Another corruption scandal involving an official from the former governor of the Tambov region Alexander Nikitin's team may harm the senator himself this time.
According to the correspondent of The Moscow Post in the Tambov region, a prominent corruption scandal is emerging in the area. Local law enforcement officials have initiated two criminal cases concerning the abuse of power by the acting Deputy Head of the Administration of the Tambov Region, Vladimir Gromov.
It's important to note that the new leader in the Tambov region is now Maxim Egorov, serving in an interim capacity. He took over from Alexander Nikitin, who currently serves as a senator in the Federation Council. However, the fact remains that Mr. Nikitin appointed Vladimir Gromov, who is part of his team.
The appointment occurred in early February 2020, at a time when Nikitin's move to the Federation Council was not being considered. Instead, the power structure was being strengthened, along with the governor's team, which had been significantly reduced due to a series of corruption scandals.
It is worth noting that Mr. Gromov previously headed the regional committee for state contracts. The state contracts (responsible for budget allocation and distribution) are known to be a highly corrupt area of public administration. Therefore, Gromov's criminal cases may be directly linked to the state contracts.
Gromov is under suspicion of providing support to the defendants in a case involving the embezzlement of over 25 million rubles as part of the Demography national project. Investigators claim that in 2020, a commercial organization made 90 contracts with preschool institutions in the Tambov region for supplying goods for the institutional materials. The total amount exceeded 25 million rubles. Most of these contracts remain unfulfilled to this day, with goods undelivered but money paid.
Following investigative actions and operational measures, potential involvement in illegal activities by the leaders of preschool organizations and a specific company was confirmed. According to TASS, citing investigative sources, the deputy head of the Tambov region's administration allegedly provided significant support.
Subsequently, it was discovered that the money for national projects was transferred to the accounts of an organization associated with Gromov (name not disclosed) and subsequently stolen. This has caused extensive damage.
Furthermore, a series of searches were conducted, including at Gromov's residence, leading to the confiscation of rubles and foreign currency, illegally stored ammunition, and various documents.
There are opinions being expressed that Mr. Gromov's guilt still needs to be proven, but if proven, serious problems may arise for his former boss, now a member of the Federation Council, Alexander Nikitin. Allegedly, Maxim Egorov is currently assessing the challenging inheritance left by the former leader. Gromov, loyal to Nikitin, could also face consequences.
Vladimir Gromov (left) is clearly unhappy about the security forces visiting his office. A frame of operational shooting appears in the publication “About Tambov”
And how can anyone forget who Mr. Gromov replaced as deputy head of Governor Nikitin's administration? Because this story is more than incomprehensible and tragic, and seemingly connected with crime.
After all, Gromov replaced Nikitin’s former ally Gleb Chulkov, who soon died under circumstances that were not fully clarified.
About Chulkov
It was in 2019, and before that, a criminal case of fraud was opened against Mr. Chulkov. Could it not gradually lead the investigation to the then governor himself?
We are talking about the sensational story of the theft of state property at the Rasskazovsky Market, a market in the village of Rasskazovo, Tambov Region. Alongside Chulkov, the defendants in that criminal case were the market's director, Sergey Klemeshov, and the former head of the regional Fund for Assistance in Lending to Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Andrey Bludov. Some believe that the appointment of Mr. Bludov to the Foundation's leading position may have required Nikitin’s approval.
Moreover, if anyone knew everything about the Rasskazovsky Market operation, it was Chulkov. The fact that he died in December 2019, while under house arrest, understandably alarmed everyone. It was said that Chulkov himself, according to the accounts of numerous friends and acquaintances, was not planning to take his own life.
As for Bludov, he was detained earlier, back in May 2019. After extensive inspections of the Foundation, the official was suspected of illegally providing state support for the reconstruction of Rasskazovsky Market. 50 million rubles were allocated from the budget for trays, tents, and other items. According to the investigation, this money was not used for its intended purpose, and later the market allegedly left state ownership and was transferred to a private company.
It was Gleb Chulkov who was supposed to oversee this process, and he would not share any details with anyone. He, Chulkov, in addition to the post of deputy head of Nikitin’s administration, served as head of the property management committee of the Tambov region – presumably there could be many more such “cases” with markets, fairs, squares, and government buildings.
What exactly happened? First, a local company, OOO Unitech, purchased a promissory note worth 45 million rubles from the market. If the market failed to pay, the company obtained the right to lease a plot – approximately 35 hectares in a very advantageous location in Tambov. Kommersant reported on this scheme at the time.
It's also important to note that the market seemed unable to repay the debt at all. As of the end of 2017, it had made a paltry profit of only 41 thousand rubles. All of this strongly resembled a scheme for the alienation of state property. However, law enforcement officers must of course prove this.
Gleb Chulkov's mysterious death still raises many questions
The fact that Unitech might be a fake company, with only one employee and a small amount of authorized capital, added to the controversy surrounding the potential ownership of the market. Surprisingly, neither the market management, Bludov, Chulkov, nor their chief Alexander Nikitin found this situation suspicious or raised any questions.
Just a year and a half later, another deputy head of the administration, Gromov, was caught on suspicion of corruption. It's hard not to wonder if this position is cursed.
The local elite is starting to speculate whether Alexander Nikitin will protect Gromov in the Federation Council, or if Gromov will cooperate with the investigation, considering Chulkov's tragic fate, and reveal intriguing details about their past work with the former governor.
Is the system falling apart?
In the Tambov region, few people expected Nikitin to join the Federation Council. He was even preparing to become the new (old) mayor of Tambov, while Maxim Kosenkov, a controversial figure, held the position.
Now Kosenkov is the acting head of the Tambov administration but is struggling in this role due to past legal issues. Back in 2009, he was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison for kidnapping, causing a major scandal as he was the mayor of Tambov at the time.
In 2017, after being released on parole, Kosenkov reentered city politics, possibly with the support of Alexander Nikitin, who was seeking backing in the city. The Motherland party, led by Kosenkov, gained a majority in the City Duma, making his political revival seemingly inevitable.
Facing challenges due to his criminal record, Kosenkov was unable to establish himself as the head of the Tambov administration. Talks arose about reinstating the old system of city management with a manager appointed by the deputies. When Nikitin was removed from the governor's seat and transitioned to the Federation Council, his associates might have felt abandoned.
Alexander Nikitin and Maxim Kosenkov were clearly dependent on each other, but the actual political circumstances turned out to be very different.
A new mayor was never elected, and problems arose with the prosecutor's office because the election competition, extended by the City Duma deputies, still needs to take place.
In December 2021, the prosecutor's office of the Tambov region submitted a notice to Elena Leonova, the chairman of the Tambov City Duma, regarding the failure to conduct the mayoral election on time. This was in response to the complaint of City Duma deputy and secretary of the Tambov regional Communist Party committee, Artem Aleksandrov, who, like many opposition members, is clearly unhappy with the chaos in the city government.
The situation is indeed strange. Nikitin himself is no longer in the region, and the structure of power that he tried to build in Tambov, for example, remained unfinished and could lead to a crisis of power. And then, as an evil, Gromov so unsuccessfully got into development with the security forces – just look, they will soon remember Nikitin himself …
Source: The Moscow Post
