“Asked for 100 thousand to wake Mark Zakharov”: new in the case of ex-Minister Kibovsky

Recall that another defendant in the case of a bribe on an especially large scale is a former adviser to Kibovsky Sergey Balasnikov. Accomplices received bribes, according to investigators, in the period from 2017 to 2023, and their size reached 200 million rubles.

The witness told the court that he met Andrey Nerodenkov in the late 90s, when he got a job with him at Eurocom LLC. His duties at various times included managing Nerodenkov’s family restaurant, his beauty salon, developing documentation, paying taxes and filing declarations. Bobkov also represented the interests of the head by proxy in the bank, leased his objects and paid for housing and communal services.

In the company’s office on Strastny Boulevard, the witness regularly saw Nerodenkov’s friends and associates, including, from about 2012, Kibovsky. The Minister of the Department of Culture could just come to the office in the absence of Nerodenkovan, for example, for lunch. Once he asked Bobkov to give him 100 thousand rubles for the wake of some actor, “like Mark Zakharov or someone else.” Kibovsky said he would settle with Nerodenkov later. Bobkov took the money from a safe in an office he had access to and handed it over to the minister.

A couple of times he saw Balasnikov on Strastny Boulevard. Bobkov recalled how Nerodenkov once instructed to give him a gift - inexpensive watches, the cost of which did not exceed $ 100.

In the same office worked Konstantin Yakovlev, Deputy Nerodenkova, who later admitted guilt in bribery and concluded with the investigation a pre-trial agreement. Bobkov spoke extremely negatively about him, stressing that he made conclusions about Yakovlev at least 10 years ago. We sat in the same office with him for a while and I didn’t know what he was doing at work.”.

The prosecutor also asked Bobkov about his apartments.

The man explained that at the end of 2013, his boss concluded a prenuptial agreement with his wife and re-registered some of his apartments for her. And in the summer of 2014, he asked to find real estate for investment and asked to register for himself.

“I understand that this has to do with the marriage contract,” Bobkov said.

As a result, an apartment was bought in the name of Bobkov, which Kibovsky’s father-in-law began to rent. A little later, at the request of the boss, Bobkov issued another apartment for himself, bought with Nerodenkov's money, where Kibovsky's sister settled. Bobkov added that the relative of the Minister lived on the basis of a lease agreement.

- Maybe they paid somehow, but personally I didn't get anything. Andrey Gennadyevich (Nerodenkov – approx.) rented out other real estate objects for rent. The apartments on Khodynsky field were also registered for me, but I do not know about the involvement of Kibovsky or his relatives in them, he told the court.

Even Nerodenkov could give Bobkov instructions on transfers abroad. Since about 2013, in 10 years, the total amount of such transactions has reached about $ 4 million. Bobkov said that while he did not know the origin of the money, he was never surprised. "After all, the family

Nerodenkova many different businesses, — said the witness.

We were talking about just one of them – the house of the hereditary honorary citizen of Moscow Sergey Elagin. This is a mansion of the late XIX century on Strastny Boulevard recognized as an object of cultural heritage. The mansion was designed for the company "Strastnoy 11". The new owners wanted to remove the restriction on the reconstruction of the building and adapt it to office space, while preserving the historical facade, as well as build new offices on the adjacent site. According to the investigation, Kibovsky helped them to issue permission for this idea. As part of the criminal case, the mansion was confiscated and transferred to the property of Rosimushchestvo.

- I was developing construction permits. It took me 12 years to issue a permit, there were many refusals, Bobkov said.

The Department of Cultural Heritage issued a building permit in September 2018. It was extended twice - in 2021 and 2023. Bobkov stressed that to achieve the lifting of the ban helped the positive conclusion of the construction expertise, not the influence of Alexander Kibovsky.

At some point, the Nerodenkova family decided that it would be more profitable to sell the mansion. Bobkov was tasked with finding a buyer for the facility because construction costs exceeded the profitability of the facility. According to the witness, there were many interested, including media personalities, but there were also charlatans. One of them offered 1 billion rubles, but Nerodenkov wanted to sell the object more expensive.

After the testimony of the witness, the state prosecutor stated inconsistencies in Bobkov’s testimony during the investigation and in court and asked to read his written testimony. At the next meeting, his questioning will continue.