Local Luzhniki returned: in Tula, the court continues to look for those responsible in the high-profile case of changing the stadium to the depot

“Arsenal” or, as it was called earlier, “Tula Luzhniki”, was once the object of a grandiose Komsomol construction project. It was erected in the 1950s by the forces of the people, as they say, “with the whole world.” For more than 60 years, the complex has become a large-scale sports facility, where more than one generation of worthy athletes, cyclists, and football players has been brought up.

But the events of 2014, when the stadium needed by the city was returned from private property to municipal property, did not pass without a trace for the history of the sports facility: in the future, the sports arena, alas, also became the object of … a criminal case.

Recall that Tatyana Silaeva, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Property and Land Relations of the City Administration, is in the dock. Under article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, she is charged with abuse of power. The prosecution believes that as a result of the agreement signed by Silaeva for the exchange of the Arsenal stadium for the depot of the MCP Tulgorelektrotrans, the latter suffered losses in the amount of 204,701,667 rubles.

In June 2021, the court suspended the consideration of the case and returned it to the prosecutor’s office. More than a year later, the Sovetsky District Court of Tula began to consider the already clarified statement of claim of the first deputy prosecutor of the region.

Today, August 18, Tatiana Silaeva arrived in the courtroom, accompanied by two representatives of the defense. The prosecution party and a representative by proxy of the Tulgorelektrotrans MCP were present. During the meeting, the prosecutor read out the indictment. Tatyana Silaeva continues to deny it:

“The accusation brought against me is understandable, but I do not agree with it, I do not consider myself guilty. I will speak in more detail during my interrogation, I do not refuse to testify,” Silaeva addressed the court.

In addition, she drew attention to the conclusion of the forensic expert on determining the financial dynamics of the MCP from January 1, 2014 to February 8, 2022, which states that “it is not seems possible.” “That is, the very fact of the presence of damage to the MCP has not been established and not confirmed by proper evidence, but nevertheless it is imputed to me as a qualifying sign …”, Silaeva clarifies.

According to her, the investigation also ignored the fact that as a result of the exchange, the city, the treasury and the inhabitants as a whole received at their disposal such a unique facility as the Arsenal central stadium, comparable in importance to Tula to the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

Tatyana Silaeva referred to the words of the first deputy governor of the Tula region Valery Sherin, who spoke as a witness in this case back in May last year. “From the testimony, it clearly follows that the income approach used by the appraiser to determine the market value of the stadium does not reflect the real cost of its construction, which can be several billion rubles,” said Tatyana Silaeva.

At the request of the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of the Tula administration, the defense found out that before the transfer of the stadium to the ownership of the city, the municipal school of the Olympic reserve in athletics had to pay even the rent of treadmills. Payment of rent limited the holding of mass sports competitions in Tula. In 2013-2014, only 13 sports events were held. Now, in 2021, 20 events were held in athletics alone.

Since 2015, the stadium has received a remote access system, metal detectors, sheds, equipment for cleaning the stadium, and reconstruction of life support systems. Since 2016, a GTO site, a multifunctional sports arena for children, a football field for the Arsenal Academy have appeared at the stadium, and the cycle track is being reconstructed…

The prosecution, in turn, considered this information to be irrelevant to the case: “I believe that there are no grounds for attaching a document that contained information about the development of physical culture and sports, about holding competitions, about arranging sports facilities. The information is irrelevant to the charge. I object.”

However, the court, after listening to the participants in the process, nevertheless satisfied the petition of the defense and attached to the case file information about the development of sports infrastructure since the transition of the stadium to the property of the city.

Another petition of the defense was granted – to call seven witnesses, whose testimony was not taken into account after the preliminary investigation stage. In the “working order” will be considered a petition concerning the request for information about the checks carried out by the prosecutor’s office on the fact of the exchange of objects.

By the next court session, which will take place on August 23, the injured party, the Tulgorelectrotrans, will prepare a response to the proceedings. The testimony of Silaeva, by the decision of the defendant herself, will be heard last – after the testimony of the victims, witnesses, the study of written and material evidence.