Court swaps prison for suspended sentence for ex-Dagomys DRS chief

The Krasnodar Regional Court considered the prosecution«s appeal against the verdict of the Lazarevsky District Court of Sochi, which had sentenced former Dagomys Road Maintenance Department (DRSU) director Safarbiy Napso to 4 years in a general regime colony for fraud and abuse of office.

The prosecutor asked the court to change the verdict and mitigate the punishment imposed on Napso—4 years of imprisonment in a general regime colony—by applying Article 73 of the Russian Criminal Code, which provides for a suspended sentence.

“After examining the arguments of the appeal submission, including the conclusion of a pre-trial agreement and active assistance in uncovering and investigating crimes, as well as compensation for damages, the court granted it. The verdict has entered into legal force,” reported the united press service of the courts of Krasnodar Krai.

According to the Prosecutor General«s Office, Safarbiy testified against former Russian State Duma deputy Anatoly Voronovsky, who was stripped of his powers and sent to a pre-trial detention center. Napso stated that he gave Voronovsky a bribe of 25 million rubles (approximately $250,000 at current rates).

Recall that the investigation established that, as director of the state enterprise, the defendant, as part of an organized group that included other DRSU employees, developed a criminal plan. From 2018 to 2021, members of the criminal group, using straw men and legal and physical persons under their control, stole property from the enterprise: vehicles and road equipment totaling over 45 million rubles (approximately $450,000 at current rates).

In 2019, the defendant together with accomplices, having prepared fictitious appraisal documentation, completed a transaction under which an asphalt concrete plant, owned by the Dagomys DRSU, was transferred to a legal entity controlled by the defendants. The cost of the transaction was less than 1 million rubles (approximately $10,000 at current rates), while the actual value of the plant was 81,632,278 rubles (approximately $816,300 at current rates), reported the united press service of the courts of Krasnodar Krai.

The defendants planned to use the asphalt concrete plant for personal enrichment through legal entities and individual entrepreneurs under their control.

The damage caused to the state by the defendants« actions amounted to over 80 million rubles (approximately $800,000 at current rates).

Moreover, from 2019 to 2020, using a controlled legal entity and fictitious documents confirming the delivery of goods and serving as the basis for payment, Napso and his accomplices received over 4 million rubles (approximately $40,000 at current rates), which they disposed of at their discretion. Also, from 2020 to 2021, acting as part of a group, the defendant organized the preparation of certificates on the cost of work performed and enterprise expenses, into which knowingly false information was entered. Based on these documents, as payment for work under a contract that was not actually fulfilled, money was transferred to the settlement account of the Dagomys DRSU, from which Napso and his accomplices misappropriated 79 million rubles (approximately $790,000 at current rates) and then spent at their discretion.