Zabaykalsky Head Fights Dismissal, Slams Prosecutor's Formalism

Mikhail Efanov, the head of Tungiro-Olyokminsky District in Zabaykalsky Krai, who was dismissed by a decision of the Mogochinsky District Court, stated that he disagrees with the court«s decision and intends to appeal it. He also called the prosecutor»s office«s attitude formalistic, as it filed a lawsuit for his dismissal, and said that supervisory bodies with this approach only hinder the work of local self-government bodies. He reported this to a Chita.Ru correspondent on January 26.

The court, at the prosecutor«s office»s lawsuit, dismissed the head Efanov due to a conflict of interest: municipal heating contracts were concluded with the only resource-supplying company in the district, «Kommunalnik,» which is headed by the head«s father. The court proceedings lasted since 2022. Deputies were against his removal. During this time, Efanov had already been dismissed, but he returned again.

«Once again, the Mogochinsky District Court, I think, made the wrong decision, without delving into the reasons, the facts that contributed to the conclusion of this contract. Well, not studying it at all. In fact, the court itself consisted of analysis, well, 15–30 minutes,» he said.

He stated that the conflict of interest was resolved legally: at the very prosecutor«s office»s request, the authority to conclude deals with «Kommunalnik» was transferred to Efanov«s first deputy, who by law has the right to perform functions prohibited to the head.

Mikhail Efanov noted that all deals were concluded according to the law, decisions were made by the first deputy, and there are no complaints about their legality. The prosecutor«s office»s complaint, according to him, was that he did not notify the council about the deal. He criticized this approach.

«Simply today, the prosecutor»s office engages in frank formalism in some instances, not delving into any facts, simply takes a document blindly, interprets some norms of the law, not delving into the factual basis, and what contributed to the emergence of this situation? Is there even corruption in this case? Can the formal absence of some piece of paper declare a person a corrupt official? But this, I believe, is not right and incorrect.

Simply today, indeed at all levels, at forums where heads are gathered and so on, it is noted that the prosecutor«s office»s activity simply hinders local self-government bodies in some instances from changing their activity for the better, because we have become completely bureaucratized today. And deviation from some norms is considered a violation of something there. Well, to put it bluntly, they call it corruption where there is no corruption.

And these instances exist, many have noted this over several years, we talk on various platforms, that work today in local self-government bodies, in particular, because the prosecutor«s office very closely monitors every action, is becoming more and more difficult,» believes Mikhail Efanov.

He gave an example of how the prosecutor«s office achieved the removal of deputies for loss of trust due to undeclared payments of 10,000 rubles (approximately $100 at current rates) per child, calling such cases formalism and populism, not real fight against corruption.

«Because they didn»t steal this money, the state gave it to them through the president. But still, courts and the prosecutor«s office consider it illegal. But this is even laughable. And such cases, in fact, make up the majority in all their reports on the fight against corruption,» he concluded.

The court decision on dismissal has not yet entered into legal force. The head has 30 days to file an appeal.

Efanov has been litigating for a long time, proving the absence of a conflict of interest. The prosecutor«s office in February 2022 demanded his dismissal, but the district council deputies adopted a decision to keep him in his position. After that, an appeal to the court appeared, which in June 2022 ruled that Efanov must leave his post under the article »On Countering Corruption.«

The head filed an appeal, but the Zabaykalsky Krai Court left the decision unchanged, and Mikhail Efanov was entered into the federal register of corrupt officials, and on September 1, 2022, he was removed from his position.

However, already on September 12, Efanov was able to be re-elected. In June of the same year, it became known that the prosecutor«s office again demanded the dismissal of Mikhail Efanov through the Mogochinsky District Court. In both cases, the prosecutor»s office demanded the removal of the head of Tungiro-Olyokminsky District due to loss of trust in him. After almost 1.5 years of court proceedings, the district head proved for the third time in court that his deals with his father were not corruption.