trong>(c) Luzhinsky's basket
The head of the Smolensk customs corrupted his subordinates with envelopes
The Belarusian border, due to the flow of seance cargoes pouring through it, quickly turned into one of the most profitable destinations for officials of the Federal Customs Service. Therefore, the resignations and arrests of customs officers who came to their posts under Belyaninov were quite expected. Yesterday, the head of the Smolensk customs, Iosif Luzhinsky, was also taken into custody, who is suspected of taking a bribe on an especially large scale. Interestingly, last year Luzhinsky, on the contrary, was suspected of trying to bribe his subordinates.
Detainees Iosif Luzhinsky and his first deputy, head of the customs clearance department are suspected of receiving a bribe in the form of property for assistance in entrepreneurial activities related to customs clearance of goods (part 6 of article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), said senior assistant to the head of the Investigative Committee of the ICR for the Smolensk region Natalya Zueva.
According to preliminary information, we are talking about gifts from participants in foreign economic activity to the leadership of the customs. The press service of the Smolensk customs refused to discuss the situation. Another source told Kommersant that we are talking about finishing facade building materials that were allegedly "donated" to Joseph Luzhinsky.
Mr. Luzhinsky came to the Smolensk customs as an acting head in March 2015. Prior to his appointment to Smolensk, he headed the economic direction of the Tula customs, where he held the position of head of the regional department. In Tula, Joseph Luzhinsky is mostly spoken positively and even suggested that he “did not fit into the Smolensk administrative landscape, where such gifts are not uncommon, as a result of which he was simply set up.”
Iosif Luzhinsky came to the attention of the FSB in the Smolensk region after a scandal with unofficial bonuses for employees of the Smolensk customs. In November 2016, almost 100 employees of the Smolensk customs distributed 3 million rubles in their offices as "bonuses". Each envelope with money was targeted, since it took into account the length of service and current merits of the employees of the department. Interestingly, the money was intended for the customs officers of the Center for Electronic Declaration of Goods, which, according to the customs officers themselves, excludes corruption issues, since it is fully automated.
After the incident, a criminal case was initiated under Part 5 of Art. 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (giving a bribe to an official by a group of persons by prior agreement, committed on an especially large scale). It was then that the FSB in the Smolensk region suggested that the customs formed a circle of working participants in foreign economic activity, which systematically "can reward" employees of the department. After that, Iosif Luzhinsky and a number of leaders of the Smolensk customs were among the suspects. In total, Joseph Luzhinsky worked in the Smolensk region for less than two years.
The media report on the conflicts that have existed for the past few years between the leadership of the customs and the participants in foreign economic activity, who sent a number of incriminating letters to the leadership of the Federal Customs Service of Russia. The initiators of the campaign are the co-owners of Terminal Nikolsky LLC and Import-Service LLC, father and son Dmitry Valerievich and Dmitry Dmitrievich Gruzdev. Gruzdev Sr. is the former head of Rostek-Smolensk and a business partner of the ex-head of Rostek Alexander Povstyany. Earlier, the Ruspres agency reported on the interests of FSUE Rostek at the Smolensk customs, where the enterprise created by Andrey Belyaninov ousted all private competitors.
The head of the Federal Customs Service of Russia signed an order to dismiss the Director General of FSUE ROSTEK Alexander Povstyany. Its structure occupies a dominant position in the market of customs services.
As versions of the reasons for the resignation, market participants name the FCS preparations for the privatization of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise, which from mid-2013 will be deprived of the right to earn on customs clearance, as well as corruption scandal , in which Alexander Povstyanoy's adviser Alexander Romanov is involved.
FCS spokesman Vladimir Zubkov told Kommersant that Povstyany's labor contract was terminated "at the initiative of the employee", although the contract expires only after a year. The representative of ROSTEK, Olga Zmiy, said that Valery Cherednichenko, the deputy head of the enterprise, would act as Povstyany.
One of the reasons for the resignation of an official may be training in privatization of ROSTEK say market participants. In May 2012, at a meeting of the Supervisory Board of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, it was decided to remove ROSTEK from customs activities. President Vladimir Putin listened to the complaints of entrepreneurs who called it unacceptable that a structure affiliated with the FCS is squeezing private business out of the customs clearance and warehouse services market. Amendments to the law "On customs regulation" were introduced to the State Duma, prohibiting any "entrepreneurial activity in the field of customs" by the subordinate structures of the FCS. Customs officers and the Ministry of Economy are preparing proposals for corporatization and further privatization of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise. It is assumed that after the sale of assets, ROSTEK will remain, but will only be engaged in the construction and operation of customs infrastructure facilities, that is, activities that do not bring profit.
