In the Irkutsk region, the criminal case linked to former governor Alexander Tishanin and the placement of regional bonds is being discussed again. Investigators believe the borrowing scheme may have caused nearly 70 million rubles in damage to the budget, but Tishanin himself is not a suspect.

At the end of last year, information about the criminal prosecution of former governor of the Angara region Alexander Tishanin was widely reported in the media. It was reported that a criminal case had been opened on the fact of causing major damage to the regional budget. However, the perspective on this problem has now been somewhat changed.
The Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee under the Irkutsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal case at the end of last year under Part 3 of Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of office resulting in grave consequences), which provides for a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. Later, the case was transferred for investigation to Novosibirsk to the investigative division of the district Main Directorate of the Interior Ministry. It was previously reported that the criminal case was connected with Tishanin’s administration’s activities to attract borrowed funds for the region.
Tishanin served as governor of the Irkutsk Region from September 2005 to April 2008. He is now vice president of OJSC Russian Railways.
As previously reported by Anton Romanov, deputy chairman of the committee on regulations, deputy ethics, information policy, and relations with public associations of the regional Legislative Assembly, in the summer of 2007 the Irkutsk Region was planning to place the sixth issue of government bonds on the exchange in the amount of 2.2 billion rubles to cover the budget deficit. However, the regional administration preferred an over-the-counter option.
According to Romanov, in September 2007 a tender was held to select the general agent for placing the bonds. Two participants submitted applications: the company Region and Svyaz-Bank. The latter was declared the winner of the tender, as the investigation believes, with the assistance of the former governor.
The sixth bond issue was placed at an annual rate of 9.2%. Romanov claims that servicing the regional debt at such a rate is too expensive. According to him, the fifth bond issue of the Irkutsk Region was placed at a rate of 9% with a subsequent reduction to 7%.
As a result of placing the sixth issue, the budget suffered damage of 69.9 million rubles, Romanov said.
However, investigators from the investigative division under the Main Directorate of the Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation for the Siberian Federal District stated that former governor of the Irkutsk Region Alexander Tishanin is not listed as a suspect in the criminal case
At present, the investigative division under the Main Directorate of the Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation for the Siberian Federal District is investigating a case against Tishanin’s former deputy - Irkutsk Region vice governor Sergei Voronov, who is accused of embezzling 42 million rubles intended for road repairs.
Voronov was arrested on October 17, 2007 in Irkutsk. The grounds for the arrest were identified facts of misuse of funds in the region’s road sector.
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