Prosecutor Requests 9 More Years for Gas Fraudster

The prosecutor of Chita«s Central District has demanded a nine-year prison sentence for 48-year-old Novosibirsk resident Denis Merzlyakov, who participated in the gasification of the private sector in the regional capital, for fraud committed using his official position on an especially large scale. This was reported on January 26 in the Telegram channel of the Zabaykalsky Krai prosecutor»s office; the accused«s name was provided to Chita.Ru correspondent by senior assistant prosecutor of the region Yevgeny Sinelnikov.

A few days earlier, Merzlyakov, head of the gas projects department at the Vostochno-Arkticheskaya Neftyanaya Gazovaya Korporatsiya (VANK, East Arctic Oil and Gas Corporation), had already received a sentence in another criminal case for fraud in Chita«s gasification — six years in prison. It was established that under the leadership of former VANK general director Stanislav Neverov, a criminal group that included Merzlyakov stole 49 million rubles (approximately $544,400 at current rates) allocated for the project to convert private homes in the regional center from stove to gas heating. On January 26, the court sentenced Neverov to six years and six months in prison in the same case. Denis Merzlyakov»s perspective on the events, who is also listed as a victim in a criminal case of kidnapping, can be found in this text.

According to the prosecution, to implement the Chita gasification project in May 2023 and February 2024, the regional Ministry of Housing and Communal Services (MinZhKKH) provided subsidies covering costs of 700 million and 840 million rubles (approximately $7.8 million and $9.3 million at current rates) to a commercial organization, which then engaged another legal entity as a contractor for construction and installation work.

Knowing this, Merzlyakov, who worked for a competing company also involved in Chita«s gasification, decided to steal budget funds. From August 2023 to March 2024, he entered into fictitious contracts with a number of organizations for construction and installation work related to providing technical capability to convert households from coal to gas heating, and also issued three loans to a legal entity. Thus, targeted funds totaling approximately 170 million rubles (about $1.9 million at current rates) were stolen.

Property and funds in the accused«s accounts totaling over 6 million rubles (approximately $66,700 at current rates) have been seized. During the pleadings, the prosecutor proposed to find the defendant guilty and sentence him to nine years in a general regime correctional colony, as well as to satisfy the stated civil claims. The final decision on the criminal case will be made by the court.

As explained to Chita.Ru correspondent by senior assistant prosecutor of the krai Yevgeny Sinelnikov, Merzlyakov and Neverov have already received sentences for one of the fraud schemes. The cases were considered in a special procedure and separately, as the accused entered into pre-trial cooperation agreements with the prosecutor. For the same scheme, the court is considering a criminal case against two other group members, but in the general procedure.

The current case, for which the prosecutor requested nine years in prison for Denis Merzlyakov, concerns a crime that the Novosibirsk native committed independently — separately from the group led by Neverov.

Earlier it was reported that the Zabaykalsky Krai Ministry of Housing and Communal Services is seeking to recover nearly 50 million rubles (approximately $556,000 at current rates) from Stanislav Neverov and other top managers of the company — these funds, according to the lawsuit, were allocated by the ministry to LLC AMK as a subsidy for connecting in-house gas equipment, but were ultimately stolen from AMK«s account.

In January 2026, it also became known that a criminal case was initiated against former Zabaykalsky Krai Minister of Housing and Communal Services Alexei Golovinkin because he allegedly failed to ensure that budget funds were used for Chita«s gasification.