Law enforcement agencies detained Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Oleg Sorokin. Searches are being conducted at his place of residence. State Duma deputy from the Nizhny Novgorod region Alexander Kurdyumov told TASS about this.
“He was detained, searches are underway,” Kurdyumov said.
Let us add that Ivan Karnilin, in 2016 as mayor, was convicted by the Anti-Corruption Foundation of illegally owning real estate in Miami. In May 2017, Karnilin was sent into early retirement following an audit of foreign assets.
Sale of land rights to relatives' companies
According to the Investigative Committee, in 2011-2012, the administration of Nizhny Novgorod held auctions to sell the right to conclude agreements on the development of built-up areas in the Nizhny Novgorod region and on the lease of 14 land plots in the region. Based on the results of the auctions, contracts were concluded with RegionInvest52 LLC and Ingradstroy LLC, affiliated with close relatives of Oleg Sorokin, Interfax recalls.
The investigation examined the circumstances of the conclusion of transactions and the actual participation of the city mayor in the management of commercial organizations. However, during the audit, no objective data indicating that Sorokin had committed illegal actions was established.
The agency also recalls that on December 1, 2003, an attempt was made on Sorokin while he was a businessman. He was hospitalized with three gunshot wounds in the Bogorodsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region. A year later, Vice-Speaker of the Nizhny Novgorod Parliament Mikhail Dikin, as well as his brother Alexander, chief of staff of the Prioksky District Department of Internal Affairs of Nizhny Novgorod, were detained for attempted murder. In August 2006, the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Court sentenced Mikhail Dikin to 16 years in prison, Alexander Dikin to 15 years. In the summer of 2016, Mikhail Dikin was released on parole from a Mordovian colony.
The ex-mayor of Nizhny Novgorod, deputy chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Oleg Sorokin has been charged with receiving a bribe on an especially large scale. Let us remind you that on the morning of December 19, 2017, searches were carried out at Oleg Sorokin’s place of residence, and he himself was detained by employees of the Sustainable Crime Control Department and the UEBiPK State Administration.
The ex-mayor of Nizhny Novgorod has been charged with receiving a bribe on an especially large scale, the press service of the Nizhny Novgorod District Court reported. Moreover, she clarified that everything happened when Sorokin was the head of Nizhny.
We are talking about a long-standing scandal surrounding a large plot of land in the Kuznechikha area. Then two developers applied for the construction of a residential complex on this site, one of which was closely associated with the group of companies owned by Oleg Sorokin’s wife.
Based on the results of the auction in 2012, the Nizhny Novgorod developer was granted the right to conclude lease agreements for 14 land plots with a total area of 4,532,179 sq.m. for the construction of a residential complex, the court said. “However, another company, applying to lease the same plots, appealed the course and results of the auction to the Federal Antimonopoly Service. Then the ex-mayor of Nizhny Novgorod invited his friend to transfer 1 million US dollars (at that time it was more than 30 million rubles - Author) to the general director of this company for withdrawing complaints and further claims to the site.
According to the article of the Criminal Code “receiving a bribe on an especially large scale,” Oleg Sorokin faces up to 15 years in prison. It can already be assumed that the proceedings will be heated - Oleg Sorokin is in many ways a symbolic figure for Nizhny Novgorod. He gained wide fame in 1998, becoming the general director of the Start plant - it was on the territory of the factory canteen that the first shopping center of the Stolitsa Nizhny Group of Companies - "Etazhi" - grew up. And already in 1999, Sorokin received the position of Deputy Director for Finance of the Road Fund of the Nizhny Novgorod Region. In the following years, new objects in the capital of the Volga region began to grow like mushrooms after rain - “Republic”, “Seventh Heaven”, “Fantastika”... Soon the prominent businessman also had political ambitions - in 2010 he took the post of mayor of Nizhny Novgorod, displacing Vadim Bulavinova. At that time there were legends about the fabulous wealth of the mayor of Nizhny Novgorod. And at the end of 2012, his wife Elada Nagornaya, co-owner of the Stolitsa Nizhny group of companies, was officially recognized as the richest wife of an official in Russia - for the year her income amounted to more than one and a half billion rubles.