The dismissal of Povstyany may be due to the intention of the Federal Customs Service to maintain contact with the customs business by transferring part of the assets of ROSTEK to other structures. The ban on brokerage and warehousing services will come into force no earlier than mid-2013, but preparations are already underway for the redistribution of the market. For example, we are talking about including ROSTEK-Logistics LLC in the register of customs representatives, transferring the premises occupied by ROSTEK North-West CJSC to the Electronic Declaration Center of St. Petersburg Customs.
Another reason for Povstyany's resignation could be a corruption scandal involving his adviser, former officer of the Foreign Intelligence Service Alexander Romanov. Together with the leaders of the branch of CJSC "ROSTEK-Bryansk" in the city of Sevsk, he is accused under Part 4 of Art. 204 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (commercial bribery). According to investigators, ROSTEK employees "on the ground", whose appointment Romanov lobbied for, sent him to Moscow money received for speeding up customs clearance. Information is being verified that these funds were used to purchase land and build warehouses for temporary storage of goods. Romanov was detained on 9 September.
The head of the Federal Customs Service (FTS), Andrey Belyaninov, has become a defendant in a new corruption scandal. His "proteges" were able to "redirect" the financial flows from FSUE Rostek to themselves. This was reported to the correspondent of The Moscow Post in law enforcement agencies.
The sad fate of Rostek
As you know, the customs sphere is one of the most corrupt. At the same time, corruption manifests itself in such an important industry as “customs clearance” (ie, customs clearance of goods and vehicles moved across the border).
Previously controlled by the Federal Customs Service, FSUE Rostek occupied a dominant position in the customs clearance market.
Moreover, this Federal State Unitary Enterprise, through its subsidiaries, owned terminals and temporary storage warehouses (TSW) throughout the country. Rostek occupied at least 20–30% of turnover in the Russian market of foreign economic activity. In monetary terms, this share was at least $300 million. As of 2013, Rostek's assets were estimated at at least $1 billion.
It is possible that the activities of this FSUE would have flourished further, but after a series of corruption scandals in this structure, in December 2013, President Vladimir Putin signed a law prohibiting the entrepreneurial activities of FSUE Rostek.
However, FCS officials were in no hurry to say goodbye to Rostek's business. The media began to write that the customs authorities "ignored" Putin's decision regarding this FSUE.
"Customs racket"
It is quite clear to experts why the head of the Federal Customs Service, Andrei Belyaninov, wanted so much to keep his “business privileges” for Rostek.
After all, a year after Belyaninov headed the FCS, Alexander Povstyany, Belyaninov's former colleague at Novikombank and his adviser at the FCS, became the director of Rostek. And in 2008, the Federal Customs Service launched a project to transfer customs clearance of goods to warehouses closer to the state border.
Rumor has it that soon after Povstyany came to Rostek, the employees of this federal state unitary enterprise began to literally “squeeze” shares in their warehouses from “private traders”. Representatives of the Federal Customs Service came to the owners of the warehouses “in the style of the dashing 90s” and gave them an ultimatum: either a certain share goes to Rostek, or the customs post located in their warehouse by decision of the Federal Customs Service will be liquidated.
Since no one needed a temporary storage warehouse without a customs post, the merchants were forced to give up to 50% of the business to Rostek. If entrepreneurs refused to "share warehouses", then they were simply closed.
It is obvious that the behavior of Belyaninov's subordinates and his colleague Povstyany did not differ much from the banal "racketeers" from the 90s. The main difference was only that the employees of FSUE Rostek were protected by the state.
A Sound of Thunder"
Of course, entrepreneurs began to fight this FSUE, flooding the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) with complaints against Rostek.
As a result of these complaints, in May 2012, President Putin demanded that customs be banned from engaging in commercial activities and that FSUE Rostek be liquidated.
After some time, searches and arrests began in the Rostek structures.
The Romanov case
The result of the "anti-corruption campaign" was the dismissal of Alexander Povstyany. The head of Rostek lost his post due to a corruption scandal, in which Alexander Romanov, an adviser to Alexander Povstyanoy, was involved at that time (he worked for Belyaninov at Novikombank since 1994 - ed.)
