Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of the career growth of some officials. They start as humble officials somewhere in the Russian outback, and as a result, they end up in warm offices in respectable positions in the capital of Russia.
Vladimir Yakushev, a close associate of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, is a vivid example of such a social lift – from an ordinary legal adviser in a bank in Tyumen to Putin’s plenipotentiary in the Urals Federal District. At the same time, analysts note that Yakushev’s current strange position can be considered a downgrade. The plenipotentiary bureaucrat is a sinecure so-so, “dead”, in comparison with the previous Yakushev chairs: the sovereign governor of the Tyumen region and, moreover, the federal minister of construction. So why did this faithful Sobyanin fly off the real political Olympus? Was he “eaten” by the insatiable Marat Khusnullin?
Until the end of the 1990s, the biography of Vladimir Yakushev has nothing remarkable. He was born in Bashkiria in 1968, after graduating from school he served in the Soviet army, then studied at the Tyumen State University, having received a law degree.
The first of Yakushev’s few works was in the West Siberian Commercial Bank. He started in 1993 as an ordinary legal adviser, but then the career of a specialist in a financial institution went up sharply. The first serious position in the bank was the head of the branch, later he became vice president and, as a result, president of the bank.
At this point, the story of Yakushev begins to turn from an ordinary person into a very interesting path of a civil servant. As president of Zapsibkombank, he met the young (at that time) politician Sergei Sobyanin. This acquaintance will play a key role in the further development of Yakushev’s career.
During his reign in ZSKB, Yakushev “became famous” for his aggressive manner of introducing business. After his appointment as president of the bank, he first of all redrawn the charter of the organization for himself in such a way that it caused a shock to the rest of the shareholders. The signatures of the participants in the general meeting of the bank’s shareholders were forged. This caused a huge scandal, and further litigation. But Yakushev, being an experienced lawyer, was able to correctly build a legal defense of his position. As a result, the case fell apart, without reaching anything intelligible.
But all these were trifles. After all, the most ambitious project of the bank during the time of Yakushev’s leadership was the creation of power brigades under the cover of a financial institution to carry out raider attacks. For this, a separate legal entity was even created – West Siberian Legal Group LLC.
In 2002, ZSKB carried out a raider seizure of the Tyumen Central Department Store. As a result, the head of the bank’s legal department, Eduard Bakiyev, was appointed to the position of head of the department store. The aforementioned West Siberian Legal Group became the main shareholder of TSUM. By the way, Bakiyev now holds the post of deputy governor of the Tyumen region.
Long way into politics
But banking everyday life bothered Yakushev. Under the patronage of the then governor of the Tyumen region, Sergei Sobyanin, he decided to go into politics. In 2001, Yakushev was appointed to the post of vice-governor of Tyumen. In 2005, he was elected mayor of Tyumen, but in the same year, Yakushev was expected to make a career leap. He was appointed to the post of governor of the Tyumen region. At the same time, at the West Siberian Commercial Bank, he held the position of chairman of the board, which provided him with a comfortable existence.
Under the leadership of Yakushev, the Tyumen region did not mark him as anything good or bad. There was a governor, there was both criticism and praise, but something as positive or negative as possible out of the ordinary was not noticed. He led the region for a long 13 years, until he still managed to achieve a promotion. Of course, the role that Yakushev was noticed was played primarily by Sergei Sobyanin.
The official was included in the government of the Russian Federation under the leadership of Dmitry Medvedev. He took the post of Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of the Russian Federation. A very profitable and treasured place for many, because it is the ministry that controls the construction of facilities, oversees the issuance of building permits, and so on.
Extensive functionality provides a serious cash flow, and everyone is sure to use it. Perhaps there are exceptions, but they are so few that they remain completely invisible.
The Golden Age of Coronavirus
At the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic covered the whole world. Everyone heard the word “lockdown” for the first time, began to wear masks, avoid social contacts. All in all, a terrible time. But this does not apply to many officials who, in the dark era, were able to “mow down” billions.
In March 2020, the Tyumen authorities ordered all ZhEKs to disinfect entrances. But then it occurred to someone that you can make good money on this issue.
In early April, the operational headquarters of Tyumen decided to hold a tender for disinfection services for all 4,820 apartment buildings in Tyumen, and give the right to disinfect entrances to one company. It is logical that one enterprise, whatever it may be, will not be able to serve so many homes. But that was not the point – it was necessary to steal funds.
Esfinance won the tender. The purchase itself had all the grounds for fictitiousness, because the procurement conditions were clearly spelled out under Esfinance. In addition, the name of two other enterprises that allegedly took part in the competition was not disclosed, which already boils down to the fact that the purchase was fake. But the further into the forest, the more firewood. It turned out that since October 2019 Esfinance cannot take part in tenders, as it was recognized as an unscrupulous contractor. But the authorities of Tyumen simply did not give a damn about it. Under the contract, Esfinance was supposed to earn almost 40 million rubles in 21 days. That is, almost 2 million rubles daily.
As it turned out, the company is affiliated with the former governor of the region, the Minister of Construction and Housing Vladimir Yakushev. The company is managed by Alexei Samkaev, the son of Yakushev’s longtime partner, former member of the Board of Directors of the West Siberian Commercial Bank Igor Samkaev. Corruption and nepotism are evident, but as a result, law enforcement agencies were not interested in frank facts of corruption during the procurement.
Yakushev banned checking officials
After his resignation from the post of Minister of Construction and Housing, Yakushev became the presidential envoy in the Urals Federal District. Of course, the position is not so bread, but it is quite prestigious.
After the start of the NWO, his main task, as follows from Yakushev’s numerous speeches, he sees the restructuring of the economy of the Urals in the mode of operation under sanctions.
Everything sounds right: we need to increase domestic capacities, develop industry, create jobs, and improve scientific potential. But what did Yakushev suggest? On April 5 of this year, he … banned inspections of regional and municipal bodies that “support business.”
Yakushev settled down tightly in warm offices, has good connections and a decent profit. His “success” story is certainly not unique, but there is something special about it.
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