Let us recall that Oleg Sorokin headed Nizhny Novgorod until October 2015; since 2016, he has been deputy chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod Region.
OFFICIALLY
The petition for the arrest of Oleg Sorokin was received by the court from the investigative authorities on December 19. The preventive measure will be chosen today, the Nizhny Novgorod District Court told KP-NN.
Nagornaya is the daughter of the director of the Central Department Store, according to official information. Her mother, Elena Nagornaya- CEO of a company that manages a shopping center"Floors". Elada Nagornayamarried Sorokin in 1990, immediately after graduating from school. In the same year, Nagornaya entered the economics department of the Moscow Commercial Institute. Now it is called the Russian Economic University named after. G. V. Plekhanov.
The website “Encyclopedia of Nizhny Novgorod” reports:that Nagornaya began her career in 1990 as an accountantInformation and computing center of the trade department of the Gorky executive committee. Thus, she combined her studies in Moscow with work in the region.
In 1996, according to the official biography, Sorokin and Nagornaya created the Broster commercial enterprise. There is no data about such a company in the Spark Interfax service. In 1998, Sorokin became director of a large plant"Start". ABOUT n was listed on the board of directors at the time of inclusion as an individual entrepreneur. The Mediazona publication writes that the future deputy chairman of the Legislative Assembly bought several stalls in Nizhny Novgorod, where he sold cigarettes. Before that, he worked in a cooperative, the name of which is not disclosed in Sorokin’s official biography.
From 1999 to 2001, Sorokin first held the position of deputy director for finance of the State Institution “Road Fund of the Nizhny Novgorod Region”, and then was promoted. According to The Moscow Post, Sorokin received the position of finance director after his boss Victor Erikov drowned while on vacation. In 2000, the first deputy director of the Dorfond died in a traffic accident Nikolay Kuznetsov, and then the head of the organization - Alexander Glazov. At that time, Nagornaya opened a representative office of the fashion house Valentina Yudashkina.
In 2003, Sorokin founded the largest construction company in the region, Stolitsa Nizhny. After the bankruptcy of Start, the Etazhi shopping center appeared on the territory of the plant. And in the workshops of the enterprise there were trading hangars for “Sportmaster” and “M-Video”. The developer of "Floors" is "Capital Nizhny".
Same year Sorokin's car was shot at by unknown assailants, the businessman was injured. The brothers were found guilty of organizing the assassination attempt Dikins - Mikhail And Alexandra. The first is a former deputy chairman of the Legislative Assembly, the second is a police lieutenant colonel.
According to Sorokin and the investigation, Mikhail Dikin decided to appropriate the share of the future deputy chairman of the Legislative Assembly in the assets of Start. The victim stated that Deakin became a co-owner of the assets through the board of directors of Ellipse Bank. Mikhail Gurevich. In 2006, Gurevich reported that he had never been the owner of Start, and therefore did not resell the assets to Dikin.
The Dikins' lawyers presented Start's charter. According to the data in them, in the event of Sorokin’s death, his share would pass to the heirs, regardless of the consent of the Start co-owners. Sorokin replied that he did not have a will at the time of the assassination attempt, so Dikin would have been appointed to manage the assets.
In 2004, the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Nizhny Novgorod Region opened a case of theft of funds from the Dorfon. After an inspection by the Ministry of Finance, overpricing during procurement was discovered. A case was opened against Sorokin “for the theft of budget funds in the amount of over 500 million rubles with subsequent legalization,” media reports. The results of the case are unknown.
Nagornaya and Sorokin have three children. The eldest son was elected as a deputy of the Nizhny Novgorod Legislative Assembly in 2016. Former children's ombudsman became godfather of Elizabeth's youngest daughter Pavel Astakhov.
