The general director of the Rosatom structure suspects that one cannot become famous for good deeds
The defense insisted that he was a “respectable person,” and the defendant himself, who signed up for the pre-trial detention center to participate in the SVO, said that he always earned money honestly. He also asked to be given the opportunity to remove the tumor, but the arguments of the investigation outweighed him.
The Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow extended for another month, until October 24, the arrest term of 62-year-old General Director of the National Operator for Radioactive Waste Management (NO RAO) Igor Igin. He is accused of receiving bribes in the amount of 132.5 million rubles from the management of the St. Petersburg company Spetsproekt for concluding government contracts with it. Despite cooperation with the investigation of the bribers and the intermediary, he denies his guilt. During the hearing, Igin argued that there was simply no reason for him to take a bribe, since he is a highly paid executive. And his defense petitioned to transfer the defendant to house arrest.
Judge Yuri Rakhmatov began to consider the petition of the Investigation Department for the Central District of the Main Investigation Department of the capital’s Investigative Committee only at half past seven in the evening, when the court had already closed the doors to visitors.
Five years of service in the KGB
The investigator justified the need for the defendant to remain in custody by the fact that the arrested person is accused of committing a particularly serious crime against state power and the interests of the civil service, for which a punishment of over ten years of imprisonment is provided. Stating that the grounds for canceling or changing the preventive measure previously chosen for Igin had not changed or disappeared, she focused the court’s attention on the fact that the reserve lieutenant colonel had previously served in the KGB of the USSR for more than five years, and had held leadership positions for 30 years , including since 2008 in Rosatom structures. “This indicates that he has extensive business and personal connections, including in law enforcement agencies,” said a representative of the Investigative Committee. She expressed concern that, being at large and “wanting to avoid legal consequences,” he could hide and put pressure on witnesses.
According to a representative of the Investigative Committee, the investigation needs time to request various information and documents, in particular government contracts concluded between NO RAO and the Spetsproekt company, as well as to obtain a court decision and seize the funds and other property found during the search at Igin’s place. .
62-year-old general director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “National Operator for Radioactive Waste Management” Igor Igin was arrested on July 27. He was charged with receiving a bribe on an especially large scale (under Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
Contracts for kickbacks?
According to investigators, from August to December 2022, he received a total of 132.5 million rubles through an intermediary, financial director of Spetsproekt LLC, Kira Teterina. The money was paid for the conclusion by his Federal State Unitary Enterprise of four government contracts with Spetsproekt LLC in 2018-2021. Also, the management of the company, which creates facilities for the processing, storage, disposal of radioactive waste and other nuclear energy facilities, counted on Igin’s further assistance in concluding other agreements and his patronage.
The co-owners of Spetsproekt LLC, the general director of this company Vadim Korolev and his deputy for development Sergei Gulyaev, also became defendants in the criminal case. They were charged with giving a bribe on an especially large scale (Part 5 of Article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), and Kira Teterina was charged with mediation in bribery (Part 4 of Article 291.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). All of them chose to cooperate with the investigation, the Kommersant newspaper wrote. In particular, as was heard in court, Sergei Gulyaev wrote a confession. Therefore, they were not taken into custody.
The prosecutor supported the investigation’s request, noting that there were no “medical contraindications” for Igin’s continued detention. Igin’s lawyers did not agree with this and asked to transfer the defendant to house arrest. They insisted that there was no sufficient evidence in the case to indicate Igin’s involvement in receiving a bribe.
The defenders explained that, according to the investigation, the money was transferred to Igin for assistance in concluding new contracts with Spetsproekt LLC, as well as for “providing assistance in the implementation of previously concluded contracts, which resulted in the acceptance of completed work and the resolution of problematic issues.” “However, in the materials presented there is no factual evidence that Igor Mikhailovich had such powers,” said one of his lawyers, Ivan Nefedov.
Statement of reservation
Nefedov noted that the accusation against Igin is based on the testimony of two people – Teterina and Gulyaev. “However, they have grounds for slandering him. And Igor Mikhailovich filed a statement alleging they committed fraud,” the lawyer said. He argued that in the case there is neither the testimony of witnesses nor the results of operational search activities that would confirm the receipt of money by Igin.
According to Nefedov, the defendant was charged in violation of the right to defense – at two o’clock in the morning on July 26, when his client no longer understood what was happening and could not testify. He asked to interrogate him during the day, but he was refused.
