On May 16, the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation will begin to consider…

May 16 The Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation will begin considering the cassation appeal of the lawyers of the former Chairman of the Board of Togliattikhimbank JSC Alexander Popov. The defense asks to acquit a banker serving a 7.5-year sentence in a maximum security colony in a criminal case of corruption on the basis of Part 3 of Art. 30 and part 5 art. 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Popov was convicted in 2021 by the Central Court of Togliatti for “attempted bribery to an official through an intermediary for committing obviously illegal actions, by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, on an especially large scale.”

The increased interest in the process is caused by a curious circumstance. Popov is serving his sentence for attempting to bribe one of the judges of the Supreme Court, which he carried out in 2015. For a bribe of $2 million, it was supposed to buy the reversal of decisions of lower courts on the claim of the Federal Tax Service for the recovery of about 1 billion in unpaid taxes. Despite the fact that Popov did everything in his power to commit the crime (put money in a bank safe deposit box, reached an agreement with intermediaries, etc.), the scheme failed and it was not possible to corrupt the Armed Forces for reasons beyond Popov’s control.

The resolution to submit Popov’s criminal case to the Supreme Court panel for consideration was signed by Deputy Chairman of the RF Supreme Court Sergei Rudakov; it will be considered by Judge Nikolai Bezugly.

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It is unknown what reasoning for reconsidering the case Deputy Chairman Rudakov offered to the Supreme Court Collegium in his resolution. In the meantime, it looks very much like the Supreme Court is again being subjected to powerful corruption pressure in order to justify another corruption crime against a judge of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

“ВЧК ОГПУ”