In 2012, an honorary consulate of Hungary was opened in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Nagornaya became its representative. According to her, she had known representatives of the Hungarian embassy for a long time. At the time of her appointment, Nagornaya had ideas for developing cooperation with Hungary.
During the event, a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Nizhny Novgorod Sergey Malov said that Nagornaya was given an order to work on the issue of opening a direct flight from Nizhny to Budapest. After 5 years, the flight has not been launched.
“The work of an honorary consul is, in essence, public diplomacy. Its results are difficult to express in numbers. Moreover, we do not have specific tasks to increase, for example, trade turnover or tourist flow between the two countries,” Nagornaya said in an interview with MK in Nizhny Novgorod.
Nagornaya chose intercultural cooperation as the main area of her work. So in 2015, near the shopping center “Seventh Heaven” and the residential complex of the same name, the sculpture “Breakthrough” appeared. Its author is a Hungarian artist Erwin Hervé-Laurent. Hungary made an expensive gift to Nizhny Novgorod.
The huge sculpture depicts a man crawling out of the ground. Some saw in her similarities with the ex-governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region Valery Shantsev, Sorokin's opponent. Shantsev did not come to the opening of the monument. “For the first time in many years, a work of art has become the subject of general discussion in Nizhny Novgorod, and this is wonderful, it shows that our city is a living, active and intellectual space,” Nagornaya commented on the Hungarian gift. The sculpture was discussed not only by regional, but also by federal media - including because it recalls the conflict between Shantsev and Sorokin. People dubbed the Hungarian gift the “Nizhny Novgorod troll.”
In 2014, a stainless steel sculpture of a deer was created with funds from the honorary consulate. Its author is a Hungarian sculptor Gabor Joke. Nizhny Novgorod residents took this gift for granted, because at the end of 2013, Nagornaya was recognized as the richest among the wives of Russian officials. Her income amounted to 1.7 billion rubles.
Federal media and activists became interested in the activities of Nagornaya and Sorokin. In 2013, politician Dmitry Gudkov I found out that Nagornaya has two villas in Cannes.
In 2011, Sorokin sold his stake in the development company and his other companies to Nagornaya. This happened after Sorokin was appointed mayor of Nizhny Novgorod. According to the anonymous list of “110 companies by Oleg Sorokin,” Nagornaya is associated with a third of the companies. The remaining shares belong to the current general director of Stolitsa Nizhny Oleg Golovko, family Akatovs, Andrey Taig and other entrepreneurs.
Now, according to the Spark Interfax service, Nagornaya is affiliated with 29 Nizhny Novgorod companies. In November 2014, the regional Investigative Committee organized an investigation into Sorokin’s illegal participation in business activities. According to the department, in 2011-2012, the Nizhny Novgorod administration held auctions for the development of territory in the Nizhny Novgorod region and the lease of 14 plots. Then contracts were concluded with RegionInvest52 and Ingradstroy LLC.
In March 2013, a criminal case was initiated under Article 165 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Causing damage by deception or abuse of trust.” At the same time, searches were carried out at the companies “Stolitsa Nizhny” and “Start-Stroy”. In February 2014, the case was closed for lack of evidence of a crime.
In 2010, the developer Zhilstroy-NN won a competition to develop a site in the Sovetsky district. After this, Start-Stroy contacted the Nizhny Novgorod OFAS. Antimonopoly officers found violations during the competition. The Zhilstroy site went to Start-Stroy. The infrastructure at the site was built at the expense of the city budget. Experts estimated the damage to the city at 1.6 billion rubles.
Two years later, Ingradstroy received 453 hectares for development in the Sovetsky district on a lease basis. The results of the competition were challenged by the OFAS by two Moscow companies - ZhBK-Stroy LLC and Vektron CJSC. A businessman came to Vectron with an offer of a 30 million bribe for withdrawing an appeal. Mansur Sadekov. When he was arrested, Sadekov publicly stated: for a crime under Art. 204 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation followed Sorokin’s orders. He was interrogated as a witness, and Sadekov went to prison. The site remained with the Ingradstroy company.
