In the Nizhny Novgorod district court yesterday announced the indictment in the case of the former head of the Republic of Mari El Leonid Markelov, ex-general director of “TV company 12 region” Natalia Kozhanova and ex-minister of agriculture of the republic Iraida Dolgusheva. According to investigators, in 2014–2016, Leonid Markelov received 235 million rubles in bribes. under the guise of a fictitious sale of shares for lobbying the interests of Nikolai Krivash, director of the Akashevskaya poultry farm, which received billions in subsidies from the budget. Leonid Markelov called the conclusions of the investigation absurd, saying that the head of state had asked for support for the investor.

Consideration of the merits of the criminal case against the former head of the Republic of Mari El, Leonid Markelov, began with the incident. When the convoy brought the defendants to the "aquarium", Natalia Kozhanova fainted. She complained to the judge about high blood pressure and a prolonged hypertensive crisis, saying that she needed to lie under IV drips and that they promised to hospitalize her in the SIZO. An ambulance was called for her, the doctors gave the prisoner tazepam, and she agreed to continue to participate in the process, but when the prosecutor spoke, she often lay down on the bench.

From the indictment it followed that from December 2014 to October 3, 2016, the head of Mari El Leonid Markelov “out of mercenary interest” lobbied for the interests of Akashevskaya poultry farm, hoping to receive a bribe from its director Nikolay Krivash. The poultry farm received large subsidies from the federal and republican budgets to pay part of the interest rate on investment loans. State support for three years amounted to almost 5 billion rubles. The prosecution believes that the Akashevskaya poultry farm received compensation from the budget more than any other Mari El agricultural enterprise, because Nikolai Krivash transferred to Leonid Markelov through a middleman a bribe in the amount of 235.2 million under the guise of a “fictitious transaction”. In 2015, Natalya Savchenko, Mr. Krivasha’s business partner, paid off this bill with the wife of the governor’s father, Tatyana Markelova, for the purchase of shares of Teplichnoye OJSC from her. Then the bills under the interest-free loan agreement were transferred to Television Company 12 Region LLC, whose director Natalya Kozhanova presented them for payment to Sberbank branches, and the funds received by Leonid Markelov “disposed of at their discretion”. Thus, the former head of Mari El was charged with receiving an official bribe on a large scale, and Natalya Kozhanova, who by proxy from Tatiana Markelova drafted a sale agreement for the shares of “Teplichny” and prepared the transaction, was charged with mediating the transfer of a bribe (Article 290 and 291.1 of the Criminal Code.

The third accused was the former Minister of Agriculture of the Republic, Iraida Dolgusheva. As follows from the indictment, on the orders of Leonid Markelov, her subordinates on the letterheads of the Mari Ministry of Agriculture prepared for Nikolai Krivash official inquiries about the amounts of state subsidies relying on his poultry factory. Then these certificates, which, according to the investigation, invalid data were entered, were submitted to the Agricultural Bank to receive preferential investment loans.

We add that in addition to bribe, Leonid Markelov was charged with abusing his authority (Article 285 of the Criminal Code). One of the episodes with state support of the Akashevskaya poultry farm, the second is connected with the hiring of several personal guards, who in 2013–2017 received payment from the Mari El budget, being employed as specialists and consultants to the secretariat. Also, the former head of the republic was charged with illegal possession of ammunition (Article 222 of the Criminal Code). In April 2017, during a search in his five-room apartment, 30 special cartridges of 9x39 mm (used in special forces' small arms) and another 17 ordinary cartridges of 7.62 caliber were found.

All defendants pleaded not guilty. Leonid Markelov called the indictment "nonsense" and "meaningless set of words."

According to him, he didn’t agree about any bribe with Nikolai Krivash (a merchant wanted to go abroad), and the Akashevskaya poultry farm as the largest investor legally received budget subsidies in the proportions of loans. “It so happened that in 2012, together with Krivash, we were at a reception with the head of state. There was his written instruction to fully support the project of the poultry farm. Maybe the prosecutor in this process will be able to formulate what the president had in mind when passing such a resolution? ”The former head of the republic said, noting that the incoming state subsidies were written off in the non-accepting manner to the lender. Leonid Markelov, in his words, had no relationship with the sale of the Teplichny shares, but it could not be “fictitious”, because it was registered in the Federal Register and 30 million rubles were paid from it. tax

From the chaotic and emotional speech of the ex-governor it followed that there had previously been various financial relationships between the wife of his father Tatiana Markelova and his ex-wife Irina Markelova, who then left for London. Tatiana Markelova controlled the “Broadcasting Company 12 Region”, which built “palaces and temples” in Yoshkar-Ola, attracting tourists, but the company was at a loss as it worked on borrowed funds. Therefore, the sale of “Greenhouse” was a kind of compensation for the developer’s investments, said defendant Markelov, stressing that he knew the situation from the inside only as a “spouse” who gave notarized consent to his ex-wife to make major transactions with family property.

According to the main accused, the ammunition could have been thrown at a search when “40 masked men” were trampling in the apartment and the two witnesses clearly could not keep track of them. From the story of Leonid Markelov it followed that local security officials for birthdays gave him carbines and all the gift weapons he put in a specially equipped room in the government. However, in 2017, the subordinates and the military pensioner looking after the dacha moved all the barrels to an apartment without his knowledge. Leonid Markelov said that there were some ammunition too, but the permissive department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs didn’t find any violations when checking the weapons storage conditions, and the investigation ignored this fact.

Natalia Kozhanova and Iraida Dolgusheva also reported that they did not commit any crimes. The ex-director of “TV Company 12 Region” said that she participated in the design of an ordinary civil transaction, and 235 million rubles, which incriminate Leonid Markelov as a bribe, were spent on the needs of the company, which follows from the financial statements. Iraida Dolgusheva stated that all the certificates she prepared were correct, but they did not affect the decisions of the credit committee of the Agricultural Bank, which issued loans to the Akashevskaya poultry factory: “Since this investor appeared, poultry meat production has increased 15 times, pork - 7 times. We did everything right, according to the state program. ”

According to the lawyer Sergei Kolosovsky, it will be difficult for the investigation to prove that Dmitry Ionin threatened someone - the deputy shot up with a video. “Everyone clings to the word 'shooting,' but they must cling to the word 'weapon.' Hunted automatic weapon is not. This thing is, by its legal nature, the same thing as a Chinese petard, ”said Mr. Kolosovsky.

At the same time, political analysts are confident that even if the criminal case is not brought to a logical conclusion, anyway, Dmitry Ionin will suffer considerable damage.

“He will suffer reputational damage, but he will be personal. The party will suffer less. And the topic, one way or another, will soon leave the informational agenda and close with more emotional events, ”says Ural political analyst Sergei Moshkin.