Ex-Minister of Open Government Abyzov sentenced

His accomplices were given more modest sentences

The Preobrazhensky District Court of Moscow on Thursday announced the verdict in the case of the former Minister for Coordination of the Open Government, Mikhail Abyzov. For the second time in the history of modern Russia, a federal minister was arrested for corruption and put on trial. The first, the head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Alexey Ulyukaev, received 8 years in prison for a bribe and was released after 5 years on parole. The court sentenced Abyzov to 12 years in a maximum security colony and a fine of 80 million rubles.

In total, there are 12 people in the dock: Yana Balan, Ruslan Vlasov, Ekaterina Zayats, Sergei Ilyichev, Alexander Pelipasov, Inna Pikalova, Oksana Rozhenkova, Maxim Rusakov, Oleg Serebrennikov, Nikolai Stepanov and Galina Fraidenberg.

Abyzov and other defendants were charged with large-scale fraud, money laundering, illegal participation in business activities, commercial bribery and organizing a criminal community. Abyzov has the longest track record.

Abyzov held the post of federal minister from May 2012 to May 2018. Previously, he was known as a successful businessman and manager; he was involved in the energy, coal and weapons businesses. In 2018, the position of Minister of Open Government was abolished. Then clouds began to gather over the official. There were rumors about the gift of a villa in Italy to his son for fabulous money, and that the ex-minister himself and his family left the country. The latter turned out to be untrue: in March 2019, Abyzov was detained in Moscow and taken into custody for the theft and export of 4 billion rubles abroad.

According to investigators, when Abyzov was a minister, the criminal community he organized defrauded the shareholders of the energy companies Sibeko and RES for this amount. In addition, the group was charged with laundering 32.5 billion rubles. However, Abyzov has already paid 20 billion of this amount from his own funds.

The ex-minister and almost all of his accomplices denied guilt; the only one who agreed with the investigation was the general director of the Ru-com company, Nikolai Stepanov. He admitted fraud and commercial bribery.

During the debate between the parties, the prosecution requested 19.5 years in a maximum security colony for Abyzov. The prosecutor also asked to impose a fine of 470 million rubles on the ex-minister, to deprive him of the Order of Friendship and to ban him from performing administrative functions and holding relevant positions for five years.

For the rest of the group members, the prosecutor demanded from 7 to 18.5 years in prison, for Stepanov – 9 years.

As a result, the court’s decision turned out to be milder than the prosecutor’s demands. Mikhail Abyzov received 12 years in a maximum security colony and 80 million rubles. fine The rest of the accused received sentences from 5 to 12. Nikolai Stepanov – 8 maximum security terms. Rusakov received the same sentence as Abyzov. Ryzhenkov and Balan were released from custody in the courtroom. They were sentenced to a fine.