Initially, this territory was provided for the development of an IT park. But the Ankudinovka technology park turned from a major federal project into a regional scandal involving the Nagornaya company. As a result, Ankudinovka was left with only a business incubator.
Nagornaya companies were also seen in the development of historical areas of the city. This, for example, happened with the triangle bounded by Gorky, Novaya and Ilyinskaya streets. It was built up with ancient merchant estates. A writer lived in one of the houses in 1879 Maksim Gorky. Initially, the entire block came under protection, but gradually the protection zone was reduced to one house. The government of the Nizhny Novgorod region spent 370 million rubles on the resettlement of residential buildings and the demolition of dilapidated housing in this triangle. Then officials sold the cleared area to Regioninvest52 LLC for 84.3 million rubles. In 2012, the prosecutor's office conducted an inspection, but no criminal or administrative cases were opened.
In the summer of 2017, it became known that 25-story buildings would be built within Krasnoselskaya, Barminskaya, Maxim Gorky and Malaya Yamskaya streets (this area is historical). The developer is Stroyinvest-52. In the area of these streets there is a restriction on the number of storeys of houses. It was established by the “Land Use and Development Rules in Nizhny Novgorod” and approved by a resolution of the City Duma. However, the Nizhny Novgorod administration made an exception for the Stroyinvest-52 company.
On December 22, 2016, information appeared that Nagornaya and the deputy of the Legislative Assembly Felix Verkhovodov The Shatford restaurant will be built in the Alexander Garden. In January, 18 linden trees were cut down there. Nizhny Novgorod residents were outraged by what was happening. “The construction of a restaurant in the Alexander Garden will not harm anyone,” Sorokin told NewsNN then.
Then the regional prosecutor's office opened an administrative case over the construction of Shatford. The developer was accused of non-compliance with legislation on cultural heritage sites. Department employees discovered that land leveling work was being carried out on the site using construction equipment. In addition, the developer did not previously agree on sections of the project documentation for the preservation of cultural heritage sites “Cultural layer of Nizhny Novgorod” and “Nizhny Novgorod slope”. The prosecutor's office made a representation to the developer.
Thanks to Nagornaya, the market on Sovetskaya Square was closed in 2013 due to the construction of a shopping center. By decision of the investment council under Shantsev, back in 2009, a land plot of 8.45 hectares, including the market area, was provided for construction by a company affiliated with Nagornaya.
Another market that may be closed due to its construction is Karpovsky. The private sector “Karpovka” located next to it in the Leninsky district of Nizhny Novgorod can also be demolished. At this site they plan to build a block of 17-story buildings and a shopping and entertainment complex. The Global Estate company, affiliated with Nagornaya, is planning to develop 33 hectares of land.
Sorokin's wife is trying to increase production at one of the leading enterprises of folk art in the region - JSC Khokhloma Painting. In April 2015, Nagornaya acquired a controlling stake in this enterprise. Now “Khokhloma Painting” is a closed joint-stock company. At the end of 2015, the company's net profit decreased from 11.081 million rubles to 1.114 million rubles.
Residential buildings built by Nagornaya companies, according to Nizhny Novgorod residents, do not correspond to the declared indicators. We are especially dissatisfied with the quality of the houses in the Tsvety and Seventh Heaven residential complexes. The Arbitration Court of the Nizhny Novgorod Region is considering the case of the developer of the Tsvety residential complex - Start-Stroy. The shareholders are demanding a penalty from the company for the delay in transferring the apartment. While the clients asked to correct the builders' mistakes, they had to live in a rented apartment.
In addition, in “Flowers” the flights of stairs were destroyed, tiles on the rings were falling off, and metal fences were rusting. After several letters from residents to the developer, these defects were partially eliminated.
Residents of this residential complex also complain about cracks in the walls and problems with elevators. In April 2017, a woman living in house No. 12 on Volzhskaya Naberezhnaya Street said that she flew down two floors in an elevator with a 3-month-old child.
