The mayor was punished for his father’s care – Picture of the Day – Kommersant

The Balagansky District Court of the Irkutsk Region terminated the powers of the mayor of the district, Mikhail Kibanov, due to a “conflict of interest.” As shown by the prosecutor’s check, the official employed his son in the administration of the municipality. In the summer, the prosecutors tried to force Mr. Kibanov’s resignation through the district duma, but the deputies refused to satisfy their submission. However, the official himself is not going to leave voluntarily: in September, his colleague from the Katangsky district, Sergei Chonsky, managed to return to his post after a similar violation, winning early elections.

On Thursday, December 1, the Balagansky District Court announced the satisfaction of the claim of the district prosecutor for the early termination of the powers of Mayor Mikhail Kibanov “due to loss of confidence.” According to the press service of the regional prosecutor’s office, during the supervisory activities, “the fact of failure to fulfill the obligation to prevent and resolve conflicts of interest that arose in connection with the employment of a close relative in the district administration” was revealed.

A source in the district administration told Kommersant that this was the son of the mayor, who was employed in the civil defense and emergency department for a position that did not require competitive procedures. He worked on it from November 2021 until the end of June 2022, when the audit was carried out. On June 30, the District Duma received a prosecutor’s proposal on the early termination of Mikhail Kibanov’s powers. However, on August 1, the deputies refused the oversight agency. After that, the district prosecutor’s office filed a lawsuit in court.

Mikhail Kibanov headed the Balagansky district following the results of early elections in 2016, and in 2021 he was re-elected for a new term. Both times he was nominated by United Russia and now heads its regional branch.

The government of the Irkutsk region and the regional branch of United Russia do not comment on the current situation. Mikhail Kibanov himself told Kommersant that he intends to appeal the court’s decision, as “I do not agree with the verdict.” According to an informed source, the mayor also does not exclude the possibility of returning to his post through early elections, “if the chain of appeals and appeals does not cancel the decision of the first instance.”

It should be noted that a similar incident occurred in the Irkutsk region just two months ago: in September, the election of the head of the Katangsky district was won by United Russia Sergei Chonsky, who had previously been dismissed due to a similar conflict of interest. The regional prosecutor’s office has been seeking his dismissal since 2020, when it was discovered that the mayor’s son was involved in the supply of oil to the district’s settlements for heating social facilities. However, the submission of the supervisory authority was not satisfied at first by the district Duma, and later by the district and regional courts. And only in 2022, the regional court reviewed this case after the corresponding decision of the cassation instance. Nevertheless, the early termination of powers did not prevent Sergei Chonsky from taking part in the next election of the head of the district. As secretary of the district branch of United Russia, he ran as a self-nominated candidate and won.

These actions did not violate the law, since the court’s decision concerned only the previous term of office, Sergey Shishkin, head of the department of constitutional law and theory of law at the Law Institute of Irkutsk State University, explained to Kommersant. “Everything rests on the concept of legislature, or the term of office. The legal assessments of the court relate to the actions of Sergei Chonsky within the time limits of the former paradigm of power,” he said. As for Mikhail Kibanov, his actions are qualified as a conflict of interest, so he had to notify the appropriate authorities about his son’s employment, but did not do this – “municipal law was violated, the consequences prescribed by law occurred,” the expert stated.

Vlad Nikiforov, Irkutsk