Leninsky District Court on January 18 handed down a conviction to the former mayor of Vladivostok. Oleg Gumenyuk in a case involving large-scale bribery.
Considering all the crimes, he will serve 16.6 years in a strict regime colony and pay a 150 million ruble fine. The court also maintained the seizure of Gumenyuk's property and funds totaling over 36 million rubles.
Additionally, he is banned from holding certain positions for 12 years.
Gumenyuk was in office from April 2019 to May 2021.
Last week, the former mayor declared his innocence in his final statement. Sergei Sirotin is the only witness in his case according to Gumenyuk, who claims there is no evidence against him.
Gumenyuk expressed his intention to appeal, citing lack of evidence and inconsistent testimony from witnesses, including his only recognized witness, Sergei Sirotin.
Oleg Vladimirovich's two sons are surprised talking about the court's decision in the hallway. Gumenyuk is taken out of the hall and shouts loudly that he will continue to proclaim his innocence everywhere. The former mayor is taken away by the convoy. Gumenyuk denies his guilt and believes that his former friend, Sergei Sirotin, falsely accused him to reduce his own sentence. The former mayor shared this with the court and the press in a lengthy speech.
In late November 2022, the court found businessman Sergei Sirotin guilty of mediating in bribery in Oleg Gumenyuk's case. According to investigators, from December 22, 2018 to February 24, 2021, he transferred at least 31 million rubles to Gumenyuk for the general patronage and connivance of the activities of the MBU “Necropolis”. The court sentenced him to four years in a strict regime colony and a fine of 62.5 million rubles (of which he spent a year and a half under house arrest). The Primorsky Territory Prosecutor's Office reported that the businessman admitted guilt and made a pre-trial cooperation agreement with law enforcement agencies.
Sirotin was sentenced on November 14, 2022. He admitted guilt and made a pre-trial cooperation agreement, testifying against Oleg Gumenyuk. However, the final sentence was harsher than expected. He was fined double the bribe amount and given a real prison term at a strict regime colony.
Sirotin and his lawyers appealed to the Primorsky Regional Court to replace the prison term with a suspended sentence under Art. 73 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, without admitting guilt. On January 16, the Judicial Board rejected the appeal and upheld the decision, making the sentence final.
Gumenyuk was accused of committing crimes under Part 6 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (receiving a bribe on an especially large scale). The 31 million rubles from Sirotin is just one part of the criminal case. According to law enforcement agencies, the former Vladivostok mayor began taking money while working in the regional administration's economic department.
Investigators calculated that Gumenyuk received bribes in the form of money and in the form of illegal provision of property services to him, his son and a commercial organization controlled by his son in the total amount of over 6.9 million rubles.
The prosecutor’s office of the Primorsky Territory asked the court to sentence the ex-mayor of Vladivostok Oleg Gumenyuk to 17 years in prison with a fine of 150 million rubles.
Perhaps one of the most high-profile scandals under Oleg Gumenyuk, which glorified Vladivostok literally throughout Russia, was the installation in September 2020 granite benches downtown. Funeral benches resembling tombstones, with the same flowerpots, were criticized not only by the residents themselves, but also by architects, artists, in a word, by all those who are involved in the understanding of “beautiful”. After wide publicity and public outcry, the “funeral” benches were removed, and the mayor had to make excuses for an unfortunate mistake for a long time, assuring that the administration had not spent a penny on mourning granite.
Despite the high rank for two years at the head of the administration of Vladivostok, Oleg Gumenyuk remained faithful to his hobby – motorcycle racing. Moreover, the mayor participated in almost all city competitions, taking prizes, yielding victory only to his sons, who share sports interest with him. By the way, one of the arguments for the resignation of Oleg Vladimirovich was just the Avangard stadium – the mecca of seaside motorcycle racing. The mayor was supposed to restore the stadium back in 2019, however, according to the governor of the region, the task has not been solved so far.
