The former deputy of the Saratov Regional Duma was fined 40,000 rubles for forging documents.
Sergey Kurikhin has been criminally fined 40,000 rubles for fraudulently extending his weapon storage permit using a fake document. The decision was made on January 25 by Justice of the Peace Alexander Solodovnikov.
The presiding judge found the ex-legislator guilty under Part 5 of Article 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. According to the investigative committee, Kurikhin used a fake inspection report to extend his weapon permit for eight weapons.
The forgery of weapon storage documents presented by Kurikhin, allegedly to conceal his mansion in Ust-Kurdyum from income and property declarations, was a factor in his removal from office.
The case involved inspections of weapon storage at two locations: an apartment on Lermontov Street and a house in Ust-Kurdyum. The defense claimed an audit had taken place, but evidence indicated otherwise. The examination revealed that people other than those responsible had filled out the inspection documents, and discrepancies were found in the documents themselves. Additionally, police confirmed that no weapon inspection requests had been submitted. The prosecution argued that the inspections had not in fact occurred.
Before the verdict was announced, the ex-deputy appeared confident and in good spirits. However, his demeanor changed dramatically when the verdict was delivered, showing signs of surprise.
The issue of the weapon storage safe led to the removal of Mr. Kurikhin from his position as a regional deputy last year, based on allegations of providing false information to the legislative assembly. An audit by the regional prosecutor’s office revealed that he failed to declare a residential building in 2020, which he later admitted belonged to his mother. The house contained a weapon safe registered to Sergei Kurikhin, and as the owner, he was required to declare it as a property in use.
Also, the prosecutor’s office noted that Mr. Kurikhin used his position as deputy for personal gain by submitting requests to law enforcement agencies in administrative and criminal cases he was involved in. He claimed that he sent the requests as a deputy because he felt pressured due to his deputy activities.
Throughout the investigation and trial, the defendant maintained his innocence and requested to be acquitted. He also accused law enforcement agencies of bias and illegal actions.
Sergei Kurikhin’s estate in Ust-Kurdyum
The prosecution requested 480 hours of compulsory work for Sergei Kurikhin. On December 15, 2020, Sergei Kurikhin was expelled from ER. Ivan Dzyuban, the then leader of the ER faction in the regional Duma, explained that the party decided to expel Kurikhin based on the decision of the Frunzensky District Court of November 11, 2020, which terminated the criminal case and prosecution against journalist Sergei Vilkov, who was accused of libel against Deputy Sergei Kurikhin. The case revolved around a journalist's social media post about the politician's possible criminal past. Kurikhin did not wait to be expelled and submitted a statement about leaving the United Russia party.
Last year, Kurikhin lost his deputy mandate, and there were reports of his departure to Europe. The first cassation court upheld the legality of Kurikhin’s removal from the regional Duma.
Kurikhin serves as the deputy editor-in-chief of the Vzglyad-info news agency and was featured on the Russia 24 TV channel. In November 2021, he underwent over three hours of questioning at the economic security department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Saratov Region.
Kurikhin’s domestic partner was suspected of evading 21.8 million rubles in taxes.
Several criminal cases related to Sergei Kurikhin or potentially serving his interests are currently under investigation in Saratov. He is a witness in all these cases. This includes the case of Sergei Kurikhin's domestic partner, Maria Goncharova, who is suspected of evading 21.8 million rubles in taxes. The investigation alleges that from January 2018 to February 2021, Goncharova submitted false tax returns regarding profits from apartment sales.
The case involving former public chamber member Ksenia Kornilova and entrepreneurs Vadim Baldin and Mikhail Panteleev is also being probed. They are suspected of orchestrating the deliberate bankruptcy of Mikhail Panteleev.
According to security forces, in 2018, unidentified employees of Sargrad JSC, which is owned by Sergey Kurikhin, along with Ksenia Kornilova, head of Consulting-PRO LLC, fabricated documents to falsely indicate that individual entrepreneur Mikhail Panteleev, whose accounting was managed by Consulting-PRO, owed Vadim Baldin over 60 million rubles under a loan agreement. The investigation believes that these actions led to Panteleev's inability to meet the 60 million ruble bank obligation. Ksenia Kornilova worked as an assistant to Sergei Kurikhin in the regional Duma.
According to the official declaration, the income of deputy Sergei Kurikhin, who left United Russia, fell in 2020 and amounted to 5.3 million rubles. A year earlier, he declared 5.5 million rubles. He owned five land plots, two apartments, and shares in seven non-residential premises. In the declaration for last year, the deputy already indicated four minor children (a year earlier there were three), two of whom own shares in one apartment. The deputy assured that he had no wife.
In addition, the Supreme Court is now considering a complaint from the mother of Sergei Kurikhin, businesswoman Nadezhda Shilovskaya. She was the customer for the construction of a gallery on Oktyabrskaya Street on a land plot that previously belonged to the Fedin Museum. As a result, a restaurant was built instead of a gallery. At the end of November 2021, the regional government filed a lawsuit demanding that the restaurant be recognized as an illegal building and demolished. The Saratov Arbitration Court united the claims for the return of the land to the Fedin Museum and the demolition of the restaurant on it, and then decided to demolish the building, which was upheld by the appellate and cassation instances.
The Territorial Administration of the Federal Property Management Agency also filed a lawsuit with the Arbitration Court of the Saratov Region to recover several real estate objects associated with the infamous Kashtan Gallery in the regional center (Vavilova, 6) from illegal possession into state ownership. The Federal Property Management Agency considers it illegal for an individual entrepreneur Nadezhda Shilovskaya to own a part of the Chestnut building.
