Court decision
The Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow sentenced Vera Novoselskaya, ex-head of the Ministry of Culture of Crimea, to ten years in a penal colony, according to the official telegram channel of the capital’s courts of general jurisdiction. The official was found guilty of taking a bribe in the amount of 25 million rubles . during the reconstruction of the Crimean State Center for Children’s Theatrical Art.
Novoselskaya was deprived of the title of Honored Worker of Culture, she was forbidden to hold positions in educational authorities for the next 15 years. In addition, she will also have to pay a fine of 128 million rubles.
The version of the investigation
In 2018, Novoselskaya received 25.8 million rubles from the beneficiary of the St. Petersburg construction and restoration company Meander LLC Evgeny Yarmosh. The funds were transferred “for general patronage” during the restoration of cultural sites in Crimea, including the construction of the renovated Crimean State Center for Children’s Theatrical Arts.
The theater is being built on the site of the demolished emergency building of the puppet theater. LLC “Meander” received a construction contract, but in 2020 the contract was terminated after the arrest of the company’s general director for stealing part of the advance payment issued for the restoration of the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
The former minister is still guilty does not recognize and assures that she borrowed money from Yarmosh – to buy real estate for her friend.
but after that she transferred it to the ownership of Novoselskaya.
A series of resignations
Novoselskaya was arrested at the end of November 2021. That autumn, a series of high-profile resignations took place on the peninsula. So, at the end of September, Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea Yevgeny Kabanov, who was accused of fraud during the construction of a water pipeline to Simferopol in 2020, and the Minister of Construction and Architecture of the Republic Mikhail Khramov resigned. Later, Minister of Transport Yevgeny Isakov and Minister of Health Alexander Ostapenko resigned.
The person involved in the high-profile case of Rostov judges attempted suicide 57
The heads of the administrations of the Simferopol region, Sudak and Feodosia also left their posts. In November, the head of the administration of Belogorsk, Igor Ipatko, was arrested for taking a bribe.
Novoselskaya’s career
Novoselskaya graduated from the Simferopol Tchaikovsky Music College and worked as a teacher in Simferopol for more than ten years.
From 2007 to 2012 she worked as an assistant to the people Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Elena Netetskaya. In 2009, she became a civil servant, taking the post of Deputy Minister of Culture of Crimea.
When Crimea became part of Russia in 2014, Novoselskaya was appointed head of the Republican Ministry of Culture.