A 6-lane asphalt road was built to the Seventh Heaven microdistrict (Start-Stroy LLC built 150 thousand square meters of housing and a shopping center there) at the expense of the federal budget. Each kilometer cost the budget 136 million rubles.
“You can only judge how successful a person is over time. If something worked out a couple of times, this is not yet an indicator of success, because you need to constantly move forward. In one word, success for me is stability,” Nagornaya explained in an interview with her own magazine Bellissimo.
Stories of famous people are inspiring. Sometimes they allow you to look at a specific life situation from a different angle, and sometimes they simply allow you to understand some common truths. Everyone finds something for themselves in such a story.
Who are we talking about?
In the article we will talk about Oleg Sorokin, a famous deputy and businessman who is an important person in Russia. We will look at biographical information from the man’s life, learn about his family, and also try to understand the most notorious scandals associated with his name. Where to begin? Perhaps from a brief acquaintance.
Biography
The hero of our article was born in 1967, on November 15. He grew up in an ordinary family, but was never an ordinary child. In appearance, the boy hardly stood out, but he carried big plans within himself, which he was going to achieve at any cost. He began putting them into operation immediately after school, when he entered the Nizhny Novgorod Commercial Institute. Need I say that he later graduated with honors? At the moment, the man is not only a businessman, but also a deputy. In parallel with this, he runs a company called Stolitsa Nizhny. He is distinguished by his active life position, direct participation in the life of the city and big plans for the future.
Own company
In 2003, Oleg Valentinovich Sorokin created the Stolitsa Nizhny company. This is his brainchild, which he has been planning for many years. The company's specialization is the construction of residential buildings and large shopping centers. The man opens his own TV channel, on which, of course, he actively promotes the services of the above-mentioned company.
At the same time, active construction began in the city, on the site of the canteen, which belonged to the Start plant. It turned out that it was Oleg Sorokin’s company that was building a huge shopping center called “Etazhi”, which would meet all modern European standards. A little later, a large office building “Capital Nizhny” was erected. In 2005, the Respublika shopping center was built between the Moskovsky railway station in Nizhny Novgorod and the Central department store, that is, on Revolution Square.
In 2006, a man started a huge project that had never happened in the history of the city. He decided to build a large residential complex and began to bring this idea to life that same year. The residential complex was called “Seventh Heaven”. It is interesting that it consisted of 18 high-rise buildings, which were surrounded by Meshchersky Lake and the embankment of the Volga River. Successful placement, which combines not only everyday issues (transportation and proximity to the center), but also the issue of aesthetics. This made the residential complex incredibly popular, and very quickly all the apartments in it were sold out. The project was global, so even with the active pace of construction and improvement it took time. As a result, in 2012 people were able to move into their new apartments.
You must understand that Oleg Sorokin is not one of those people who completely devote themselves to just one project. During the development of the Seventh Heaven residential complex, he was already thinking about a new idea. In 2007, he decided to build a shopping complex called “Fantastica”. A little later, a huge Real hypermarket opened in the city. However, this hypermarket, by mutual agreement, was subsequently purchased from Oleg Sorokin by the Auchan company.
Elada Lvovna Nagornaya, the wife of the hero of the article, began to manage her husband’s business after he was elected to the post of city mayor. People knew who they were voting for and wanted the city to be ruled by a man who had already done so much for it and clearly had no intention of stopping. So, Oleg Sorokin is the mayor of Nizhny Novgorod, and his wife Elada is the head of the family business.
In 2012, the man is thinking about the largest project, namely the creation of the “Flowers” residential complex, which would become the largest not only in the city, but also in the region. Construction began in the fall of 2012. I would like to say that according to the plan it consisted of 26 houses. At the same time, special attention was paid to the creation and development of underground infrastructure.
When the beginning was made, Oleg Valentinovich Sorokin decided to build a supermarket near the Seventh Heaven residential complex and quickly made this desire come true. By 2015, the businessman was able to introduce the townspeople to the new shopping center “Firebird”, which was located on Sovetskaya Square. In the spring of 2016, construction began on a residential complex called “Aquamarine” (Leninsky district of the city).
