dialogue on trial
Ziyavudin Magomedov: Your Honor, I will explain what is the meaning of Ibida (EBITDA *).
Judge Mendeleeva: Don't tell me about your troubles.
Meshchansky court of Moscow.
On September 13, after a month's break, the Meshchansky Court of Moscow resumed hearings on case No. 01-0288 / 2021 — accused of embezzlement and organization of a «criminal community» of the co-owner of the Summa group of companies Ziyavudin Magomedov, his older brother, ex-senator from the Smolensk region Magomed Magomedov , and four top managers of the companies that were part of Summa (Artur Maksidov, Sergey Polyakov, Roman Gribanov and Yuri Petrov). And two days later, this more than strange process, which has been going on since the spring of 2021, was closed from the public and journalists. At the request of the head of the «K» department of the FSB Ivan Tkachev.
Why is the process strange?
First, the strongest operational support (so maniacs and pedophiles would be tried).
Secondly, in spite of the fact that charges have been brought up under Article 210 of the Criminal Code («Organization of a criminal community or participation in it»), prosecutors are discussing the density of sand, soil and from which quarries the sand was taken.
Third, the judge. The presiding judge, Olesya Mendeleeva, does not hide her affection for the prosecutors, and sometimes shouts at the more than calm defendants. A rarity even in today's Russian courts, where for the sake of decency they still create the appearance of equality and competition. But not in this process.
I will tell you about the last three meetings that were held in open mode. More, alas, will not be necessary.
On Monday, September 13, prosecution witness Yury Novikov spoke by videoconference from the Voronezh court. I learned about the existence of the Magomedovs in 2019. Those have been in prison for a year already. He called himself a businessman and associate of the late Voronezh banker Alexei Turkov. The whole interrogation «floated». During the investigation, he said that through the firms of the late entrepreneur, the Magomedovs cashed money. In court, he refused to testify and said that the brothers cashed out the funds through the «garbage companies» of «one of the largest Voronezh cashiers» Moren Palya, currently convicted of illegal VAT refunds. Convenient: one is a dead person, the other is condemned.
— I was financially dependent on Morena Paglia, I was afraid of losing my job and therefore agreed to help him cash out in 2012, — said the prosecution witness, adding that he twice transported cash in plastic bags to Moscow:
— I drove at least 20 million at a time. By weight — 8-9 kg.
He let slip that he saw in Voronezh allegedly one of the defendants — a top manager of a company belonging to the Summa group, Roman Gribanov. He was surprised and asked:
— Witness, tell us where we met there?
— I think I saw you. But it was a long time ago.
— And where did I live there, what kind of transport did I use?
— The question is removed, it is irrelevant! — the judge saved the «important witness».
“Your Honor, I have never been to Voronezh,” the defendant said just in case.
— Will there be more questions ?!
Ziyavudin Magomedov had questions:
— Witness, did you often in your life take bags of money to Moscow for someone?
— Hmm … Quite often, and from Moscow too …
— It is strange that you are not sitting yet.
— Defendant! — the judge reacted with lightning speed again. — Stand up! Without your comments!
Co-owner of Summa Ziyavudin Magomedov in court. Photo: Vyacheslav Prokofiev / TASS
The next prosecution witness made prosecutors nervous. Alexey Meshkichev once worked with Magomed Magomedov when he was a senator from the Smolensk region. Then Meshkichev became one of the founders of the Trinity Foundation for Spiritual Revival, Culture and Sports Development, an organization co-founded by Marina Sechina, the former wife of the head of Rosneft.
However, the witness did not mention Ms. Sechina. And it seems that he was not going to tell anything, if not for the prosecutor Boris Neporozhniy. The prosecutor found it suspicious that the Trinity Foundation's board of trustees in 2015 met at a meeting in the same building in Moscow, where Magomed Magomedov's office was located next door.
Prosecutor: I ask again: on what basis did the board of trustees of your foundation meet in the same building where Magomedov's office was? Who invited you to this building? Who allowed you to gather there? Who provided the premises?
Eyewitness (surprised): Chairman of the board of trustees of the foundation.
Prosecutor (vigorously): Who exactly?
Witness: Maria Vladimirovna …
Prosecutor (irritated): What Maria Vladimirovna ?!
Witness: Mrs. Sechina Maria Vladimirovna. You can ask her a question …
Prosecutor (good-naturedly): Ah … That's what they would say right away.
The prosecutor had no more questions for the witness. And to Marina Vladimirovna too. But Magomed Magomedov had:
— And what did the fund do?
— Construction of churches on the territory of the city of Moscow. — And the witness said that he turned to Magomedov for help, and he helped with the construction of the temple.
— Well, this topic does not need to be developed, — snapped Magomed Magomedov.
