The Investigative Committee does not rule out that Vakulchik’s death may be related to his official activities, because the criminal did not covet either money, or a telephone, or expensive items of clothing. Vakulchik has been working in the administration of the Tambov region since 2016.
Now is the time to remember that at the end of January, searches were carried out in the offices of the Tambov tax inspectorates related to the falsification of acts of on-site tax audits in relation to Avtodor-Tambov LLC – this was reported by “Notebook”.
The company has large contracts for the maintenance of the R-22 “Kaspiy” highway, the Northern and Southern bypasses of Tambov, and also won the tender for the repair of the R-208 section in 2020. According to Rusprofile, in 2020 the company’s revenue amounted to 1.3 billion rubles, 58 million rubles of taxes were paid.
The company is owned by the ex-deputy of the local Duma, the former head of the construction and investment department of the regional administration, Anatoly Strukov, who became the main suspect in the case of non-payment of taxes for road maintenance.
Further intriguing connections emerge. Suffice it to recall that the vice-governor Arsen Gabuev, who worked in this position under Governor Alexander Nikitin, who successfully migrated to the Federation Council, is responsible for road purchases in the Tambov region.
From 2013 to 2015, Arsen Gabuev was the first deputy general director of Tambov Stroy Mekhanization LLC, now controlled by his brother Murat Gabuev, who is currently being accused in the case of non-payment of 75 million rubles in taxes. The company consistently received solid state contracts for road maintenance and, in particular, once won a contract for the maintenance of more than 265 km of the ill-fated R-22 highway, on which the aforementioned Anatoly Strukov “stumbled”. So wrote “Kommersant”.
During the investigation, the defendants’ property was seized. His list is not disclosed, but, according to the investigation, it is more than enough to compensate for those same 75 million unpaid taxes. Writes about it “Version”.
Photo: rusprofile.ru
It is also interesting that the father of the Gabuevs used to drive the R-22 highway – he wrote about this “Notebook”. The dynasty of dashing road builders, apparently, evolved from generation to generation. According to investigators, Murat Gabuev could have been the organizer of the deliberate inclusion of false information in tax returns and underestimated the income of the organization.
Photo: www.onlinetambov.ru
Arsen Gabuev may lose his post if his brother is found guilty
If these accusations against Murat Gabuev are confirmed, then his brother Arsen will definitely not avoid resignation.
It is known that the name of Arsen Gabuev appears in another unpleasant case: as he wrote “Notebook”, he was among the “deceived equity holders” of the Elitstroy company. Allegedly, the money paid for the apartment was never received by the company, while Arsen Gabuev managed to sell his ownership of the future apartment to another person.
Officials “from the main road”?
The fact that a critical situation with roads has developed in the Tambov region is not said unless the lazy one. The acting head of the region, Maxim Egorov, in his hearts, even decided to take away the company car from the head of the road and transport department of the region, Albert Churilov, so that he would travel to work by public transport and personally feel all the bumps. It is quite possible that the head of the region himself initiated inspections of the road industry in order to understand where the funds allocated annually for maintaining the condition of roads have gone.
And, by the way, it is worth clarifying that Churilov, who was left without a personal car, is the immediate supervisor of the murdered Viktor Vakulchik. It is obvious that Vakulchik, who worked in the governor’s corps for almost six years, had full information about the situation, including gray schemes, according to which budget funds allocated for road repairs flowed in other directions. Thus, no matter how loyal Vakulchik was to his leadership, theoretically he could have been “sentenced”. So to speak, for greater reliability, to be sure that he will definitely not tell anyone anything.
Photo: Regnum.ru
Senator Nikitin is now sitting high and looking from afar from Moscow at what is happening in the Tambov region
Meanwhile, there is a possibility that not only Arsen Gabuev, but also more serious persons may come to the attention of the investigation. For example, the former governor of the Tambov region, and now senator Alexander Nikitin.
And then it will just be possible to recall another mysterious death – in Tambov they are still discussing how in 2019 the then vice-governor of the Tambov region Gleb Chulkov fell out of the window of a five-story building and crashed to death, who also fell into the development of law enforcement agencies due to major theft. This case has been discussed in detail before. The Moscow Post. And at that time, Alexander Nikitin was also mentioned in a very unambiguous context.
As writes “Vek”, allegedly the residents of the Tambov region believe that Nikitin previously got the governor’s post not at all for merit, but thanks to good relations with the “authoritative” representative of the local organized criminal group Andrei Popov, nicknamed “Pop”. Journalists continue that at one of the banquets, Alexander Nikitin, who was too relaxed, either jokingly or seriously loudly declared that he was the “godfather” of the region.
… From a height, as you know, it hurts to fall down. Maybe that’s why Tambov officials try to keep by any means – up to criminal ones – not to fall, or in extreme cases to ensure a “soft landing” for themselves? But I would like such “heroes of our time” to expect a completely different landing – as tough as possible and for a long time.
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