Assassination
Oleg Sorokin loves Nizhny Novgorod very much, because it is his hometown. Residents also support the man in all his endeavors and are glad that there is such a capable person who is ready to take care of the interests of everyone. However, not everyone wants to share Oleg’s joy. Let’s not hide the fact that he developed his activities very actively, so he immediately became a competitor for someone. Of course, we all do not wish harm to people in principle, but in some situations, profit and the desire to win overshadow human impulses. This happened to those whom Oleg annoyed.
In the winter of 2003, there was an attempt on his life. It happened on the Nizhny Novgorod - Kasimov highway. Oleg Sorokin, whose biography we reviewed, was driving in his car on business. Suddenly, shooting began at the car. Not expecting such a sudden attack, Oleg was shocked. As a result, he received three bullets in the body, and then he had to undergo many operations until he was able to get back on his feet.
Later, the court recognized that the attackers were police lieutenant colonel A. Dikin and vice-speaker of the legislative assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod region M. Dikin (two brothers).
Oleg Sorokin: personal life
The man is married to the daughter of the director of the Central Department Store, Elada. The woman’s father is also a director in the advertising and marketing department at the Stolitsa Nizhny company and the honorary consul of Hungary in the city.
According to calculations for 2013, Elada Lvovna took the top spot in the ranking of the richest wives of officials. In one year she earned 1.5 billion rubles. It is known that in 2015, a woman became the owner of a controlling stake in OJSC Semenovskaya Khokhloma Painting.
The children of Oleg Sorokin are a separate issue. The couple had 2 boys and a girl: Danil, Nikita and Elizaveta. The girl was baptized by Pavel Astakhov and Yulia Anufrieva (a famous lawyer). The baptism took place in 2016, on June 4. Son Nikita, who was born in 1992, became a deputy of the Legislative Assembly in the Nizhny Novgorod region in 2016.
Mayor
Oleg Sorokin was elected head of the city in October 2010 at one of the meetings of the City Duma. The man replaced V. Bulavinov in the new post. Of the 42 votes, 28 were for Sorokin's candidacy.
Conflict
The conflict occurred in 2015, when Oleg’s tenure in office was coming to an end. Naturally, the question of who to elect next became acute. Valery Shantsev, who at that time was the governor of the region, actively promoted the candidacy of his close friend D. Svatkovsky. There was no particular purpose in this, but Shantsev would have received certain benefits if a person familiar with the regional government had been in the city post. The conflict between the governor and Sorokin was that the latter categorically did not support Svatkovsky. As a result, I. Karnilin was elected to the post of head of the city. This small conflict episode was described in the local newspaper Stolitsa Nizhny.
Movies
In the fall of 2015, in the “News of the Week” program, hosted by Dmitry Kiselev, on the Russia-1 channel, a short video dedicated to Sorokin was shown. In November of the same year, a documentary film directed by A. Mamontov called “The Golden Calf” was released on the same channel. It showed a story about how Oleg Sorokin worked as mayor. They talked about global construction, which brought many problems to the city. The point is that communications in residential complexes were built not at the expense of the company, but at the expense of the money of city residents. It should be noted that after the start of construction, housing prices immediately jumped.
Video footage was shown that was filmed secretly in Cannes, France. In it, Oleg pays the taxi driver while waiting to board at the airport.
Opinions
In 2013, one of the State Duma deputies D. Gudkov decided to send a request to the Prosecutor General so that he would pay attention to the actions of the prosecutor's office of the Nizhny Novgorod region, which hid some facts. He believed that some of the companies to which Sorokin gave land were associated with his business structures. A little later, after an investigation carried out by the regional prosecutor's office, this was indeed proven. There were facts, but there was no action on the part of the prosecutor's office.