According to the investigation, the adviser to the general director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Alexander Romanov, who received "tribute" through intermediaries and invested it in the construction of a temporary storage warehouse and, apparently, in hotels abroad, was suspected of committing a number of corruption crimes (clause "a" part 4 of Art. 204 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Part 2 of Article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
In court, his guilt was proven. In May 2014, by a court decision, Romanov was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
Alexander Povstyany
It is known that "Garantstroynedvizhimost" is the customer of the cottage village "Ruzskiye Dachi", located on 144 hectares near the village of Brazhnikovo on the banks of the Ruza, 100 km from the Moscow Ring Road. The cost of a hundred square meters of land in the village is estimated at 45,000 rubles.
But Povstyany’s partner in the White Whale financial and legal bureau and the director of Rostek-dufrimola, Artem Morozov, was the general director and owner of 66.67% in the company of Belyaninov’s daughter, Svetlana, Maestro LLC, which was liquidated in 2011.
Svetlana herself was the CEO after him, and she was also the majority owner of this company.
One of the partners of the "White Whale" is the insurance company (IC) "Arsenal". This company is 33% co-owned by Sergei Lobanov, Svetlana Belyaninova's partner in her Moscow firm Impulse-3000. In it, they owned 5 and 47.5%, respectively.
Belyaninov's wife "lit up" in the "customs scandal"
It is worth noting that the name of Lyudmila Belyaninova flashed in the "scandalous chronicle" after in 2013 the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on abuse of authority against the head of the department of the Main Directorate of Logistics of the Federal Customs Service Dmitry Kuznetsov.
Kuznetsov's fault was that he "organized the illegal execution and issuance of special operational cover documents to third parties."
Upon presentation of these documents, neither a driver's license, nor registration documents, nor a waybill, nor a vehicle, nor a transported cargo, nor a driver, nor citizens accompanying him, should be checked.
Such documents were issued for private cars, which was already illegal. So, not only the head of the Main Organizational and Inspection Department Sergey Lobanov and the deputy head of the Federal Customs Service Sergey Komlichenko, but also members of their families had special coupons.
It is obvious that the head of the FCS has turned the customs office into a kind of private shop, where his friends and relatives run everything, and FSUE Rostek has long been a real “feeding trough” for the leadership of the FCS. When Putin ordered the liquidation of Rostek's business, the top managers of this federal state unitary enterprise managed to "financial flows" of Rostek into their own structures.
According to experts, the connection of the relatives of the head of the Federal Customs Service with the structures of Rostek is clearly corrupt. Obviously, the security forces should pay close attention to the business of Andrey Belyaninov's friends and relatives. And then, perhaps, not only resignation, but also criminal prosecution will await this official.
Alexander Romanov, adviser to the general director of FSUE ROSTEK, was arrested for organizing commercial bribery. The heads of ROSTEK subdivisions, whose appointment was lobbied by Mr. Romanov, sent him the funds received for speeding up the customs clearance of goods to Moscow. Millions of rubles and dollars were then laundered through banks and spent on the acquisition of shares in enterprises and real estate abroad. According to investigators, high-ranking employees of not only the Federal State Unitary Enterprise, but also the Federal Customs Service, as well as the Ministry of Internal Affairs could be involved in the corruption scheme.
[Ruspres: The Federal State Unitary Enterprise ROSTEK was established in 1992 by order of the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation in order to effectively organize the construction and operation of customs facilities. Also engaged in the provision of services in the declaration of goods, consulting activities on customs issues, the creation of customs infrastructure, the production of customs forms and other printing products. It is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Customs Service of Russia. The system of enterprises ROSTEK is a single diversified vertically integrated holding covering all federal districts of the Russian Federation. It consists of a parent company, 13 branches and 35 CJSCs and LLCs, employing more than 6 thousand specialists. According to the SPARK database, revenue in 2011 amounted to 960.05 million rubles, net profit - 25.57 million rubles. General Director - Povstyany Alexander Grigorievich].
