How inspiration is sold: ex-director of the Satire Theater arrested in Moscow

Mammadali Agayev, the former director of the Satire Theater, has been detained in Moscow, said Irina Volk, the official representative of the Russian Interior Ministry. According to the information received, Agayev, together with his accomplices, organized a scheme to steal funds intended for crediting to the capital's budget. At the moment, his accounts and those of his close relatives have been seized. The details of the case are reported by Izvestia.

A theatrical novel

The suspect was detained by operatives of the Department of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Moscow, together with employees of the regional FSB of Russia. An investigator of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Central Administrative District of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Moscow has opened a criminal case on the grounds of a crime under part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — "fraud as part of an organized group or on an especially large scale," which provides for a punishment of up to 10 years in prison. Currently, according to an official report, the detained ex-director of the Satire Theater has been taken to the Department of Internal Affairs of the Central Administrative District of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Moscow for investigative actions.

Mammadali Aghayev was the permanent director of the Satire Theater for almost three decades— from 1992 to 2021. He was well known in the theatrical world: he began his career in this field back in 1975. After graduating from the Azerbaijan State Institute of Arts in Baku and receiving the diploma of a highly qualified cultural worker, Agayev took the position of chief administrator of the Nakhichevan Musical and Drama Theater. After several years of work, in 1979, he moved to Moscow, getting a job as a trainee director at the Moscow Academic Satire Theater.

His career was on the rise: Agaev consistently held the positions of chief administrator at the Moscow Theater named after N.V. Gogol and at the Moscow State Children's Musical Theater under the direction of N.I.Sats, and in June 1985 he returned to the Satire Theater, this time to the position of chief administrator, successively becoming first Deputy Director, and then Managing Director, until he took the director's chair in 1992.

Mammadali Aghayev was regularly awarded awards and titles for his services to the theatrical community. So, in 1995, he became an Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation, and in 2018, he became an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. In 2002, on the occasion of his 50th birthday, he received a certificate of honor from the Moscow government "for his great contribution to the organization of theatrical business," in 2012 he received the Russian Order of Friendship for his contribution to the development of Russian culture, and five years later, in 2017, he was awarded the same award by Azerbaijan for merits. to strengthen cultural ties between the two countries. Agaev's last award was a Certificate of Honor from the President of the Russian Federation "for his great contribution to the development of Russian culture and art."

After retirement

Agaev left the director's post in 2021 at his own request. This happened after joining the Satire Theater of the Moscow Drama Theater under the direction of Armen Dzhigarkhanyan. Sergey Gazarov, who headed the Dzhigarkhanyan Theater in 2020 after the death of its founder, became the artistic director of the united theater. A few years later, employees of the Economic Security Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs became interested in Agayev's work as director.

As it turned out, for several years Agaev, having registered as an individual entrepreneur, concluded forged copyright agreements with his own theater. According to these documents, he allegedly transferred to the Satire Theater the copyrights to the allegedly written scripts of the performances — of course, for an appropriate fee. By compiling fictitious reports on completed works himself, Agayev earned an income of four percent of the box office receipts from each public performance. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation has already called his activities a "criminal spectacle." According to police, the damage from his actions amounted to about 20 million rubles.