In the summer of 2013, some deputies who were members of the City Duma came up with petitions for Sorokin to be removed from the post of mayor. The reason was the active usurpation of power, as well as the adoption of a number of decisions that were only harmful to Nizhny Novgorod and its residents. The impetus for action was the fact that Sorokin, beloved by many, decided to turn Kulibin Park into a transport infrastructure zone. And all because the new construction, which was carried out by Oleg Valentinovich’s company, did not have enough territory for parking.
In the summer of 2013, a rally “Sorokin resign” was held in the city. The reason for the meeting was the beginning of active development of the city territory with residential complexes and shopping centers, which is constantly increasing in momentum. At the same time, the territory of ordinary residents was often confiscated under various pretexts. Most often they bought it and paid money, but it was impossible to completely refuse to sell their plot.
In the winter of 2015, a new petition appeared, which still demanded the resignation of Oleg Valentinovich. It was also necessary to demolish its buildings in order to restore historical values and cultural appearance. The petition focused on the need to remove all souvenir shops and sales tents from the Kremlin.
Charity
Charity is not alien to the hero of our article. It is known that in the winter of 2015, a man donated money from his own funds to purchase approximately 8 tons of food, which were later sent to the south-eastern part of Ukraine as humanitarian cargo. This was a kind of help to people from Donbass who found themselves in a difficult situation.
Vice-speaker of the Nizhny Novgorod Legislative Assembly Oleg Sorokin was arrested on charges of receiving a bribe “in the form of illegal provision of services of a property nature.” The ex-mayor of Nizhny Novgorod is called “entrepreneur number one” by deputies, and his wife, who manages the family business, in 2012 became the richest of the wives of Russian officials with earnings of 1.5 billion rubles. Political scientists associate the criminal prosecution of Oleg Sorokin with the efforts of the presidential envoy in the Volga Federal District (VFD) Mikhail Babich to strengthen the position of acting governor Gleb Nikitin.
Police officers and the Investigative Committee detained Oleg Sorokin on December 19, and searches were carried out in the offices of the company Stolitsa Nizhny, which he controlled, with the participation of special forces soldiers. In the evening, the Nizhny Novgorod District Court arrested him until February 17. According to the press service of the court, Oleg Sorokin was charged under Part 6 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Taking a bribe.” The plot of the accusation concerns the events of 2012–2013, when the Ingradstroy company, as the only participant in the auction, received the largest territory at the auction of the Ministry of Property - 14 land plots combined into one lot with a total area of 453 hectares. Currently, the construction of the Novaya Kuznechikha residential complex is underway on these lands.
The results of the auction were disputed by the Moscow-based Vektron CJSC in the Federal Antimonopoly Service and arbitration courts. And in 2013, Oleg Sorokin’s friend, businessman Mansur Sadekov, was arrested. He asked his relative to put $1 million in rubles in a safe deposit box to bribe Vectron management. For this amount, Muscovites had to withdraw their statements of claim without creating problems for the winning bidder. When Mr. Sadekov was put in “Matrosskaya Tishina”, he stated that he paid his money on behalf and in the interests of Oleg Sorokin: “Ingradstroy” is Oleg Sorokin’s company and the price of the purchased plots was reduced significantly.
Then the court, studying the recordings of conversations between Mansurs Sadekov and Oleg Sorokin, was unable to establish the involvement of the ex-mayor in bribing representatives of Vektron CJSC. Mansur Sadekov was awarded a fine of 300 million. According to the verdict, he, on his own initiative, decided to give away his 30 million rubles, hoping for the favor of the city mayor. Then Oleg Sorokin called this story a provocation planned against him by the subordinates of General Denis Sugrobov (former head of the Economic Intelligence Directorate and PC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, convicted of organizing a criminal community).
Now the Investigative Committee has decided that the ex-mayor is still involved in this story, and Mr. Sadekov transferred the money in the interests of Oleg Sorokin and at his request. The press service of the court reported that Stolitsa Nizhny provided the money to Ingradstroy to participate in the auction under the loan agreement. The deputy is accused of receiving a bribe “in the form of the illegal provision of property services on an especially large scale.”
