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On Wednesday, Moscow’s Izmailovsky District Court sentenced former prime minister of Daghestan Abdusamad Gamidov to 13 years in a high-security penal colony after finding him guilty of accepting a large-scale bribe. The court also fined Gamidov ₽12.45 million ($140,000).
Alongside Gamidov, the former head of Daghestan’s State Treasury Institution Directorate of the Unified State Customer-Developer, Shamil Kadiev, was separately found guilty of bribery and large-scale embezzlement. He was sentenced to 15 years in a general regime penal colony and fined ₽16 million ($170,000).
The court established that in August 2014, Kadiev gave Gamidov a bribe worth more than ₽248,000 ($2,700) in the form of a Sony television and accompanying equipment in exchange for a protection service, akin to mafia-style protection racket.
Furthermore, between October and December 2014, Kadiev, acting as part of an organised group, allegedly embezzled more than ₽31.8 million ($340,000) by purchasing the former restaurant Shurinka using federal subsidies originally allocated for acquiring a kindergarten complex.
Previously, in 2019, Moscow’s Lefortovo District Court found Gamidov guilty of embezzling ₽41 million ($440,000) allocated for the construction of a detention centre for foreign citizens. They subsequently sentenced him to six-and-a-half years in prison. Gamidov called the case ‘the purest political order’.
Gamidov’s most recent case is one of many high-profile anti-corruption investigations involving Daghestan’s leadership.
In 2018, several key figures in the regional government were arrested, including former acting Prime Minister Rayudin Yusufov and Minister of Education Shakhabas Shakhov. All involved were accused of budget embezzlement and abuse of office. Yusufov was sentenced to five-and-half years in prison while Shakhov was sentenced to four-and-a-half years.
That same year, former Daghestani Minister of Construction and Housing Ibrahim Kazibekov, who was accused of embezzling ₽600 million ($7 million) in the implementation of national projects, was reported missing and has yet to be found.
In neighbouring republics of the North Caucasus, high-ranking officials have also faced prosecution for corruption-related crimes.
In 2019, former Finance Minister of Ingushetia Ruslan Tsechoev was found guilty of misusing ₽2 billion ($22 million) from the federal budget. The court established that the funds had been used improperly, causing significant damage to the state.
In 2021, Moscow’s Basmanny Court arrested the former Head of the North Ossetian government, Sergei Takoev, and former Minister of Tourism Alan Diambekov on suspicion of corruption-related offences. In 2023, they were both sentenced to eight years in prison for building a technopark at a price inflated by ₽180 million ($2.1 million).