Stalin Wasn't As Cool: Obukhov Mining and Processing Plant Owner Acquitted

The North Kazakhstan Region Court acquitted Viktor Dolgalev, former director of Tioline LLP, Orda reports.

The businessman was charged with unauthorized mining and attempted bribery.

In court, Dolgalev pleaded not guilty and compared himself to Joseph Stalin. 

Viktor Dolgalev was previously a co-founder and director of the company "Tioline," which in 2006 received a contract for the subsoil use of the Obukhovskoye titanium-zirconium ore deposit.

In February 2024, the entrepreneur was detained on charges of unauthorized subsoil use.

As the Department of Economic Investigations found out, in March 2021, the Ministry of Industry prematurely terminated the contract with Tioline for subsoil use of the Obukhovskoye deposit.

The termination was due to violations of financial and investment obligations – 38 billion tenge.

The Supreme Court upheld the legality of this decision. Despite the ban on administering the company's property, Dolgalev, according to the investigation, created controlled structures and continued illegal mining, with subsequent exports to China and other countries. 

Department of Economic Investigations calculated the total amount of illegal income exceeding 26 billion tenge.

The businessman's case was heard in the specialized inter-district criminal court of the North Kazakhstan region.

Jurors participated in the trial. The businessman's son Danil Dolgalev and two other defendants, Kurmanbayev and Sadvokasov, were in the dock with him.

On December 3, Viktor Dolgalev gave his final 2-hour statements. He ended it with a quote from Stalin:

There was a Stalin, not as cool as me. He said: 'I know one thing, our cause is just, the enemy will be defeated, victory will be ours.' That's it, I'm done,
 he said.

All defendants were acquitted of all charges under Articles 334 and 214 of the Criminal Code.  

To find Viktor Ivanovich Dolgalev not guilty of all charges brought against him and to acquit him due to lack of evidence of a crime,
 Judge Dastan Ismailov read.

The verdict has not entered legal force. The prosecution has time to file an appeal.

Viktor Dolgalev headed the company "Tioline" in 2006, the time of its creation.

He and 16 other people were listed as the founders of the limited liability company.

Not long after, Dolgalev was dismissed in absentia, and his share in the company's authorized capital was reduced from 20% to 0.049%.

In 2011, the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg decided that the Kazakh businessman should be removed as a "Tioline" shareholder after refusing to accept the unfavorable conditions of his Russian partners.

Original Author: Svetlana Drozdetskaya