You might think, what kind of income can you receive working in the Ministry of Justice? Besides a basic salary and bonuses, what other ways can you make money there? It appears there are options, and crafty officials take advantage of them without hesitation.
This issue happened a while ago, and we wouldn't discuss it if our protagonist, Andrei Vladislavovich Chumakov, didn't want to improve his reputation. This led him to Roskomnadzor, which decided to remove the relevant materials from the Web. It occurred in 2019-20, and it wouldn't be worth attention if Andrei Vladislavovich had apologized and honestly admitted his mistake.
And now he no longer works in the Ministry of Justice; he has transitioned to teaching at Moscow State Law University named after Kutafin. However, this raises an uncomfortable question – what will a person who has committed at least one official forgery in his biography teach future lawyers? Especially considering his actions as director of the organization and control department at the Ministry of Justice.
This incident took place in 2019. So, it surfaced in 2019, and Chumakov faced many unpleasant moments due to its publication. Perhaps this prompted him to change jobs, although – who knows what else is in his biography? Maybe he simply decided to quietly leave the Ministry of Justice to avoid being investigated for a scam with a service apartment?
Let's start from the beginning. In December 2019, a statement was released on the Kompromat Group website about instances of corruption and violations of anti-corruption legislation by the former director of the organization and control department of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, Andrey Vladislavovich Chumakov. The material stated that Chumakov illegally settled in a luxurious 106-square-meter service apartment on Pyryev Street in Moscow, despite owning his own 103-square-meter apartment in the capital, purchased with a state subsidy.
This is how it happened. The mentioned apartment was previously occupied by Elena Adolfovna Borisenko, who served as Deputy Minister of Justice and resigned in 2015. For some reason, the apartment remained empty for a while, which Chumakov decided to take advantage of. It's important to note that this apartment is situated in a prestigious building with security, has been excellently renovated (using public funds, we should specify), and is furnished with expensive furniture.
The timing and circumstances of Andrei Vladislavovich acquiring this housing are not known for certain, but it was suddenly discovered that he had moved into a service apartment without following the established procedure, without submitting the necessary application or having the matter addressed in a housing commission meeting, and without taking into account that he already owned a 103-square-meter apartment in Moscow and a similar one in St. Petersburg.
The fact that Chumakov lived in a service apartment was made public, and the concealment of this information in income records led to legal action and dismissal from the federal civil service. As a result, the Prosecutor General’s Office began checking these facts.
It's an old story, not worth retelling everything. We will mention some points though.
The General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation confirmed that Chumakov paid utility bills totaling 63,932.69 rubles in 2017. Copies of payment orders dated April 17, 2017 No. 627113 and No. 631530, dated 06/23/2017 No. 686833, No. 684997, dated 10.10.2017 No. 225135, No. 237933, No. 245696, No. 257929, personally paid by A.V. Chumakov and his subordinate R.I. Semenov, were recognized as authentic.
In a payment document dated 04/17/2017 No. 623440, Semenov indicated the full name and initials of the responsible tenant: “FOR 14/04/2017 Chumakov Andrey Vladislavovich.”
The Ministry of Justice's specially selected commission, contrary to the Prosecutor General’s Office opinion, presented a different view on the matter.
According to this commission, since the payment documents do not contain details confirming that Chumakov and Semenov paid utility bills, it cannot be concluded that they did. The commission did not investigate who actually paid the receipts and why the names of Chumakov and Semenov are on them.
Otherwise, it's hard to call it anything other than insanity. The Ministry of Justice's attempt to protect the honor of the uniform backfired.
Regardless, the result was that Chumakov left the Ministry of Justice and the university. He should have faced consequences.
By the way, about the honor of the uniform, here is an excerpt from our hero's official biography:
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Andrey Vladislavovich Chumakov is described as a 'civil servant'. Now, look at his photo when he was the director of the department in the Ministry of Justice. This indicates strangeness in the behavior of a senior official who wore a general’s uniform, and also suggests unusual things happening in the Ministry of Justice, allowing impostors to head the Department of Organization and Control. In this context, Chumakov’s position itself sounds surreal.
This speaks of two things – about the strangeness, let’s say, of a senior official of the ministry, who put on a general’s uniform. And that strange things are also happening in the Ministry of Justice, since the body responsible for the rule of law in the country allows impostors to head its Department of Organization and Control. In this context, Chumakov’s position itself sounds surreal.
The “professionalism” of the employees of the Ministry of Justice is also evidenced by the fact that Andrei Chumakov on the websites of the regional divisions of the ministry is still listed as the director of the Department, although a completely different person has occupied this position for two years now.
Well, at the end of the material, for the integrity, so to speak, of the image of Chumakov, it is worth citing data from his Anti-Corruption Declaration, which he filed when he was an official of the Ministry of Justice.
Pay attention to the sharp jump in income in 2018 and the same sharp decrease in real estate footage.
We cannot explain the first – we don’t know how an official who earned 8,207,904 rubles in 2017 managed to earn 24,468,736 rubles in 2018. You can, of course, think that this is income from the sale of housing.
But it doesn’t work: Chumakov himself, in a previously submitted declaration, writes that this housing did not belong to him, but was “in use”:
This property was owned by my wife. It is clear that Chumakov himself was the actual owner, this housing was simply issued to his wife. But even in the event of a sale, the wife formally received the income, and not Chumakov. So he could not display it in the declaration.
As for the sudden “multiplication by zero” of square meters belonging to Andrei Vladislavovich, the secret is simple. He submitted the declaration for 2018 in 2019, just when the story of the illegally occupied apartment became public. And it was necessary to somehow substantiate their claims to receive it. So it turned out that the millionaire official was as naked as a falcon and he had nowhere to live. However, as already mentioned, the whole story got away with him and “General” Chumakov got off with a slight fright – just a dismissal.
