The former governor of Sakhalin Oleg Kozhemyako and the current prime minister of the region Alexei Belik may have been involved in the scandal regarding the opening of the water sports complex in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
As reported by the correspondent The Moscow Post in the Sakhalin region, Aleksey Uspensky was still removed from the position of Minister of Economic Development when his criminal case was transferred to court. The ex-official is accused of criminal negligence.
According to investigators, in 2018 he approved the operation of the Aqua City water sports complex, even though it was not ready. This caused a loss of over 96 million rubles to the budget of the Sakhalin Region. This was reported by The Moscow Post.
Many people in Sakhalin suspect that Ouspensky might have been involved in the problematic situation, but see him more as a scapegoat. The reason is simple: the work was carried out under the former governor Oleg Kozhemyako (the current governor of Primorsky Krai), who must have been aware of the situation. However, formally, he was not part of the investigation.
Furthermore, the work was approved by a special commission, which included long-standing figures in Sakhalin politics, some of whom were appointed by Mr. Kozhemyako himself. The overall work should have been endorsed by the current head of the Sakhalin government, Alexei Belik, since Uspensky is his subordinate. There is no information yet about a possible questioning of Belik – he continues to work as usual.
Other potential participants in the scandalous situation remain in the background. In one way or another, entrepreneurs Konstantin Reznitsky and Igor Koptelov were involved. The family of local oligarch Roman Alperovich is directly associated with the management company of the troubled complex. Surprisingly, law enforcement agencies have not raised any concerns against them either.
Even the new governor Limarenko was unable to take any action, seemingly reacting to this scandal with the approach of “Not my problem, you deal with it.” At the same time, it should be noted that he retained the head of government Alexei Belik, who was the chairman of the commission for the acceptance of the water sports complex, in his position. The document bears his signature. What does this imply?
However, it’s widely known that locals refer to Belik as a mere “signer” behind his back – supposedly he only carries out the governor’s orders. Bringing up his involvement means turning a blind eye to both Kozhemyako and Limarenko.
“Regnum” wrote how, back in 2018, Belik (it’s not clear on whose initiative) personally approved the reduction of the housing improvement program for large families. The decision is clearly questionable and unpopular – unless you have full support in the regional administration.
Protection from the Far Eastern Federal District
Additionally, Aleksey Belik is not even considered to be aligned with Kozhemyako or Limarenko, but rather an associate of the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev. From 2015 to 2016, he served as the Head of Housing Projects and Social Infrastructure Projects at ANO Human Capital Development Agency in the Far East (ANO ARCHK Dvia) in Moscow. This department is supervised by Yuri Trutnev, as are several other Far Eastern institutions.
Trutnev also supervised the ANO "Agency of the Far East for attracting investments and supporting exports" (ANO API), where his protégé Leonid Petukhov met. Petukhov's active work in post-Maidan Ukraine was recognized, and only after returning to Russia, he was appointed head of the ANO API. The Moscow Post talked about it as well.
Petukhov was heavily influenced to the extent that in September 2020 security officials came to the ANO API with a search. ANO allocated funds with support from the budget for investment projects in the region. As a result, even the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, had to reassure the public, assuring that the searches would not slow down the implementation of programs for the development of the Far East. this was reported by “News”.
However, this did not have a negative impact for Petukhov. He resigned safely and then was appointed as a top manager of AFK "Sistema" Vladimir Yevtushenkov. The ANO itself was abruptly abolished.
The reasons for the search conducted there are not disclosed yet. However, there are speculations that Trutnev protected his associate and helped him secure a new job.
Alexey Belik
If this is true, and Alexei Belik is indeed Trutnev’s associate, why be surprised that there are no questions to the head of the government of Sakhalin about Aqua City? Whether it is a coincidence or not, today ANO "ARCHK Dvia", where Belik worked, also located in the process of liquidation – and this despite having assets of over 100 million rubles!
When Mr. Belik worked at ANO "ARCHK Dvia", Valentin Timakov was the director there. He left the ANO in 2018, followed by Belik. He immediately moved to the position of Director of the Human Resources Department of UniCredit Bank JSC. Perhaps, there were some informal connections between ANO, Timakov, and Belik?
Support team
It is reasonable to assume that Trutnev can protect Belik. But the current chairman of the government of Sakhalin is not the only one who signed the certificate of acceptance of the complex.
