The Khamovnichesky Court of Moscow sentenced the former president of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf (VOG), Valery Rukhledev, to seven years in a penal colony, finding him guilty of embezzling the organization’s multimillion-dollar funds, a TASS correspondent reports from the courtroom.
“The court ruled to find Rukhledev guilty and sentence him to seven years in a penal colony,” the judge announced the decision.
The court sentenced the former head of the legal department of the VOG Evgeny Novoseltsev to 6.5 years in prison, the ex-head of the finance department of the VOG Natalia Zembatova – to 4.5 years in a penal colony.
The court also decided to recover 106 million rubles in favor of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf.
As the Kommersant newspaper reported, in 2019, the Khamovnichesky Court, which began considering the case on the merits, returned its materials after six months of meetings to the supervisory authority. Then the investigators charged two episodes of crimes committed by Valery Rukhledev and Yevgeny Novoseltsev, and one by Natalia Zembatova. The total amount of damage was estimated at 320 million rubles. It was about fraud in the sale of the VOG building in the center of Moscow and the signing of fictitious acts on the allegedly performed work in the execution of contracts for the repair and reconstruction of the premises of the organization.
After further investigation, the number of criminal episodes for all the accused increased.
Kommersant.Ru, 03/14/2023, “The Olympian of the century was sentenced for embezzlement”: Evgeny Novoseltsev […] headed one of the subsidiaries of the society of the deaf – Vilart Investments LLC, which at one time was instructed to sell non-core assets of the VOG with a decrease in budget financing. However, then new episodes and new defendants appeared in the case, including Valery Rukhledev, Natalya Zembatova and legal assistant Irina Rudenko. It is interesting that Mr. Rukhledev himself categorically denied his involvement in any theft, noting that he personally initiated an appeal to the police and the court to find those responsible for fraud and compensate for losses. He believed that some ill-wishers used the situation to remove him from the leadership of the VOG. […]
Natalya Zembatova, according to some reports, fully admitted her guilt even at the first trial, as did Irina Rudenko. […] Meanwhile, the other three defendants were in jail. True, initially Valery Rukhledev was sent under house arrest, making allowances for his age and merits. Hearing disabled since childhood, he successfully practiced judo and sambo, including wrestling with hearing athletes, becoming a master of sports of the USSR at the age of 16 and winning many awards of the highest standard at the international level. At one time, he became the only person in Russia who received the title of “Olympian of the 20th century” from the International Olympic Committee.
Valery Rukhledev headed many different sports organizations, and in 2003 he became the president of the VOG. However, when he was convicted of violating the rules of house arrest – communicating on the Internet with witnesses in the case and other prohibited contacts, these regalia did not help, and the elderly disabled man was imprisoned in a pre-trial detention center. True, after some time they were released. — Inset K.ru
Kommersant.Ru, 02/07/2018, “The deaf were heard in the Ministry of Internal Affairs”: On charges of fraud, the damage from which exceeded 150 million rubles, at the request of the investigative department of the department, the former lawyer of the VOG Evgeny Novoseltsev, who previously worked in the structures of the Ministry of Justice, was taken into custody. […] According to Kommersant, we are talking about frauds from which the All-Russian Society of the Deaf suffered. […] According to the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, using the documents on the assets of the VOG that came into his possession and misleading the leaders of the company, the lawyer, in addition to the real estate that was to be sold, also sold a four-story building at Vilyuyskaya Street, 6, building 1, in which there was a rehabilitation enterprise for the deaf , which produced shoes, badges and lids for home canning. At the same time, other premises in the building were on a long-term lease from third parties.
During the audit conducted in the company, it turned out that Evgeny Novoseltsev illegally sold not only this, but also several other assets, appropriating the proceeds of 150 million rubles. At the request of the VOG, a criminal case was initiated against him under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (large-scale fraud). The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow, at the request of the SD of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, placed Yevgeny Novoseltsev and the entrepreneur, in whose favor the property was alienated, under arrest. According to some reports, once in the pre-trial detention center, Mr. Novoseltsev admitted his guilt. — Inset K.ru
