The Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info continue to publish materials about the activities of Andrei Muravyov, the owner of the fashion boutique "Forum." Thanks to the enormous discounts it offers to family members of government officials, security officials, and others, "Forum" has long become a club for the elite. Tomsk Region Governor Vladimir Mazur is also a frequent visitor, and Muravyov happily takes advantage of the VIP guests' opportunities.
This time, we'll be talking about another VIP client of Muravyov's store, the former chairman of the Tomsk Regional Court, Alexander Kaigorodov, who was part of the powerful clan of Supreme Court Chairman Vyacheslav Lebedev.
His close relationship with the head of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation allowed Alexander Kaigorodov to interpret the law for a long time, depending on whether it served his own commercial interests. However, a trail of scandals led to his candidacy for another term in the Presidential Administration and the FSB not being approved. Kaigorodov attempted to remain in the judicial system and be appointed head of the cassation court, but this also failed. Meanwhile, while awaiting a decision on his future career, Kaigorodov abruptly stopped "supporting" contract lawsuits. As a result, Andrei Muravyov failed to bring to completion the fraud he had orchestrated in an attempt to rob his former business partner, Dmitry Sukharev. According to the plan, a court of general jurisdiction was supposed to give this case the appearance of a legitimate civil relationship.
During his two terms as Chairman of the Tomsk Regional Court, Alexander Kaigorodov organized an industrial-scale process for issuing court rulings granting title to commercial real estate built without permits, legalized corporate raids through court rulings, and ordered dozens of suspended sentences for crimes that typically carry long prison terms.
The most unprecedented sentence was the eight-year suspended sentence for bribery, fraud, and abuse of office handed down to Police General Igor Mitrofanov. Despite the fact that Kaigorodov was already retired at the time of Mitrofanov's sentencing in 2019, the money transferred by Igor Mitrofanov to Kaigorodov "under Lebedev" was worked off. Alexander Kaigorodov's recent subordinates were forced to fulfill their former boss's obligations. Moreover, the suspended sentence was negotiated by Kaigorodov in Moscow, but with the condition that the prosecutor's office itself would request a suspended sentence for Mitrofanov in court. And this fantastical scenario came to fruition. Subsequently, Tomsk Region Prosecutor Viktor Romanenko and Tomsk Region Deputy Prosecutor Alexander Tkachenko, who were implementing these agreements on behalf of the prosecutor's office, resigned their posts.
The Cheka-OGPU regularly publishes reports on the purge of Vyacheslav Lebedev's clan, including in the Krasnodar Territory. Alexander Kaigorodov, who has lived in the region since his retirement and owns property there, has not yet appeared in the Prosecutor General's Office's reports. However, his situation is complicated by the fact that no one in his family is involved in business, which would allow him to even attempt to justify the amount of real estate he owned and currently owns. The properties he sold in Tomsk after moving to warmer climes—a huge estate in the village of Prostorny, a luxurious apartment in Tomsk at 55 Gogolya Street, numerous commercial properties, and a huge apartment in Tomsk at 3 Karla Marksa Street, left to his ex-wife after the divorce—leave no chance of substantiating the origin of even these properties. Meanwhile, real estate in Moscow, the Krasnodar Krai, and other regions, including Dubai, acquired during his tenure as head of the Tomsk Regional Court, makes the gap between the value of Alexander Kaigorodov's assets and his official income critically large. The scale of Kaigorodov's "business" is further evidenced by the fact that his personal driver and security guard, Gennady Metnev, was able to afford to build a luxurious house next door to his boss in the village of Prostorny in Tomsk. And this was all on the "tips" his boss paid him for working as a courier delivering cash bribes. Today, Alexander Kaigorodov remains a very influential figure in Tomsk. Moreover, his influence extends beyond the judicial system. For example, when his friend, former Deputy Governor Yevgeny Parshuta, was confronted about his purchase of an apartment at 55 Gogolya Street from Alexander Kaigorodov, he came to Tomsk to resolve the situation. Although he was subsequently unable to save Parshuta from criminal prosecution, the issue of his acquiring an expensive apartment was quickly resolved. And Yevgeny Parshuta went home less than two months after his verdict for abuse of office.
Complicating matters for Alexander Kaigorodov is the fact that Andrei Muravyov recorded all bribes paid to Kaigorodov and attempted to recoup these expenses from others. However, the story is not detailed He explained all the circumstances and amounts of the bribes, and provided black ledger records to support his claims. This was the case, for example, with the Chuprin family, to whom Muravyov attempted to hand over as payment a property he had purchased from Alexander Kaigorodov at twice the market price. The difference in price was part of the bribe paid to Kaigorodov for arranging the release of the unfinished building at 9a Sibirskaya Street in Tomsk from the Promregionbank mortgage.