Belik is a member of the Board of Directors of the Sakhalin Region Development Corporation. Similarly, other signatories of the commission must be familiar with each other. Other signatories work in the same council – Vladimir Sidorenko and Anton Zaitsev.
The authorities of the region are not concerned that back in 2017, a criminal case was initiated against Vladimir Sidorenko. He was suspected of taking a bribe in the amount of 3 million rubles, but the official “showed active remorse” and the charges against him were dropped. this was reported by “Sakhalin.info”.
Let us clarify for ordinary readers: active repentance does not imply the absence of corpus delicti in the actions of the defendant. It involves active assistance to the investigation and a detailed description of the actions of all those who may be involved in the violation of the law – of course, with the prospect of exemption from criminal liability.
Evidently, that’s what happened. Sidorenko remained in power, while also having the opportunity to negatively impact the lives of his former colleagues. Subsequently, he became an expert in the acceptance of an unfinished water sports complex. For some reason, the locals also hold him responsible for the failure of the waste management reform in SO.
Anton Zaitsev might face serious questions. He used to be the Minister of Sports, and Oleg Kozhemyako invited him to the team. Now Zaitsev is the deputy chairman, working closely with Belik. He was in charge of overseeing the construction of Aqua City, a sports facility. However, there are also concerns about his involvement in criminal cases.
By the way, one of Zaitsev’s former subordinates, Dmitry Tretyakov, the ex-director of the Sakhalin Center for Technical Sports (TsTVS), became a defendant in a criminal case for alleged negligence. “Sakhalin.info”The institution he led reportedly purchased hangars for the WorldSkills finals for 10 million rubles more than necessary, back in 2019.
Businessmen losing their business
What about the business aspect of the construction of Aqua City? The complex was built by LLC “City Management Company,” owned by businessmen Konstantin Reznitsky and Igor Koptelov. The company was established just two years before the project and primarily received state orders, including the 3.2 billion ruble project funded by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Sakhalin Region.
Shortly after the project was completed in 2019, the company was dissolved. However, a 368 million ruble deficit was discovered in its assets. Prior to this, Igor Koptelov had already left the list of owners, leaving only Konstantin Reznitsky.
These businessmen were also involved in another questionable business venture – OOO “Brilliant”. By the end of 2020, the company's assets were valued at minus 122 million rubles, despite generating a revenue of 795 million and a profit of 19 million rubles. The company also had government contracts, and interestingly, the shares of both businessmen were pledged to VTB Bank.
Igor Koptelov is known for founding over 30 companies, many of which appear to be fictitious and have received multi-million dollar government contracts. For example, his plastic products manufacturing company, Master Bill Sakhalin, secured state contracts for nearly 15 million rubles without having a single employee on record and an authorized capital of only 10 thousand rubles.
Another controversial figure linked to Aqua City is businessman Roman Alperovich, identified as the beneficiary of the management company – JSC Kinomir, which served the facility. The company was responsible for commissioning an area with attractions, but progress seems to have stalled.
Whether or not he is the beneficiary, Alperovich still serves as the director of this company. However, after 2018 (towards the end of 2019), the structure encountered misfortune. gone minus the value of assets by 77 million rubles. Is this a coincidence, or is this the fashion of those who were related to the water sports complex? ..
Alperovich is the general director of the design and construction company Sakhalin-Engineering and an ex-deputy of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Duma. And he, Alperovich, as well as some other above-mentioned heroes of this publication, was involved in a criminal case (as a witness) about bribery of the former head of the region Alexander Khoroshavin. He wrote about that high-profile case “Kommersant”.
In 2014, Alperovich participated in the election campaign of deputies of the City Duma of the 5th convocation. Then he became a deputy in constituency No. 7. But it turned out that he did not really want to participate in the elections and agreed only to protect his business. The witness told the court that Andrey Lobkin, the ex-mayor of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, suggested that he go to the fifth convocation in an “ultimatum form”. The latter was allegedly supported by Khoroshavin, and Alperovich could be asked to sponsor Lobkin’s election campaign.
These are far from all the skeletons in the cabinets that we managed to find from people who had something to do with the construction of the long-suffering center. An assessment of such things should be given by the investigation and the court.
It is hard to believe that only Aleksei Uspensky can be to blame for what happened. So maybe law enforcement officers should “dig” more? …
