Correspondent instead of a sysadmin: the mayor of Millerovo is suspected of fictitious design for the work of journalists

More than half a year law enforcement officers investigate the case in the city of Millerovo, Rostov Region. The SC found that two local journalists were employed by a municipal enterprise as system administrators in a fictitious manner, were paid, but did not perform the relevant work.

The criminal case was filed on August 7, 2018. The suspect was the head of the urban settlement, Alexey Cherednichenko, and the director of UIA IHP “Improvement”, Vasily Kachkin. Cherednichenko is suspected of abuse of office (Part 2 of Art. 286 of the Criminal Code), and Kachkin is suspected of abuse of power (Part 1 of Art. 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and official forgery (Part 2 of Art. 292 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

The investigators calculated the damage from the actions of the suspects, based on the salaries of journalists for several years. In total, it amounted to slightly less than 470 thousand rubles.

Acted in the interests of the plant

The mayor of Millerov Cherednichenko does not recognize the blame. His lawyer, Andrei Bashkatov, in an interview with RT, notes that, in his opinion, the criminal case was initiated on a pretext.

“The whole essence of the matter is exclusively in the wrong design of the employees,” says Bashkatov. - There is no criminal record. Employees worked: wrote and published news and notes. Salary they were officially paid - in the region of 10 thousand rubles a month. Journalists acted in the interests of the plant and administration. So the only thing we can talk about is a disciplinary violation related to incorrect execution. ”

Another defender of the mayor of Millerov - Vladimir Chesnokov - draws attention to the fact that the damage to the budget as a result of the actions of the suspects was not caused.

“One of the components of the budget is the wage fund,” says Chesnokov. - So, this fund in the period when journalists worked, was not overspending, because their salary was laid there. No other consequences from the actions of the suspects did not come. ”

Lawyers, according to them, filed complaints about illegal criminal prosecution in the UK, the prosecutor's office and the presidential administration, but so far this has not brought results.

The head of the municipal economy department of the Millerov Administration, Vasily Kugut, in an interview with RT, notes that officials were required to hire journalists.

“There is a federal law and an order of the government of the Rostov region, according to which the local governments must cover their activities. As soon as this was taken, we had to hire the necessary staff member. They could not take him to the administration, because such a post was not provided for according to the staffing table. Therefore, journalists were registered at work at the plant. It so happened that the law was accepted, but how to execute it is not clear. ”

Obviously, the official refers to the federal law “On ensuring access to information on the activities of state bodies and local self-government bodies” dated February 9, 2009.

Long investigation within the law

Despite the fact that the criminal case has been under investigation since August 2018, the accusation against civil servants has not yet been filed.

In the Russian Investigative Committee for the Rostov region, they could not respond promptly to the RT inquiry about the progress of the investigation.

The press service of the Rostov Regional Prosecutor’s Office, RT, stated that there had been no violations of the law when initiating a criminal case.

“The head of the investigative department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in the Rostov region initiated a criminal case against the head of the administration of the Millerovo urban settlement A. Cherednichenko. The decree on the initiation of this criminal case in the Prosecutor's Office of the Rostov Region is recognized as legitimate and justified. The course and results of the investigation of the criminal case are taken by the prosecutor's office for control, ”the supervisory authority notes.

Interrogation on the Day of the press

Journalist Anna Sinyakova, who worked at the “Improvement” plant in 2016–2017, explains that she did not pay attention to what she had been registered for another non-journalistic position.

“They offered a job, indicated the scope of work - I did it. My task was to write three news every day for the administration site. I did not pay attention to the nuances in the design. ”

Before Sinyakova, Lyubov Dutova, a well-known journalist in the city with more than 40 years of experience, worked as a journalist in “Improvement”.

Dutova told the local media that she wrote news about the work of the newly opened combine, and its publications are easy to find on the web, in particular on the Millerovo news agency portal.

According to Dutovoy, the investigator “literally dragged in” her for interrogations, and the last time a journalist was invited to the UK on a professional holiday - Press Day.

“I told the investigator that my patience is breaking,” noted Dutova. - I, apparently, will appeal to the Union of Journalists of Russia and give this story publicity. To which came the answer: "Well, if you want to have trouble, please."