According to various sources, Mr. Sorokin had connections with criminal circles in the late 1980s - early 1990s. In 1998, he and his partners bought a controlling stake in the Start plant at a closed auction, which was subsequently bankrupt, and in its place the entrepreneur’s first shopping center, Etazhi, appeared.
Oleg Sorokin has been elected to the Nizhny Novgorod City Duma three times since 2005. While a deputy, he clashed with former mayor Vadim Bulavinov, who was unable to be re-elected to this post in 2010. With the support of the team of ex-governor Valery Shantsev, in 2010 Oleg Sorokin became the head of Nizhny Novgorod. However, in 2014, he entered into an open conflict with the governor, forming a parliamentary majority in the City Duma, which slowed down the initiatives of the regional authorities. In 2016, he became a deputy and vice-speaker of the regional legislative assembly. To secure at least half of his supporters in parliament, Mr. Sorokin, according to unofficial data, spent about 2 billion rubles on the election campaign. In November, the vice speaker and his associates resigned from the political council of the United Russia branch.
Companies affiliated with Oleg Sorokin own the largest residential complexes in Nizhny Novgorod, including in the historical center of the city. His company also manages the largest shopping centers in the regional center. The business is managed by Mr. Sorokin’s wife Elada Nagornaya and her partners. In 2012, she became the richest of the wives of Russian officials, earning 1.5 billion rubles. The family has two houses of 262 and 440 sq. m. for free, perpetual use. m in Cannes, France, as well as seven land plots in Nizhny Novgorod with lease until the 2050s.
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Evgeny Lebedev learned about the detention of his deputy from the media. He told Kommersant that until “the situation becomes clearer,” the Legislative Assembly will not make personnel decisions regarding Oleg Sorokin. And about. Secretary of the United Russia branch Alexander Sharonov told Kommersant that before suspending his membership in the party, it is necessary to study the “content of events” and the “reasoned legal position of the prosecution and defense.” Deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Vladimir Bulanov believes that the arrest of Mr. Sorokin will damage both the reputation of the region and the acting governor Gleb Nikitin, who advocates attracting investments: “When the number one entrepreneur is imprisoned in a case that smells like four years ago, this is bad. Oleg Sorokin is a smart man, he caught the signals from above and moderated his political ambitions, but they still struck him.”
Acting Governor Gleb Nikitin, appointed by the president at the end of September, in the shortest possible time managed to carry out not only a reform of the management of Nizhny Novgorod, but also left supporters of the ex-mayor without posts as a result of the local government reform. First, city manager Sergei Belov resigned, who was found guilty of negligence. Deputy head of the administration Sergei Mironov left with him. Recently, the head of Nizhny Novgorod, Elizaveta Solonchenko, announced her resignation. The head of the A Just Russia branch, Alexander Bochkarev, was placed under house arrest.
“Mr. Nikitin has the power and political support of the embassy, which actively helps him as a young politician. Each famous player in the Nizhny Novgorod region has a folder that is taken out at the right time. We saw this in the case of Vadim Bulavinov and the former leadership of Nizhny Novgorod. As for Oleg Sorokin, where there is big business, big claims inevitably arise,” says political scientist Valentina Buzmakova. The head of the political expert group, Konstantin Kalachev, also did not rule out “the influence of the plenipotentiary mission” in the vice speaker’s case, but noted that in relation to Mr. Sorokin, “the Sadekov case is not the only thing that could be found and proven.” Political scientist Alexander Kynev noted that Oleg Sorokin, who along with the governor was a key politician in the region, is “a unique case of political vitality.” “Despite a lot of compromising evidence on him, for many years this did not lead to any consequences,” the political scientist noted. “Sorokin, obviously, had extensive connections in Moscow, which have probably weakened now. And the acting head received carte blanche, incomparable to what Shantsev had.”
Roman Kryazhev, Alexandra Vikulova, Roman Ryskal, Nizhny Novgorod; Maria-Louise Tirmaste
Loading...