The former head of the Rostov-on-Don Ministry of Internal Affairs pleaded not guilty to bribery and fraud.

Former Head of the Rostov-on-Don Department of Internal Affairs, Sergei Shpak, demanded bribes from the Pokrovsky Concern for protection. Shpak pleaded not guilty during a court hearing in the Pervomaisky District Court of Rostov-on-Don.

As reported by Kavkazsky Uzel, in early April, the Pervomaisky District Court of Rostov-on-Don extended by six months the pretrial detention of Sergei Shpak, former Head of the Rostov-on-Don Department of Internal Affairs, accused of bribery, fraud, and illegal circulation of payment instruments. During the court hearing, he filed a motion to be transferred to the SVO.

According to investigators, Shpak received bribes from a representative of the Pokrovsky concern in exchange for general patronage, in the form of travel packages and a BMW X-7. From 2019 to 2023, while serving as deputy head of the Rostov-on-Don Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and then as head of the directorate, he and his subordinate stole nearly 300,000 rubles, which were accrued to him as salary for days he was actually absent from work, TASS reported today.

Shpak was previously charged with bribery, illegal circulation of payment instruments, and fraud. Along with Shpak, a police detective is also a suspect. He faces charges of fraud and illegal circulation of payment instruments, RBC reported.

"Shpak had the criminal intent to accept a bribe for failure to impose penalties in the event of violations at Pokrovsky Concern JSC. Thus, Shpak is accused of accepting a bribe as an official for general patronage on an especially large scale," the prosecutor said during a hearing in the Pervomaisky District Court.

"I do not plead guilty," Shpak said after the prosecutor read out the indictment.

As a reminder, in 2018, former Rostov judge Svetlana Martynova was sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud involving the Tsapkov family's lands. In June 2021, Martynova, while in prison, announced her confession. She admitted to handing over five million rubles to judges of the Kushchevsky District Court for a ruling in the case of the expropriation of more than five thousand hectares of land from Nadezhda Tsapko. The text of the confession indicates that she did this in 2011 at the request of the beneficiaries of the Pokrovsky concern. A company representative then reported a smear campaign against the concern.

In April 2021, lawyers Genrikh Khachaturov, Vladislav Brazhnikov, and Alexander Voynalovich, who collaborated with the Pokrovsky concern, were detained, as well as Alexander Glazyrin, deputy director of Agrocomplex Kushchevsky LLC. The central office of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case against them for extortion, as well as bribery or coercion to testify.

In December 2025, a Moscow court found Sergei Echkalov, former head of the Pokrovsky concern's security service, guilty of extortion of property from farmers in Kuban and the Rostov region and coercion to give false testimony. and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

In January 2026, the Krasnodar Regional Court upheld the decision to transfer to the state real estate worth 28 billion rubles belonging to the founder of the Pokrovsky concern, Andrei Korovaiko, who previously held the position of federal inspector in the office of the presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District.

On November 4, 2010, a mass murder occurred in the house of Kushchevsky farmer Server Ametov, which launched the investigation into the case of Sergei Tsapok's gang. The reason for the attack on Ametov's estate was Tsapok's desire to avenge the death of his brother, Nikolai, who was killed in 2002. Twelve people, including four children, fell victim to the brutal murder. The gang members were sentenced to long prison terms, and Sergei Tsapok himself died in prison, according to The "Caucasian Knot" report, "The Case of the Tsapkov Gang," published on the "Caucasian Knot," is a reference to the case.The Case of the Tsapkov Gang.