Kudryashov, who headed the government of the Samara region, turned out to be the leader of an organized crime group

A criminal case has been opened on the organization of a criminal community using official position against Viktor Kudryashov, who headed the government of the Samara Region for six years, Nikolai Plaksin, Mikhail Aseev, former regional construction ministers, and Finance Minister Andrei Pryamilov. This was announced by the head of the Information Policy Committee of the State Duma Alexander Khinshtein.

210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization of a criminal community using official position) against ex-chairman of the regional government Viktor Kudryashov, former construction ministers Nikolai Plaksin, Mikhail Aseev, Finance Minister Andrei Pryamilov, as well as "other unidentified persons"", — he wrote in your telegram channel.

"According to the initial plot of the accusation, officials falsified documents and competitive procedures for the construction of the Teatralnaya station in the interests of the largest regional developer Volgatransstroy Group of Companies," he said.

All the "identified" defendants had previously been arrested and are in jail on charges of abuse of authority during the construction of the subway (with the exception of Aseev, who made a deal with justice and was released under house arrest), Khinshtein said.

According to him, "the new case follows organically from the investigation conducted by the Samara police since November last year."

"There is no doubt that both criminal cases will be combined into one production," the deputy added.

According to investigators, high—ranking officials of the region, acting as part of an organized criminal group, falsified documents for the construction of the Teatralnaya station in the interests of the largest regional developer - Volgatransstroy. The estimate was allegedly artificially increased to 18.4 billion rubles, and "in order to obtain an investment loan from the federal budget in the amount of 10.3 billion rubles, the alleged criminals deliberately misled the president and the Russian government."

"It is important to understand that from the very first day the investigation considered the actions of officials as committed as part of an organized criminal group. Now this has been given an appropriate procedural assessment. So far, the criminal vertical ends with ex-Prime Minister Viktor Kudryashov, who, according to investigators, together with "unidentified persons" created in the interests of the Military—Technical Cooperation Group," Khinshtein said.

As the parliamentarian emphasized, "so far, the criminal vertical ends with ex-Prime Minister Kudryashov, who, according to investigators, together with "unidentified persons" created OPS in the interests of the Military-Technical Cooperation Group."

"Meanwhile, having known Kudryashov for many years, I would never believe that he could act on his own initiative, without the command of the then governor Dmitry Azarov, whose closest ally and associate (since the 1990s) was," says the State Duma deputy. — Moreover, Kudryashov himself had nothing to do with the "military-technical cooperation" and he had no reason to "pump up" the developer with money: unlike Azarov. His brother Oleg was employed in the structures of the Military—Technical Cooperation, and the head and main beneficiary of the GC Vyacheslav Sonin was a member of the governor's inner circle."

Khinshtein also notes that "under Azarov, a "golden shower" of contracts and contracts was poured on the VTS Group of Companies (about 35 billion rubles over 6 years), and the VTS top manager was delegated to the construction ministers Nikolai Plaksin, now also arrested."

"How far will the investigation be able to advance in the search for the truth and the identification of "unidentified" persons? I hope we will find out the answer to this question soon. It is highly likely that in the near future, former members of Azarov's team may be charged under Part 3 of Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation," he concluded.