The Moscow Ombudsman sees no positive changes in attracting businesses under the article on criminal communities

There are 85 entrepreneurs in Moscow pre-trial detention centers who are charged with organizing a criminal community (OPS, Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), Tatyana Mineeva, business ombudsman in the capital, said at conferences “Kommersant” “Criminal and subsidiary liability of owners and management: results of the year 2022”. In her opinion, the situation in Moscow is not changing for the better.

“You have already said that the president is both making changes and talking (about the need to reduce pressure on business.— “b”), but in practice, unfortunately, especially in Moscow, we do not see much of these changes… Since 2019, we have noted numerous appeals (against accusations under Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.— “b”). According to statistics, there are now slightly fewer applications, but the problem remains,” Mineeva said.

The Moscow Business Ombudsman believes that additional accusations under Article 210 “rarely have real grounds, for the most part this is due to the fact that … the process of proof is facilitated.” According to her, the entrepreneurs accused under this article have “horror in the eyes” because the CEOs and shareholders have “the highest position in the hierarchy”, which threatens with life imprisonment.

At the same time, Tatyana Mineeva has no questions about the work of the Moscow prosecutor’s office. According to her, in 50% of cases she takes the side of entrepreneurs – “this is a very high figure” when compared with other regions.

One of the first to create an OPS in the business sphere was the case of the bank “Petrocommerce”, said at the conference the chairman of the board of the ICA “Nikolaev and partners” Yuri Nikolaev. The defendants received from 16 to 17 years in prison without the possibility of parole. The lawyer noted that before Art. 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was indeed applied to criminal communities, “for thieves in law, if you like.”

“This story (with Petrocommerce.— “b”) liked the investigation so much that it began to be applied everywhere, first in the framework of the 172nd, then – the 159th (illegal banking and fraud.— “b”). When a person is in a pre-trial detention center … people are ready to confess and thus minimize the work of the investigation, which no longer needs to prove any specific circumstances, ”said Mr. Nikolaev.

As an example of prosecution under Article 210, the Kommersant conference cited the case of the Magomedov brothers. The Meshchansky Court of Moscow the day before, on November 24, in the initial part of the verdict found the businessmen guilty of creating an organized crime group, whose members stole 11 billion rubles. The prosecutor requested for the defendants in the case from 8 to 24 years in prison.

Read more about the case of the Magomedov brothers – in the publication “Kommersant” “The term in total will be considerable”.

Leonid Uvarchev