The former head of the Central Information and Technical Customs Department of the Russian Federal Customs Service (FCS) has been sentenced to eight and a half years in a penal colony.
A court in Moscow has sentenced the former head of the Central Information and Technical Customs Department of the Federal Customs Service of Russia (FCS), Dmitry Vasilyev, to eight and a half years in a penal colony for taking a particularly large bribe. According to the investigation, the official received 2.5 million rubles from Moscow merchants to ensure that they received contracts for the supply of IT-equipment to the customs service. The first guilty verdict appeal instance, having considered the complaints of the customs officer’s defenders, canceled and sent the case for a new consideration.
Dorogomilovsky court of the capital passed a sentence on former high-ranking FCS officer Dmitry Vasilyev in a criminal case of receiving a particularly large bribe (part 6 of article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The former head of the Customs Service Department was found guilty and received eight and a half years in a strict regime colony with a fine of 5 million rubles. In the debate the state prosecutor requested 11 years.
The case was considered for the second time. In September 2023, the same Dorogomilovsky court sentenced Dmitry Vasilyev to nine and a half years in a strict regime colony with a fine of 10 million rubles. At the time, the prosecutor requested 12 years. However, the defense appealed the court decision, and the appeal instance of the Moscow City Court, having found a number of procedural violations committed during the first trial, overturned the verdict and sent the case for a new consideration.
According to the investigation, the head of the Central Information and Technical Department (CITTU) of the Federal Customs Service promised to help the owner of Moscow IT-companies with the conclusion of government contracts. During the preliminary investigation law enforcers talked about receiving bribes of up to 23 million rubles by Dmitry Vasilyev.
However, the final version of the prosecution said that the amount of the bribe should have been 5 million rubles, but the defendant managed to get only 2.5 million rubles.
On January 25, 2023 the customs officer was detained at his workplace by FSB operatives and then arrested by the Basmanny court of the capital. During the first trial, the former official partially admitted his guilt: he confirmed that he had received the money, but he claimed that he did not plan to fulfill the promises made to the merchant. Therefore, according to the defendant, his actions cannot be qualified as bribery. The defenders of the customs officer also asked the court to reclassify the charges to a more lenient part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud). 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code (fraud on a large scale, up to ten years in prison). The court, however, did not heed the arguments of the defendant and his lawyers and left the qualification of the charge unchanged.
During the new trial the defendant fully admitted his guilt and drew the court’s attention to the fact that he cooperated with the investigation.
The lawyer, in turn, stressed that his client was positively characterized at the place of service, has chronic diseases, he has minor children in his care, he also has about 20 diplomas, commendations and other awards, including for assistance to the Black Sea Fleet and for participation in events related to the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 2014. In connection with all this, the defense counted on leniency of the court and a much more lenient sentence than requested by the state prosecution.
“He did not cause damage to the state. The businessman transferred his personal funds to my client. In addition, the contracts in question in the case were closed long ago. The businessman, in his own words, gave the bribe as if for reinsurance. Dmitry Vasiliev could not influence anything,” said the defense representative after the announcement of the verdict. He also added that the verdict, in his opinion, is excessively harsh, because when imposing a strict regime colony, the time spent in the pre-trial detention center in this case is counted in the total sentence at a ratio of 1:1, and not 1.5:1, as in the case of the general regime.