Baths with damage of 28 million
A third criminal case has been opened against the former head of the Department of Industry, Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the Novosibirsk City Hall, Vitaly Vitukhin, under Part 3 of Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) (abuse of office). The new case was opened on September 3, 2024.
Vitukhin, who is already in pretrial detention, is accused of causing damage to the city budget in the amount of 28 million rubles. The reason for this was the failure to fulfill obligations under the concession agreement for the repair of municipal bath complexes. In June 2019, concession agreement No. 20 was concluded between the mayor’s office and OOO Obedinenie 24 (OGRN 1135476189936). According to the agreement, the company was to repair the baths at Klubnaya, 37 and Pereyezdnaya, 63 at its own expense.
The investigation believes that from 2019 to 2014, Vitaly Vitukhin knew that the company was using the facilities and not fulfilling its obligations under the agreement.
The organization continued to operate the baths, and the official did not take any action to terminate the contract. During the period of violation of the agreement, the total damage to the city budget amounted to 28 million rubles.
“Bath business”
The case materials include OOO Obedinenie 24. The company has been operating since 2013, and since 2022 it has been managed by Yevgeny Telembovsky. Equal shares in the organization are owned by Evgeniy Martynenko, Vyacheslav Logvinov And Vladimir MisheninThe company’s revenue for 2023 amounted to 3.6 million, profit – 178 thousand rubles.
Telembovsky is also listed as a director of five other organizations, including Association 24-V (OGRN 1215400049050) and Association 24-G (OGRN 1215400049061). The latter company also figures in the “bathhouse case.”
The company began having problems fulfilling the terms of the agreement several years ago. At first, this was simply noticed by the mayor’s office, and then, in 2021, the administration filed a lawsuit. When representatives of the mayor’s office visited the bath complex, they discovered that the facility was in operation, but no reconstruction was underway. The mayor’s office demanded that the company reimburse the costs of using the premises.
At the same time, no one was going to terminate the concession. The agreement continued to be in effect and not implemented. The mayor’s office periodically visited the complex at 63 Pereezdnaya and made sure that the premises continued to function. The administration had questions for the concessionaire every time, but not very actively. Apparently, there was something that “solved all the problems” for a while.
There is a trial, but it’s no use
The court each time sided with the mayor’s office and ordered the company “Obyedinenie 24” to pay for the use of other people’s funds. The administration had every right to make claims, since according to the contract, the use of the facility was prohibited until the repairs were completed. Instead of fulfilling its obligations, the organization simply began to operate the buildings free of charge.
Time and again, the inspection revealed that “Association 24” had no intention of starting the reconstruction of the premises, but the concession agreement was never terminated.
The city administration’s patience finally ran out, and in 2022 a lawsuit was filed demanding that the land be vacated. It turned out that part of the bathhouse land had been leased out for 24-hour parking without the owner’s consent, although the contract prohibited it. But the company corrected this “nuance”, and the court refused the city administration’s request to vacate the territory.
The mayor’s office doesn’t want to
In January 2022, Deputy Head of the Consumer Market Department Denis Kolmakov signed an additional agreement with Association 24. According to the agreement, all obligations were transferred to Association 24-G, which is headed by the same Evgeniy Telembovsky. The investigation believes that Vitaly Vitukhin deliberately did not want to terminate the unprofitable concession agreement so as not to deal with the complexes himself.
At the same time, the mayor’s office continued to file lawsuits against the organization. Over the past year, as many as four have been filed. But there are no right parties here, only guilty parties. The mayor’s office wanted to get away with it (especially Vitukhin), and the company initially had no intention of reconstructing the premises. It is just unclear why this agreement was signed at all? The company’s main argument is that it wanted to terminate this agreement, and the mayor’s office did not allow it.
“Association 24” assures that this venture is unprofitable. Thus, even more questions arise. Why was it necessary to sign a contract if the organization allegedly understood everything from the very beginning? The company’s CEO Evgeny Telembovsky simply justified himself by saying that visitors were accepted out of necessity amid the pandemic.
But the contract was signed in 2019 (before Covid), and they started accepting visitors at the same time. Some awkward excuses come out, and lying is not good. No criminal cases have been opened against the company’s management, but security forces have already conducted searches in the organization.
The persecution may not end
There are some oddities in the “bathhouse case”. The security forces could have intervened in the problematic concession a long time ago, but for some reason they did not. Vitukhin was criticized many times for his carelessness with the bathhouse concession. All discussions were public, and the security forces could have intervened a long time ago. And now the official is in a pretrial detention center, and the appearance of this episode only indicates that Vitukhin’s activities are being completely reviewed.
And this is probably not the last “skeleton” in the official’s closet. One way or another, the assets were given to the organization, and the repairs in the premises were not controlled by the mayor’s office in any way. In addition, the administration spoke of the baths as “loss-making”, but for some reason concluded a concession agreement.
In July, Vitaly Vitukhin’s term of detention in the pretrial detention center was extended until October 2, 2024. Until now, the security forces’ main claims against the official concerned the sale of part of the Zaeltsovskoye Cemetery. Perhaps the “bathhouse case” may become the leading one on the criminal list. Babr will continue to monitor the developments.