In general, during the process, the brothers never mention their charitable projects, even those connected, for example, with constant assistance to orphanages. They say they did not advertise this even before the arrest.
Magomed Magomedov. Photo: RIA Novosti
… Witness Georgy Merkulov was the head of the Legal Support Department of the Federal Agency for Railway Transport (Roszheldor). He did not know any of the defendants. But he knew that Roszheldor had once sued the company of the Summa group — Stroynovatsiya. She won the Roszheldor competition for the construction of the first section of the Kyzyl-Kuragino railway line. A little less than a year passed, and the customer, Roszheldor, decided to terminate the contract (due to the cessation of budget funding for the project), demanding that Stroynovatsiya return a little more than 5 billion rubles. unused advance payment. Stroynovatsiya stated that it is ready to terminate the contract subject to payment for the work performed and compensation for the costs incurred, since it believes that the advance received from the customer has been worked out in full. Roszheldor did not agree with this. Long-term courts went, which the federal agency lost in all instances and was forced to pay «Stroynovatsia» 3.9 billion rubles.
Lawyer: That is, the court evaluated all your arguments, and the claim was rejected?
Witness: Yes.
Q.E.D.
The prosecutor's office demanded that the questions of the defense be removed. Ms. Mendeleeva filmed. Sometimes she did this by shouting:
— No need to PE-RE-BE-VAT the prosecutor! The question is removed!
… Prosecution witness Sergei Lisitsyn also did not know anyone from the «aquarium». «I read about the Magomedovs in the press …» Let me remind you that the investigation sees signs of crime in the very fact of the construction of large investment projects. According to the investigation, the contractor (GlobalElectroService, a member of the Summa Group of Companies) overestimated the cost of the products supplied for the substations. This version was voiced in court by Mr. Lisitsyn, who holds the position of Deputy Head of the Department of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption of FGC UES. Lisitsyn did not mention only that
FGC began to talk about overpricing when contracts had already been signed and work began to boil, and most importantly — when expensive imported equipment was purchased by the contractor.
Ziyavudin Magomedov: When the contract was initially concluded, was there a tough price for the equipment?
Witness: Yes.
Ziyavudin Magomedov: That is, you entered into a contract at one cost, and then decided to change it downward? At the same time, we, the contractor, did not change the amount. How could we “violate the contract” without changing the amount of the contract?
Witness: Uh … Not within my competence. This is a guide.
Ziyavudin: Was this done as a result of FSK's desire to lower the cost?
Witness: No.
Ziyavudin: Have you applied to arbitration in this regard?
Witness: This is for lawyers, I don't know …
By the way, all substations and other construction projects, where theft is imputed to the defendants, today are not only built, but are in full operation: from the stadium in Kaliningrad to the notorious substation in St. Petersburg.
Defendant Petrov: A motion to read out the testimony of a witness at the investigation in view of the contradictions.
Mendeleva: What contradictions? What are they? — Judge Mendeleeva was already going to wrap up the petition, but the prosecutor said the same.
— Yes? Here are you … — The judge hesitated, smiled broadly, looking at the prosecutor, as if showing that he had put her in an awkward position. — The petition was granted.
The next day there were witnesses via video link from Novosibirsk. They were questioned about the episode of the construction by Summa of the federal highway M-52 “Chuisky tract”. Briefly and quickly: contracts, amounts, again about overstated after construction, although the amounts were initially fixed in the contract. And most importantly, again, not a word about the OPS.
— Ziyavudin Gadzhievich, a question to the witness! No need for your comments! — the judge reacted again.
— But the witness speaks a lie, — answered the co-owner of Summa.
— You will talk about this in the debate.
The last Novosibirsk witness said bluntly: he learned about the embezzlement from the media. The rest of the witnesses from the Novosibirsk court left without waiting for interrogation, the prosecutor complained.
Co-owner of Summa Ziyavudin Magomedov in court. Photo: Vyacheslav Prokofiev / TASS
… The last days it was extremely difficult for the audience to get into the hall. All surnames were carefully written down, and the Novaya Gazeta journalist was sent to the chairman's reception room to receive permission to attend an open session … And every day an operative was quietly on duty in the court corridor, carefully watching the listeners, lawyers and their conversations.
And September 15 was the last day when the trial in case No. 01-0288 / 2021 in the Meshchansky court was open. Judge Mendeleeva finally closed it from listeners and media representatives. Finally — because a month earlier she had warned that sooner or later she would do it, because, they say, there is a lot of disorder and prosecutors are complaining. In particular, then, a month ago, the formal reason was that during the break, the listeners (in fact, relatives, including wives) “communicate with the defendants through lawyers,” and then go out into the corridor where the witnesses are sitting and can put pressure (quote from the prosecutor Neporozhniy).
Then they kicked out the only journalist, me. I wrote an article about how this process is going and how Judge Mendeleev is conducting it …
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