Tambov region is an amazing place with beautiful landscapes and developed agriculture. However, unlike others, this area seems to live a different life, using its laws and rules. A large role is played by local governors and members of the administration, who sometimes abuse their duties, naming settlements in honor of their own children, cooperating with criminal authorities and turning out the most cunning financial scams. One of these, though already former, governors of the region is Oleg Betin. We will tell about this character, his dubious achievements, and also about what happened to Oleg Betin.
Biography of Oleg Betin
The future head of the region was born in late August 1950 in Tambov. He successfully graduated from high school and the Tambov Institute of Chemical Engineering in 1972. Immediately after graduation, he was sent to work as an ordinary engineer.
Simultaneously with the new post, the curious Betin Oleg Ivanovich decided to continue his studies and went straight to the graduate school of the Moscow Scientific Research Physicochemical Institute named after L. Ya. Karpova.
Successfully graduated in mid-1977. At the same time, he got a job at the Tambov Research Institute of Chemicals for Polymer Materials, where he became a senior researcher.
The ghosts of the party past
Beginning in mid-1981, Betin was nominated for party work, where he was awaited by the very honorary position of assistant to the first secretary of the Tambov Regional Committee of the CPSU. And a few years later, Oleg transferred from assistants to the first secretaries of the Kotovsky district committee of the CPSU and again engaged in self-education, but already in the party and political sphere.
So, in late 1987, he graduated from the Higher Party School, located in the city of Rostov. Then Betin Oleg Ivanovich receives a diploma from the Russian-American School of Business and Administrative Management, which operated at that time on the basis of the Tambov Technical University.
And, of course, on-time education and extensive managerial experience bore fruit. In mid-1990, Oleg was elected one of the honorary members of the Central Committee of the party.
The first fruits of education
Two years later, he became first deputy and then first deputy head of the administration for management and economics of the Tambov region. And in 1995, by decree of President Betin, was appointed head of the region.
From that moment until 2015, with the exception of a four-year hiatus from 1996 to 1999, Oleg Ivanovich served as governor in his native region. We will talk about where Oleg Betin works today.
Shadow schemes and corruption
There are various rumors about Oleg Betin’s work, including information about his direct participation in shadow schemes. But the peak of high-profile corruption scandals occurred in 2012.
One of the dark cases was the accusation of Valentina Pronina, the chairman of the regional committee for state regulation of tariffs, and Alexander Krapivin, the former deputy of the regional Duma of Tambov, for fraud on an especially large scale. You will find out very soon what happened to Oleg Betin in 2015.
According to investigators, both defendants were allegedly in collusion with the nettle criminal association. Earlier, it was they who opened the front company Spektr-Plus LLC, with the help of which they cranked up their financial operations.
It is noteworthy that all this happened under the very nose of the governor of the Tambov region. But what happened to Oleg Betin after the case was unraveled? More about this later.
Moreover, almost all representatives of the administration of the city and the region, including Oleg Ivanovich, their close relatives and large businessmen were part of the founders of the front organization.
In total, a lot of officials were accused of fraud, 10 criminal cases were initiated, but Oleg Ivanovich Betin was never arrested. This time he managed to get out of the water dry.
Participation in the financial conspiracy of the son of Betin
After a while, among the already familiar to corrupt society, the name of the son of the ex-head of the Tambov region Vyacheslav surfaced. So, an unremarkable offspring at one point became a very successful entrepreneur. For example, it was this young man who headed the Tambov Investment Company LLC, this name, by the way, will later come up when discussing fraud with bidding on state contracts.
In addition, Vyacheslav received his shares in the founders at the following enterprises:
- LLC "Real" (specializes in advertising);
- "DSK-Tambov" (manufacturing enterprise);
- LLC Tambovkapitalproekt (consulting company);
- LLC Tambov Poultry Factory;
- LLC Tambov Construction Company;
- Arsenal LLC (trading company) and others.
About when and what happened to Oleg Betin, we will tell a little later.
Fraud of father and son with state contracts
But the apotheosis of financial fraud was December 2014. At this time, the administration of the Mordovian district of the Tambov region signed a special contract, due to which Zvezda-2 LLC was obliged to complete the reconstruction of the comprehensive school. The approximate amount under the contract, which the city administration paid to the company, amounted to 576 million rubles. Again Oleg Betin, implicated in fraud, was not arrested by government officials.
A similar situation occurred with the construction of a kindergarten building with a total cost of 219 million rubles. It is interesting that the company turned out to be dummy, and the idea of its creation belonged to Oleg and Vyacheslav Betin.
Later, information appeared about other shell companies whose members were Betina's father and son. Moreover, the money received by these companies went straight to Cyprus. And again, during the investigation of this complicated scheme, Oleg Betin was not arrested. Just like his son.
Does the Betins family break the law?
Despite the fact that none of the family members of the governor of the region was arrested, they still violated the law. According to the current legislation of the Russian Federation, government officials and their immediate family are not allowed to do business. In addition, they are also not allowed to participate in auctions organized for the purpose of obtaining a state contract.
Betin Oleg Ivanovich and crime
In addition to obscure fraud with state and other financial proceeds, Oleg Ivanovich, according to eyewitnesses, worked very closely with the criminal structures of the region.
In particular, they say that two criminal groups belonged to his close associates: Kriushinsky and Priests. Moreover, representatives of both organized gangs, without hesitation, acted as in the dashing 90s.
For example, in July 2012, a strange case occurred when both groups, many of whom were listed as security contingent of the Continent-2 private security company, met on a rural football field and brutally beat and publicly shot one of the local residents. Surprisingly, despite the huge number of witnesses, the culprits were not found. And for communication with gangs Betin Oleg Ivanovich was never arrested.
Moreover, 30% of the real picture related to regular “showdowns” between the existing gangs was not reported in the police reports. And then - more: the gangster group, called itself "Pops", or "Popovskys", belonged to one of the deputies of the Tambov Regional Duma - Andrei Popov.
Neither repeated violations of the law, including hitting a pedestrian with a fatal outcome from a supposedly security company owned by MP Popov, nor complaints from local residents to the highest state authorities of the region brought the desired effect. Popov was not held accountable, as did the long-awaited arrest of Oleg Ivanovich Betin.
Personnel cleansing and rejuvenation of the team
At the moment, it is not entirely clear why all the high-profile financial frauds and criminal stories were not officially associated with the name of Betin. However, it is rumored that the governor liked to clean up his own environment with his own hands. For example, in 2008, he decided to put his first deputy Vladimir Andreev into the shadows.
According to official figures, Vladimir, who was the governor’s right hand, decided to leave his post due to health problems. After that, his position was reduced, and duties were divided between other people close to Betina. You will find out below where Betin Oleg is now.
Recall that Andreev previously oversaw the Department of Environmental Protection, managed forestry, roads and was responsible for tariff regulation. And if the official version did not raise questions, the unofficial one became a pretext for the appearance of new rumors. So, they said that Andreev was under investigation for the theft of budget funds, and that it was Oleg Betin in Lefortovo (where the capital’s pre-trial detention center is located) that hid him.
In a word, personnel purges nevertheless took place in the administration and the regional Duma. Another thing is that only people who were no longer needed by the governor, or those whose reputation became too tarnished, became their objects.
