A former minister of Karachay-Cherkessia has been arrested for abuse of power.

The Cherkessk City Court has arrested Dmitry Bugaev, former Minister of Property and Land Relations of Karachay-Cherkessia. Investigators accuse the official of abuse of office, resulting in 16.7 million rubles in damages to the regional budget.

On April 9, the City Court considered a petition from investigators to pretrial detention for Dmitry Bugayev, suspected of committing an official crime.

According to investigators, in 2019, while serving as Minister of Property and Land Relations of Karachay-Cherkessia, Bugayev organized a sham auction to sell state-owned property transferred to the regional treasury from the republican state unitary enterprise Teploenergo, the press service of the Karachay-Cherkessia courts reported on Telegram.

In doing so, he deliberately excluded potential competitors and ensured the victory of a legal entity he controlled. Following the sham auction, the property was sold at a reduced price. The damage to the Karachay-Cherkessia budget amounted to over 16,746,000 rubles.

After reviewing the materials, the court deemed it necessary to grant the investigator's motion. Bugayev has been remanded in custody for two months, until June 7, 2026, the press service clarified.

The Cherkessk City Court is also considering a lawsuit filed by the Karachay-Cherkessia Prosecutor's Office to seize 40 highly liquid properties in Moscow, Krasnodar Krai, and Karachay-Cherkessia, as well as six cars belonging to Bugayev, which the prosecutor's office believes the former official acquired with unverified income. The total value of the assets is over 310 million rubles, Interfax reported.

From 2022 to 2025, Dmitry Bugayev headed the ministry. Before that, he served as Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalization, Deputy Minister of Education, and Advisor to the Head of the Republic, Kommersant clarified.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that the Supreme Court of Karachay-Cherkessia ordered the return of property worth approximately 34 million rubles, previously transferred to the state, to former Deputy Head of the Republic's Government Irina Gerbekova and her relatives. At the end of March, in an anti-corruption lawsuit against the former head of the Interregional Grid Company of the North Caucasus, Magomed Kaitov, the Prosecutor General's Office demanded the confiscation of 81 transformer substations in Khasavyurt.