Fictitious payments to employees are called a common practice in the security agencies of the North Caucasus Federal District

The theft scheme, against the background of the investigation of which the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia was dismissed, has long been widespread in the security agencies of Dagestan and other regions of the North Caucasus, but the amount of damage at one billion rubles seems inflated, experts said.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, on September 10, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Ingushetia, Lieutenant General Mikhail Korobkin, was dismissed from his post by decree of the president . Korobkin's dismissal is connected with the discovery of non-existent employees in the district police departments of the republic, who had been receiving salaries from the budget for a long time. The damage, according to preliminary estimates, is about 1 billion rubles, the RTVI television channel reported, citing its sources.

The resignation of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia was commented on to the "Caucasian Knot" by the Colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, candidate of legal sciences Amir Kolov, the Chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Employees of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor's Office Magomed Shamilov, Moscow economist and political scientist Sergei Zhavoronkov, as well as a public figure from Ingushetia, who asked not to publish his name.

Amir Kolov is sure that the head of the department could have participated in the thefts, if they occurred, only with the help of "high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic", since the theft of money by issuing fictitious salaries to non-existent employees requires the participation of many people.

Such thefts of this kind occur everywhere in Russia

At the same time, according to him, the described scheme is widespread in law enforcement agencies. "I can say that such intra-systemic thefts of money on an especially large scale, harassing subordinate employees, occur everywhere in Russia, including in Dagestan and other regions of the Caucasus," the expert said.

According to Kolov, such thefts are uncovered when it is "politically advantageous" for the top management. The expert explained that he knows of a number of cases where such "theft schemes" were uncovered by employees who "did not come to terms with these crooks," but no investigations were conducted.

"Basically, such facts are primarily covered up by the managers themselves [...], arranging reprisals against unreconciled employees who appealed to the courts and other competent authorities, right up to the President of Russia. For example, I personally also contacted all government agencies with a statement - a report on crimes committed by my superiors [...] where tens of millions of rubles, which were allocated from the country's budget, were appropriated (stolen from employees) over many years... However, all these crimes are still covered up by the management," he said.

"Dead souls" on staff are the norm, not the exception

Magomed Shamilov also called the described scheme common for law enforcement agencies. "Dead souls" in the state are the norm, not the exception. Such schemes are everywhere: they recorded relatives, friends, sometimes just fictitious people. The money was spent on various needs - from maintaining unofficial informants to banal theft," he said.

According to the expert, the police general was "given away by his own people." "In the Ministry of Internal Affairs, such cases are not "discovered" by chance, they are purposefully developed when someone needs to be removed. Most likely, he crossed the wrong people or simply became inconvenient. Maybe he took too much for himself, without sharing with the right people at the top," Shamilov suggested.

According to his assessment, the announced amount of one billion rubles looks overstated. "I don't think he earned that much. It seems to me that they think like this: they take the maximum salaries, multiply them by some allowances, add bonuses for several years ago and get these figures," the expert noted.

I would not consider Kalimatov to have any special problems

Scandals related to federal agencies do not affect the position of the head of Ingushetia, Sergey Zhavoronkov pointed out. "Kalimatov is not, of course, a heavyweight like [Moscow Mayor Sergei] Sobyanin or [Chechnya Head Ramzan] Kadyrov. But at the same time, he has been sitting for six years, and was reappointed last year. There are no special scandals with him personally, and as for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this is a federal structure, these are not Kalimatov's subordinates... So I would not consider Kalimatov to have any special problems," he said.

To assess the reliability of the data on the amount of damage, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the investigation materials, he said he. "According to open sources, the number of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia is somewhere around three thousand. That is, about a million [rubles] should be spent per person per year. A million multiplied by three thousand - like three billion, but not all of them are fictitious. Another thing is that overtime bonuses can be issued, and their size is definitely not limited. So it is difficult for me to give an assessment without familiarizing myself with the investigation materials," Zhavoronkov noted.

In turn, an Ingush public figure, who wished to remain anonymous, believes that the version with "dead souls" looks plausible, but it was not the reason for the general's resignation.

A corruption case is a convenient pretext, not a reason

"In the North Caucasus regions, such schemes have existed for decades and are a systemic practice. Korobkin was removed not for theft - they don’t fire people for that in the Caucasus. Most likely, he lost the support of the federal center or had a conflict with local elites. The corruption case is a convenient pretext, not a reason,” he said.

The amount of damage at one billion rubles looks inflated, the activist noted. “The figure looks inflated, it’s more for media impact [on the audience]. If we take the average salary of a police officer in Ingushetia, about 40-50 thousand rubles, and assume 100-200 fictitious units over several years, we get a much smaller amount. He had to use this scheme for 6-7 years to earn a billion rubles. Therefore, a billion is a political figure designed to demonstrate the “scale of the problem” and show a tough fight,” he noted.

As for the risks for the head of Ingushetia, Kalimatov, he is holding on tight for now, despite a series of scandals. “His stability is explained by several factors. He ensures stability in a difficult region, has support in the security forces, structures and Moscow, effectively manages ethnic and clan contradictions. But such scandals cannot but affect his position. Two billion-dollar cases in a row create a critical mass of negativity. If the federal center decides to clean up the elites or needs a scapegoat to demonstrate the fight against corruption, Kalimatov could become the next target. As long as he is useful to Moscow, he will sit tight," he emphasized.