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- Official pocket: ex-official of the Ministry of Transport found property worth 6 billion
Official pocket: ex-official of the Ministry of Transport found property worth 6 billion
The Prosecutor General's Office filed a lawsuit and demanded the seizure of property worth more than 6 billion rubles from former deputy head of the Ministry of Transport Alexei Semenov and his relatives, a source told Izvestia. We are talking about a yacht, a collection of watches and jewelry, apartments and expensive cars. To hide the ownership of this property, Semenov issued it to his father, son and ex-wife. In 2024, the ex-official was arrested in a fraud case, while the investigation is underway, he is in jail.
What property do they want to seize from the ex-deputy head of the Ministry of Transport
Property worth more than 6 billion rubles may be withdrawn to state revenue from former Deputy Minister of Transport Alexei Semenov and his relatives, a source told Izvestia. This requirement is contained in a lawsuit that the Prosecutor General's Office filed with the Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow. It features a yacht, a collection of expensive watches and jewelry, apartments, baths and expensive cars. On April 16, the court will consider the case on the merits.
Alexey Semenov is currently in jail. The ex-official was detained in 2024 in a particularly large-scale fraud case. According to investigators, he organized a scheme of embezzlement of budget funds together with the former heads of the company subordinate to the Ministry of Transport "Zashchitainfotrans" Vyacheslav Smirnov, Viktor Parakhin and Yuri Spassky.
Semenov held the position of Deputy minister in 2018-2020, and before that he was in charge of the Department of Development Programs of the Ministry of Transport for ten years.
"Having the opportunity to influence contract policy, he lobbied for the allocation of budget funds and initiated the conclusion of unjustified government contracts on behalf of the Ministry of Transport," said a source familiar with the essence of the claims against Semenov.
According to the investigation, Inforion and Status Compliance companies were also involved in the criminal scheme. According to the interlocutor of Izvestia, among their founders were relatives of Parakhin and Smirnov, as well as persons affiliated with them.
Since 2009, the state-owned company Zashchitainfotrans has signed contracts with Inforion for a total amount of more than 340 million rubles. In particular, the company provided "technical support services, including a unified state system for ensuring public transport safety." And since 2016, Status Compliance has paid more than 220 million rubles for the provision of "technical support services for equipment and software for public safety systems in transport."
Semenov did not monitor the observance of contracts, which "created conditions for the corrupt enrichment" of his accomplices, the source said.
As a result, the Prosecutor General's Office has now filed a lawsuit demanding that over 50 real estate objects, including apartments, country houses, baths and garages in Moscow, Krasnodar Territory and Crimea, 17 vehicles, including a yacht, as well as securities, be converted into state revenue. According to the source, Semenov purchased nine watches, worth from 790 thousand to 5.5 million rubles, as well as necklaces, bracelets and earrings of the Van Cleef &Arpels brand, worth more than 4.7 million. Two companies controlled by the defendants, Inforion and Status Compliance, are also demanding to be confiscated.
The ex-official registered real estate, cars, garages and a yacht for his father, son and ex-wife. Semenov divorced in 2015, but the couple continued to run a joint household, the supervisory authority believes. During searches in the apartment of Semenov's ex-wife, law enforcement officers seized more than $130,000, €30,000, dirhams, as well as yuan and shekels.
Conflict of interest
In February 2026, Semenov's arrest was extended until May 26. The ex-official filed an appeal against this ruling, the press service of the Moscow City Court told Izvestia. And Viktor Parakhin and Yuri Spassky have already received sentences in the case of embezzlement of more than 50 million rubles.
According to investigators, they embezzled these funds during the pandemic — while fulfilling a government contract related to the development of a Unified state Information System for transport Security. In November 2025, Parakhin and Spassky were sentenced to 7.5 years in a general regime penal colony.
Vyacheslav Smirnov, another head of the company "Zashchitainfotrans", was detained in the winter of 2024.
The scheme used by Semenov and his accomplices is a classic one for corruption crimes in the field of public procurement, says Albert Khaleyan, partner of the Vector Prime Moscow Bar Association.
— It is based on a conflict of interests: officials who have the authority to influence the distribution of contracts create a controlled business in the same industry, registering it with relatives or trusted persons, — he specified. — This is directly prohibited by the anti-corruption legislation. And the punishment will be very severe.
The lawyer noted that responsibility for such acts comes in two directions at once — criminal and civil law.
"A criminal penalty of up to 10 years in prison with a fine of up to 1 million rubles may be imposed under the article on fraud on a particularly large scale," the expert said. — In addition, it is possible to qualify under the article on receiving a large bribe, where the terms are even higher. But the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office is already a civil law consequence.
A claim for confiscation of property reinforces the consequences, allowing assets to be seized even before a verdict is handed down in a criminal case, Anton Pivovarov, a lawyer at the Moscow Sed Lex Bar Association, added. According to the expert, similar schemes are regularly identified in major corruption cases, especially in the fields of IT, construction and public procurement.
"Responsibility for such actions is one of the strictest: we can talk about fraud, abuse of authority and corrupt structures with real terms of imprisonment and subsequent confiscation of assets," he said in an interview with Izvestia.
For such corruption schemes, as a rule, they are sentenced from 7 to 15 years in prison, said Oleg Kim, partner at Legal Advisor Law Office.
Lawyer Albert Khaleyan recalled that in March 2026, the court seized property worth more than 10 billion rubles from ex-deputy of the Krasnodar City Duma Viktor Timofeev. According to investigators, it was acquired through the conclusion of government contracts with controlled companies.
In January, 372 properties worth 28 billion rubles, acquired with corrupt proceeds, were confiscated from Andrey Korovaiko, a former employee of the embassy in the Southern Federal District. And in 2025, the court seized more than 40 billion rubles from the former Prime Minister of Karachay-Cherkessia, Vladimir Kaishev.
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