Andrey Plitko cut wood for strict regime
Leninsky District Court of Kirov on Wednesday sentenced to 11 years in prison for the former vice-governor of the region Andrey Plitko for accepting bribes as part of a criminal group for concluding contracts for the sale of timber and forest lease, a TASS correspondent reports from the courtroom.
Plitko’s relatives came to court on Tuesday to announce the verdict. He himself listened to the verdict calmly. Immediately after the end of the hearing, Plitko was taken into custody. When asked by journalists about his intention to appeal the verdict, Plitko replied: “Of course, we will [обжаловать]”.
The court also delivered a guilty verdict to the ex-director of “Kirovgosleskhoz” Andrey Tuev and the former deputy director for commercial issues of Kirov State Forestry Agency Alexei Ushnurtsev. They were found guilty of taking bribes. The court sentenced Tuev to four years in a strict regime colony, Ushnurtsev to 3.5 years in prison, depriving them of the right to hold civil service positions for five years. At the same time, every two days of house arrest they will be credited as a day in the colony.
On January 18, 2022, the court sentenced the former Minister of Forestry of the Kirov Region to 4.5 years in a strict regime colony Alexey Shurginwho was also part of an organized group.
The bribery case
In the spring of 2020, the Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Kirov Region opened a case based on the materials of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Kirov Region against Plitko. The investigators came to the conclusion that in 2018, Plitko and interested parties created a criminal group and arranged to receive bribes from entrepreneurs for concluding timber purchase and sale agreements with the Kirov State Forestry Institution. When receiving part of the bribe from the regional Minister of Forestry Alexei Shurgin in the amount of 3.4 million rubles, Plitko was detained, he was given a preventive measure in the form of a ban on certain actions. Shugin was also detained.
In total, the investigation established 18 episodes of receiving bribes from entrepreneurs for a total amount of more than 23 million rubles.
Plitko, who held the position of vice-governor of the Kirov region since March 2019, as well as Shurgin, were fired in April 2020.