In the Rostov region, the district village of Tatsinskaya, Roman Lomov, is suspected of receiving bribes. The reason for initiating criminal proceedings against him was the testimony of a 54-year-old local resident Vasily Terentyev. In October 2018, several district police officers, including Lomov, came to his house at the call of a cohabitant - a woman complained to law enforcement officers that Terentyev was beating her. During the inspection of the house, the district police officers found cartridges and opened a criminal case against Terentyev for the illegal storage of ammunition.

According to a law enforcement source, in May 2019, Terentyev wrote a statement to the Belokalitvinsky District Investigation Commission that he was giving Lomov a bribe to end the criminal prosecution.

Terentyev himself was ultimately convicted of illegal possession of ammunition and sentenced to a suspended sentence.

In respect of the precinct criminal case under Part 3 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code. The police officer was sent to a pre-trial detention center, but then the preventive measure was changed, placing him under house arrest.

“The investigation of this case is already at the completion stage and should soon be referred to the prosecutor’s office and the court. Moreover, the only evidence of Lomov’s guilt, besides Terentyev’s testimony, is his identification of the car in which the bribe was allegedly transferred. The protocol itself could be falsified, ”the source explains.

As RT found out, the identified car, the gray Hyundai i30, previously belonged to Lomov’s father. A man sold it to pay for a lawyer for his son. The new owner of the vehicle in June 2019 was Inga Serova ( last name changed at her request. - RT ).

On January 18, 2020, according to Serova, she received a call from the police and was informed that the car was in a criminal case and it was necessary to bring her for examination - supposedly a district police officer was giving a bribe.

“For some reason, the investigator immediately began to intimidate me, saying:“ Do you know who you bought it from? You must urgently come, otherwise you will not reach the first post and the car will be taken from you. ” I was shocked, ”the woman recalls in an interview with RT.

According to Serova, after that the investigator called several times, and she decided to record all these conversations on a voice recorder.

“Do you recognize the car?”

On January 21, 2020, a woman and her husband brought the car for inspection to Tatsinskaya and parked next to the dark brown Hyundai Solaris. Serov and this time decided to record the entire procedure on the recorder.

According to Serova, the car was examined without witnesses, only in the presence of two witnesses in the case: Terentyev and his common-law spouse Goncharova. The investigator recorded the process of identifying a car only through photography.

On the record (RT has it at his disposal), one hears a man (Serova claims that the voice belongs to investigator Ponomarenko) asks Terentyev: “Vasily Nikolaevich, do you recognize the car?”

Another male voice replies: “No, it was not like that. This one looks more like that. ”

According to Serova, at that moment Terentyev was pointing to a dark brown Hyundai Solaris standing nearby.

“After that, the investigator began to get nervous. He went up to the car and asked to open, so that Terentyev would identify the upholstery. I have a husband with a legal education, so he immediately stopped it, saying that the car is being inspected, not a search, ”Serova says.

  • © Photo from the personal archive

At this point, Serova stated that she was making an audio recording, and the investigator, according to the woman, called Terentyev to go to his office.

“We had to pick up a receipt for a car after inspection. We followed them, but a little behind. When they approached the office, the investigator shouted at Terentyev for not recognizing the car. He said that he would replace him with a suspended term for a real one, if he continues to be so. When we knocked, they shut up. We were given the documents, and we went home, ”recalls Serova.

Doubting the legality of the investigator's actions, on January 24, 2020, the Serovs wrote a complaint to the regional Investigative Committee, in which they asked for an assessment of the situation. An audio recording made during the inspection of the car was attached to the appeal. The answer from the UK, according to the spouses, they still have not received - the verification is still underway.

Terentyev, the car!

According to an RT source, the vehicle inspection report eventually stated that Terentyev allegedly identified the car.

“At the same time, the Serovs are not in the protocol, as if the car itself arrived. They don’t appear at all as witnesses at all, ”he says.

According to Tatyana Zadorozhnaya, the lawyer of the former district police officer, there really is a protocol for inspecting the car in the case, which says that Terentyev identified him.

“Terentyev changed his testimony several times: one district police officer took bribes, then another,” Zadorozhnaya said in an interview with RT. - Earlier Terentyev claimed that he transferred the money to the official Niva. Then it turned out that in those days Lomov did not take a company car. So there was an inspection of another car, which is obviously falsified. I think that the investigators are manipulating Terentyev, who is afraid that he will change his suspended sentence to real. ”

Fired for negative reasons

In the regional SC RT commented on the situation.

“The advisability of covering the progress of a criminal investigation, as well as the amount of information to be covered is determined by the investigator. Currently, the information requested by you in a criminal case cannot be provided, ”the press service of the IC in the Rostov Region said.

According to RT, the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, after an internal audit, the district police officer was dismissed for negative reasons, and his immediate superiors were brought to strict disciplinary responsibility.

It was not possible to contact Lomov himself: he is under house arrest and he is allowed to communicate only with a lawyer.