Retired SVR Colonel Alexander Romanov, who was considered the gray cardinal of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise, got burned on extortion from businessmen at one of his fifty enterprises - the Sevsk branch of CJSC ROSTEK-Bryansk. As Kommersant has already reported, on August 8, branch director Boris Ryzhkov and his deputy Yuri Madzharov were detained while receiving 446,000 rubles. as a reward for carrying out procedures for customs clearance of goods and vehicles in an accelerated period. Mr. Ryzhkov was arrested, accused under paragraph "a" of Part 4 of Art. 204 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Illegal receipt by a group of persons performing managerial functions in a commercial organization, by prior conspiracy of money for committing actions in the interests of the giver in connection with his official position”), and his deputy, who decided to cooperate with the TFR, retained his freedom.
Understanding this case, employees of the TFR and the GUEBiPK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation found out that the system of requisitions had been operating in the branch since 2010. Charging $50-100 from each trailer for "acceleration", the brokers accumulated impressive sums, which were then sent to Alexander Romanov in Moscow. According to preliminary data, about 1 million rubles were transferred to him every month from Sevsk alone.
Having learned about the detentions in Sevsk, Mr. Romanov took a vacation and left for Montenegro, where his wife, on shares with the wife of the infamous former deputy head of the DEB of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Andrey Khorev, owns the Romanov and Azimut hotels. From there, after making several important calls and seemingly enlisting the support of high-ranking officials, just in case, he decided to return to Russia by a circuitous route. I drove to Bulgaria by car, and then rented a charter flight to Moscow, where I was detained on August 28.
On the same day, the operational-investigative group searched the detainee's mansion in Barvikha near Moscow, which was under armed guard, and then Mr. Romanov was transferred to the place where the alleged crime was committed - to Bryansk. According to Kommersant, the suspect signed a confession there, telling in detail about the corruption schemes operating in ROSTEK, the distribution of funds received as kickbacks, and the "roof" provided by high-ranking security officials. According to one version, which is now being verified, among the latter could be General Khorev, who oversaw the fight against smuggling in his department. Recall that the Ministry of Internal Affairs carried out many checks against the General of the Main Directorate of the Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but the collected materials were not enough to initiate a criminal case. Now, obviously, General Khorev will be dealt with again.
From Golden to Pinocchio
Last Friday, the Sovetsky District Court of Bryansk, having granted the request of the ICR, arrested the suspect under Part 4 of Art. 204 of the Criminal Code of Romanov. In his criminal case, according to Kommersant, there are already several episodes. Testimony that Mr. Romanov had to send $40-30 thousand to Moscow every month was given by another former director of the regional branch of ROSTEK. For this, he specially flew to Moscow from abroad. In addition, information is checked that kickbacks to the head office of the customs broker came from other departments. It is interesting that part of the cash that Mr. Romanov accepted at the Zolotoy, Vremena Goda and Pinocchio restaurants on Kutuzovsky Prospekt in Moscow was then handed over to the bank, credited to the accounts of various commercial structures and individuals, and they already acquired shares large enterprises and real estate abroad. According to Kommersant's sources, such manipulations fall under another article of the Criminal Code - 174.1 ("Legalization (laundering) of funds or other property acquired by a person as a result of committing a crime"). The bank and the offices of the firms involved in laundering have already been searched and documents seized.
Olga Kolesnikova, an assistant to the general director of ROSTEK, told Kommersant that the Federal State Unitary Enterprise knows nothing about the fate of Mr. Romanov. According to her, the central office of the organization is working as usual, no investigative and operational actions related to the detention of Romanov were carried out there, and no documents were received from law enforcement officers in this regard.
It should be noted that the unitary enterprise ROSTEK, which is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Customs Service, has existed for 20 years, but in May this year, at a meeting of the Supervisory Board of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) created by President Vladimir Putin, it was decided to remove the Federal State Unitary Enterprise from commercial customs activities. The President heeded the complaints of entrepreneurs who stated that a situation is unacceptable when a structure affiliated with the FCS actively competes with private business in the customs clearance market. In pursuance of this May decision, on August 21, the State Duma submitted amendments to the law "On Customs Regulation in the Russian Federation", which prohibit any "entrepreneurial activity in the field of customs" under the jurisdiction of the Federal Customs Service.
The bill has not yet been considered by the State Duma, but the Federal Customs Service and the Ministry of Economy are already preparing their proposals for the reorganization and privatization of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise. These departments do not comment on the situation, referring to the fact that the decision to include the enterprise in the privatization plan has not yet been made.
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