The defense attorney called the investigators’ arguments that, while at large, Igin could escape or interfere with the investigation, they were unfounded, and the operational report about the defendant’s “extensive friendly and business connections among current law enforcement officers” was called unsubstantiated.
Having included medical documents about the defendant’s health, the defense stated that Igin needed urgent surgery to remove a thyroid tumor in a hospital. They explained that the operation had previously been scheduled for October 23, and accused the investigation of red tape.
“Over the past two months, nothing has been done, not a single witness has been questioned, and all the investigative actions presented in the materials were carried out on the very first day, July 25,” said another of Igor’s lawyers, Anton Kozhemyakin. According to him, the investigation did not interrogate Igin’s subordinates or demand government contracts, but only seized the client’s bank accounts.
Analyzing the arguments of the opponents, the defense lawyer touched upon another argument of the investigation. “I don’t understand why serving in the KGB of the USSR, which has no longer existed for more than 30 years, leaves him no chance? Is this some kind of criminal organization? — the lawyer was perplexed, calling his client a distinguished person who has neither accounts nor property abroad.
“Igor Mikhailovich is a respectable person, but it turns out that all his services to the fatherland have now turned out to be against him. Is it his fault that he worked for the state for 30 years?” — another defender, Igina Zarina Farnieva, echoed him.
She noted that the state spends annually from 3 billion to 5 billion rubles on the purchase of electronic bracelets. Consequently, by refusing to apply house arrest, the court will actually acknowledge the ineffectiveness of this preventive measure.
“No basins of money, no secret rooms”
At the request of the lawyers, the court questioned Igin’s wife and two colleagues. The accused himself described his stay in the detention center as two months of vacation, which allowed him to sleep and refresh his memory of the Criminal Code.
“I don’t quite understand what I’m doing in the pre-trial detention center,” he said. According to the version voiced by Igin, the general director of Spetstekhnika Sergei Gulyaev, since February 2023, visiting NO RAO on official business, regularly told how he, as well as Kira Teterina, “who is involved in another criminal case,” were persuaded to testify against him (Igin ). “This, in general, was reflected in her pre-trial cooperation agreement,” said the defendant, making it clear that he knew about the pre-investigation check.
According to Igin, since he has a first-class security clearance, it implies the possibility of inspection by law enforcement agencies at any time without his notification. “Therefore, I have lived in the mode of ongoing inspections all my adult life, it does not scare me,” he said. Igin assured that he was not trying to avoid communicating with the investigators, but, on the contrary, “is eager to communicate with him in order to clarify the questions that have arisen.”
The arrested person stated that he had no reason to receive a bribe, since he is a highly paid executive. Referring to the salary certificate in the file, he said that in just seven months of this year he received almost 17 million rubles in salary. “In previous years, I was also a highly paid employee. And in general, I am a unique person in this regard, because from 1993 to 2022 inclusive, I and my family members have been constantly declaring [доходы]”, said Igin.
He also said that during the search, investigators seized a table of income from him, which he compiled with his own hand in case he had to answer questions about his property. “The amount indicated there is many times greater than the amount [вменяемой] bribes,” said the defendant, without voicing the amount.
“They didn’t find any money on me – no basins, no secret rooms,” he said, noting that he “earned money honestly,” and he prepared the 2 million “coffin” rubles seized from him in case of the funeral of his 94-year-old mother, who bequeathed bury her next to his father in Kuibyshev. He also explained that he earned the 20 thousand dollars found at his son’s house on Sakhalin during foreign business trips. “I always told my employees that living honestly is profitable because you live in peace, but now I’m starting to doubt it,” the defendant complained.
Willingness to “defend the homeland”
In conclusion, Igin stated that, once in the pre-trial detention center, he wrote a statement with a request to be sent to the SVO zone, since he is one of the few who has a license to manage nuclear installations, and his experience could be useful. “But before that I need to remove the tumor. Give me the opportunity to perform the operation. I’m not afraid of death, I’m ready to suffer for my homeland and defend it,” said the arrested man.
It took the judge almost an hour and a half to make a decision. Leaving the deliberation room at ten o’clock in the evening, he granted the request of the Investigative Committee, leaving the defendant in the pre-trial detention center until October 24.
The defense intends to appeal the decision. “The tumor discovered in our client, according to the conclusion of the oncologist, is very large, and if it is not removed in a timely manner, it can simply block the airways,” lawyer Anton Kozhemyakin told Business FM, noting that the defense is currently dealing with the issue of assigning the arrested person medical examination.
