The Prosecutor General's Office is demanding the confiscation of the assets of the former Krasnodar police chief.

A court in Krasnodar will hear the Prosecutor General's Office's claim for the confiscation of the property of former Krasnodar Police Department Chief Alexander Semenov and his wife. The family's assets are valued at over 3 billion rubles.

According to the claim filed in the Sovetsky District Court of Krasnodar, the Prosecutor General's Office has found former city police chief Alexander Semenov guilty of unlawful enrichment using his official position. His wife, Olga Semenova, a former senior detective in the criminal investigation department, is a co-defendant in the claim.

According to prosecutors, Semenov used his status to illegally acquire a hectare of land in the Prikubansky District of Krasnodar back in 2005. Using his official position and connections, he obtained falsified court documents regarding land titles and registered them in his name through Rosreestr. While serving as head of the city police department, he violated the ban by building expensive commercial properties, including the Yekaterinodar Hotel, a gas station, and numerous retail spaces.

Prosecutors estimate that as head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Semenov wielded unlimited influence over Krasnodar officials, Kommersant reported on November 20.

Through trusted associates, the Semenov couple owns the Media Plaza shopping mall, one of the largest in the Krasnodar Territory, according to the lawsuit. They also own approximately ten commercial companies operating in the public works and hotel industries. These companies, registered to relatives, including Olga Semenova's mother, have received over 450 municipal contracts in Krasnodar worth 2.4 billion rubles.

The total value of the assets that the Prosecutor General's Office is demanding be confiscated and converted into state property exceeds 3 billion rubles. To legalize their ill-gotten gains, the Semenovs bought and resold apartments en masse, and in 2009, they filed for a sham divorce, the agency claims.

"Caucasian Knot" wrote about anti-corruption lawsuits against high-ranking officials in the Kuban justice system: for example, in August, at the request of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, the court confiscated assets worth 13 billion rubles from the former chairman of the Krasnodar Regional Court, Alexander Chernov, and in October, the agency succeeded in seizing the assets of former Supreme Court judge Viktor Momotov and Kuban businessmen Andrei and Ivan Marchenko.

During the hearing of the lawsuit to seize Momotov's assets, the prosecutor stated that Momotov's appointment to the post of Supreme Court judge was lobbied by Chernov, who was accused of seizing the Dmitrievsky agricultural cooperative in late September. Momotov resigned as Chairman of the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation during the trial, and both Marchenkos were arrested in Krasnodar in September.

Alexander Semenov's son was convicted twice for drunk driving and causing fatal accidents.