Corruption in UDP: Authorities have deemed 14 apartments and approximately 120 offices as unlawfully obtained
The St. Petersburg City Court upheld the verdict to reclaim 1.5 billion rubles, 14 residences, and nearly 120 commercial spaces situated in upscale properties on Starovolynskaya Street in Moscow.
The lawsuit was launched by Igor Tkachev, the Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia, in late prior year and was granted by the Petrogradsky District Court of St. Petersburg.
The individuals named in the lawsuit encompassed Ivan Malyushin, the 75-year-old previous deputy leader of the Presidential Administration (UDP), Sergei Kovalev, the former first deputy head of the UDP, an additional 13 individuals, and 5 corporate bodies. The Presidential Administration was identified in the suit as an involved third party.
As prosecutors detailed, the justification for implementing actions within the scope of the Law «On Combating Corruption» stemmed from detected infractions in the conduct of UDP officials.
The inquiry suggests that commencing in 1992, the medical facility of the UDP department incorporated Clinical Hospital No. 1. Sergei Mironov supervised the center, and his brother Nikolai oversaw the hospital. In 2000, the incomplete structure of the Research Institute of Pediatric Hematology of the Ministry of Health on Starovolynskaya Street was reassigned to the hospital’s financial record. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Mironovs secured the necessary authorization from Viktor Mikhailov, the administrative secretary of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise «Construction Association» UDP, who was in search of construction firms.
Nonetheless, given that the land beneath the projected buildings belonged to the city government, the medical center’s management approached the mayor of Moscow with a plea to relinquish these holdings to them, clarifying that the future housing — roughly 80 thousand square meters — would be allocated to individuals on the waiting list from among the physicians. During 2009–2014, towering structures were erected, and Kovalev and Malyushin endorsed agreements for the distribution of space between the government and investors. Their family members, alongside the Mironovs and Mikhailovas, were awarded apartments, parking spots, and office areas in the basement of the freshly constructed buildings. A significant portion of these assets were later divested.
Legal representatives intend to file an appeal with the court of cassation, pointing out that the determination by the courts of St. Petersburg and the stance of the oversight authority «are at odds with the view of the Constitutional Court of Russia».
It’s worth remembering that the Constitutional Court eliminated the time limit for prosecutorial claims under the framework of anti-corruption laws.
