The court began to consider on the merits the criminal case of the former chairman of the Constitutional Court of Tuva (CC), 52-year-old Ayas Saai, and three ex-employees of the court. According to the materials of the investigation, Ayas Saaya embezzled about 1.4 million rubles, which were allocated from the budget of the republic for holding the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference. Employees of the financial, economic and organizational departments of the court, according to the case, prepared false accounting documents to conceal the theft. The ex-judge denies his guilt, like two of his former employees, another one admitted his guilt partially. For an objective consideration, it was decided to send the case to another region – Khakassia.
The city court of Abakan began consideration on the merits of the criminal case of the ex-chairman of the Constitutional Court of Tuva Ayas Saai and three of his former subordinates. Kommersant was informed about this in the press service of the city court.
According to Kommersant sources familiar with the course of the investigation, in 2016, law enforcement officers revealed the theft of funds allocated from the budget of Tuva for holding the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference “Constitutionalism in the Subjects of the Russian Federation: Prospects and Development” in the region, one of the organizers of which was the Constitutional Court republics. We are talking about the amount of about 1.4 million rubles. Investigating the case, the security forces established the possible involvement in the embezzlement of the Chairman of the Constitutional Court Ayas Saai, who has held this post since October 2013.
In December 2017, the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, applied to the Qualification Board of Judges (QCJ) of Tuva for permission to bring Ayas Saai to criminal responsibility, but he was refused. The chairman of the court lost his judicial immunity in May 2018, when the High Qualifications Board of Judges (HQJC) canceled the decision of the Republican QCJ. Ayas Saaya appealed this decision, first to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, then to its appellate board, but to no avail.
While the investigation was going on, the CC of Tuva was liquidated. In January 2019, Sholban Kara-ool, then head of the republic, signed a law adopted by the regional parliament on the abolition of the Constitutional Court of Tuva, which had been working since 2003. “I think that it is pointless to keep such an institution in conditions of lack of money,” Sholban Kara-ool said then.
On the official website of Tuva, it is indicated that in recent years, before the closure, “not a single material was analyzed by the Constitutional Court, although about 30 million rubles were spent annually on the maintenance of judges from the regional budget.”
Based on the results of the investigation, the ex-Chairman of the Constitutional Court was charged with embezzlement on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the maximum punishment is ten years in prison), three of his former subordinates from the financial, economic and organizational departments were charged with complicity in embezzlement ( 33 and 160) and the use of a knowingly forged document (part 3 of article 327). According to the materials of the investigation cited by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in August 2014 the Ministry of Finance of the Republic transferred more than 2.2 million rubles to the personal account of the Constitutional Court. for the preparation and holding of events of the conference “Constitutionalism in the subjects of the Russian Federation.” About 1.9 million rubles. of this amount, law enforcement officers established, the chairman of the Constitutional Court instructed to cash out and give it to him.
The investigation found that the conference cost the budget 366 thousand rubles, and the difference between the amount of funds received and spent was about 1.4 million rubles. – allegedly stayed with the head of the Tuvan court.
Subsequently, according to the materials of the investigation, the chairman of the Constitutional Court instructed his subordinates, when preparing the annual report, to reflect in it deliberately false information about the full expenditure of all funds financed from the budget intended for the conference, including unspent cash.
The former chairman of the court denies guilt in the alleged crime. At one of the meetings of the HQCC, according to the profile resource pravo.ru, Ayas Saaya drew attention to the fact that “he had fundamental disagreements with law enforcement agencies on issues of interference in the powers of local governments.” In addition, he stated that a court employee slandered him under pressure from the security forces. Two former subordinates of Ayas Saai also declare their innocence, another pleaded guilty partially.
In July 2022, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Dmitry Demeshin approved the indictment in the case of former employees of the Constitutional Court of Tuva. In order not to call into question the objectivity and impartiality of the court when making a decision, the case was sent to another region. This was motivated by the fact that Ayas Saaya was a member of the council of judges and the KKS of Tuva, his wife was a judge of the Kyzyl city court, and served as deputy chairman of the Supreme Court of Tuva.
The case was instructed to consider the city court of Abakan, on January 27, preliminary hearings were held. However, later one of the defendants fell ill, and the start of the trial was repeatedly postponed. Only on Wednesday, all the participants in the process gathered in the courtroom. “The side of the public prosecution announced the charges and proceeded to present evidence. At this stage of the trial, the defendants did not plead guilty to the acts they were accused of, ”Kommersant was told in the press service of the Khakassia prosecutor’s office. The court adjourned the hearing until March 28.