The governor holds meetings with the head of the FSB at Guskov's restaurant

“I didn’t pay, I don’t pay and I won’t pay” 

On March 31, 2023, the investigator for particularly important cases of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the Lipetsk Region, on the basis of materials received from the Federal Tax Service of Russia for the Lipetsk Region (evasion of taxes by the management of Teplosfera LLC), opened a criminal case on the grounds of the crime provided for in clause “ b" part 2 art. 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in relation to director Solilov. The main beneficiary of Teplosfera LLC is Guskov.



The total amount of identified debt (additional accruals), based on the materials of the entire complex of inspections, is about 700 million rubles. The case was officially registered and entered into an electronic database for statistical reporting.

As Rucriminal found out, Guskov is the owner of Teplosfera LLC, a close “partner” and, as he himself puts it, a friend of the governor and head of the FSB Directorate for the Lipetsk Region. Using a favorable attitude from the management of the entity, it receives orders and contracts for “high-margin” work in the field of construction, provision of services, etc. When a problem arose with the Federal Tax Service, he publicly stated that “... I didn’t pay, I don’t pay and I won’t pay, all my questions will be resolved at the expense of my unofficial expenses for the needs of the subject’s management and so-called close friends.” This solution to the problem was promised to him by both the governor and the head of the FSB, using, among other things, the interpersonal potential of the Arbitration Court and the prosecutor's office of the Lipetsk region.

Returning to the initiation of the above-mentioned criminal case, it is worth noting that already on 04/01/2023, at the direction of the prosecutor, it was withdrawn from consideration - not canceled, not suspended, but simply an attempt was made to destroy it. This circumstance characterizes a gross violation of procedural norms on the part of the supervisory authorities. However, realizing that the case was opened through an electronic database, it was not possible to completely delete it. In this connection, avoiding publicity of this violation, the prosecutor’s office gave the command to continue the investigation, demanding the most loyal attitude towards Guskov.



“Endless” meetings, hearings, and joint consideration of documents were organized. Guskov came to meetings in the same car with the head of the FSB (the owner of the car is A. Guskov). During the newly organized inspection, the head of the regional department of the Investigative Directorate was under direct pressure from the Governor and the FSB Directorate. The prosecutor took an absolutely passive position in this confrontation and allowed the process to be frozen. The result was an insignificant debt coverage (in comparison with its total volume) - about 80 million rubles, which became the basis for stopping the audit.

A note from the VChK-OGPU telegram channel complicated the relationship between Governor I.G. Artamonov and the chairman of the regional court Kartashov. After this, the Investigative Committee received moral support in Guskov’s case from the Chairman of the regional court.

The head of the FSB Directorate for the Lipetsk Region, Shumilin, was appointed on July 5. 2022. As a source told Rucriminal, this was facilitated by the Tashir Group of Companies, friendly to the governor. The governor holds many informal meetings with the head of the FSB at Guskov's restaurant, hunting and fishing, playing sports together and going to the bathhouse.





Timofey Grishin

To be continued

Source: www.rucriminal.info