Lieutenant Colonel of Justice and former senior investigator for especially important cases Svetlana Mikhailova, twice sentenced by the district court for bribery, again became a participant in the trial.
Migrant trail
The case of Svetlana Mikhailova, an investigator for particularly important cases of the 3rd department of the investigative unit for the investigation of organized criminal activities of the Main Investigation Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for St. Petersburg and Lo would have remained one of the ordinary cases of accusing law enforcement officers of a corruption crime, if not for the scandalous criminal case that was later revealed case against the deputy of the Kolpino municipal district Viktor Danishevsky. To date, the case against him has not yet been brought to court. At the end of November, the court extended the arrest of the ex-deputy until spring.
Let us remind you that he is accused of organizing illegal migration (Article 322.1 of the Criminal Code) and creating a criminal community (Article 210 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, Danishevsky and his accomplices were involved in registering foreigners for migration using forged documents. In this way, about 10 thousand migrants allegedly managed to “legalize” themselves.
In the Danishevsky case, as we already wrote, a certain Lyudmila Andreeva appeared. She led the businessman’s company, Consultspb LLC, in 2018-2019. In 2019, she was exposed by the police for organizing illegal migration and was prosecuted. That year, Mikhailova, according to information from the ethnic crime department, opened a criminal case against unidentified persons involved in organizing illegal migration. A little later, an investigation team was created, which included 15 investigators, including Mikhailova herself. Andreeva was detained because she was helping migrants fill out documents. She began to cooperate with the investigation, and therefore she was given house arrest.
Her criminal case ended up being handled by Mikhailova’s colleague. But this fact did not prevent the greedy lieutenant colonel from asking her through an intermediary for a large jackpot for changing the preventive measure. In addition, at that time it became very inconvenient for Andreeva to be under house arrest with relatives with whom relations had deteriorated. Clever Mikhailova agreed for 500 thousand rubles petition the court so that Andreeva can move to serve house arrest in another place. For the rest of the round sum, the investigator promised to subsequently arrange for her not to leave. The lieutenant colonel rated her services at 1 million 200 thousand rubles.
Deception and pocket
Mikhailova agreed and received several tranches of money. The first part of the bribe in 600 thousand rublesMikhailova was presented with it right in her office in the State Administration building on Ligovsky Prospekt. To satisfy the investigator’s appetites, the defendant was forced to quickly and at a large discount sell her Mazda CX-5. Soon the court allowed her to change her house arrest address.
In the spring of 2020, Andreeva’s dream finally came true; she was released on her own recognizance. After that still 400 thousand rubles migrated into Mikhailova’s pocket. This time, the money was transferred not inside the GSU, but in a car parked nearby. Mikhailova would have stopped and been content with the round sums that she received. But no. Immediately after the bribe was in her purse, the lieutenant colonel demanded more 200 thousand above. Andreeva agreed, but for show. After which she filed a statement with the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. At the next “date”, she was caught red-handed by CSS officers – 120 thousand rublesturned out to be marked and “that same” paint was clearly imprinted on Mikhailova’s hands.
A trial took place, Mikhailova admitted her guilt. A few months later, already in the Kuibyshevsky District Court, the charge against the investigator was reclassified from a bribe to attempted fraud (Part 3 of Article 30 and Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The case was reclassified because Mikhailova actively repented, admitted guilt, and in her testimony stated that she had actually led the defendant by the nose. The lieutenant colonel, of course, was part of the investigation team, but the case of illegal migration was being processed by another investigator, but she could not make decisions about changing the preventive measure and could not influence the situation either. She just cleverly took advantage of the rumors that were circulating around the department. Since Mikhailova actively cooperated with the investigation, instead of a real punishment, she received a deferment of the sentence until the child reached the age of 14.
But already in 2022, as we wrote, the Kuibyshev court reviewed the criminal case of Svetlana Mikhailova. The verdict did not survive on appeal. The St. Petersburg City Court returned the case for a new trial.
This time, on charges of bribery – part 6 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. This time the court determined that Mikhailova “due to her official position, she could influence the decision in a criminal case made by another investigator of the same department, since she was included in the investigative team.”
The punishment was imposed for a period of 8 years in a general regime penal colony. It seemed that the story should have ended there. Danishevsky’s case went its own way, Mikhailova’s fate went its own way. But that was not the case.
Give me a million!
Three years after the events described, the Moscow District Court received a claim from the prosecutor of St. Petersburg in defense of the interests of the Russian Federation against Svetlana Mikhailova. The essence of the claim is the application of the consequences of the invalidity of the transaction, the recovery of funds. To put it simply, the prosecutor collects money from the ex-investigator in favor of the state.
Substantiating his claims, the prosecutor indicated that Mikhailova was found guilty by the verdict of the Kuibyshevsky District Court, which had entered into legal force, on charges of committing a crime under Part 6 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Since Mikhailova took several tranches of money in the amount that we described above, it follows that she illegally received funds that are not her legal income, and therefore are subject to recovery. Mikhailova, of course, did not come to court, although a summons was sent to her.
The court again had to consider the circumstances of Svetlana Mikhailova receiving a bribe. Thus, it was established that from November 30, 2019 to May 19, 2020, Mikhailova received (personally and through an intermediary) a bribe in the total amount of 1 million 120 thousand rubles. That is, on a large scale. The prosecutor insisted that the transaction was carried out by the defendant for a purpose completely contrary to the foundations of the rule of law, which Mikhailova was called upon to protect. Instead, she received the proceeds of crime, which was established by the previous sentence.
The court thought about it and decided that the prosecutor’s demands were quite legal and justified, and the claim should be satisfied. Therefore, the application of the consequences of the invalidity of the transaction takes place, so now Mikhailova must return to the state’s income 1 million rubles.
The moral of this story, however, is based on the latest prosecutorial trends – to return to major corruption cases, and once again punish the criminal with a ruble, if during the first trial, his assets acquired by criminal means were not confiscated. Since the first two sentences did not oblige Mikhailova to return anything to the state, the prosecutor’s office decided to return to this story itself. According to insiders, this trend is widespread and will only continue to grow.
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