The former Sverdlovsk minister accused of corruption was hired as an assistant to the general director at a construction company.

      Former minister of energy and housing and communal services of the Sverdlovsk Region, Nikolay Smirnov, whose trial is taking place in Yekaterinburg, has found a new job. According to the EAN publication, he was hired as an assistant to the general director of the Prinzip group of companies. Photo: Former minister of Energy and Housing and Communal Services of the Sverdlovsk Region Nikolay Smirnov in court at a hearing to extend the measure of restraint. Sverdlovsk Regional Court

      The Verkh-Isetsky District Court of Yekaterinburg postponed the hearing in the case against Nikolay Smirnov until December 4. The reason was the absence of one of the lawyers, who was supposed to present certain documents.

      Smirnov will be tried together with his first deputy Igor Chikrizov, as well as deputy minister Andrey Kislitsyn. They are accused of committing a crime under the article “Receiving a bribe in the form of money by an official through an intermediary, by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, in a particularly large amount.”

      According to the investigation, from January 2023 to March 2024 the defendants, through an intermediary, accepted a bribe totaling more than 4.4 million rubles. Smirnov himself received 980,000 rubles, Chikrizov — 1 million, Kislitsyn — at least 2.5 million. The money was handed over for general protection in the performance of municipal contracts in the design of water supply and sewerage facilities.

      Recall that Smirnov faces up to 15 years in prison. He was taken into custody as early as January 24, and in September he was released from the pre-trial detention center. Rumor has it this was done after he testified against the owners of the company “Oblkommunenergo.”