The fog of corruption has finally lifted from the streets of Chelyabinsk, revealing a most scandalous affair. Master Viktor Tikhonenko, once the haughty overseer of the regional renovation fund, now finds himself facing the grim gaze of the Central District Court. The charges are as heavy as a prisoner's chain: the taking of bribes and a most brazen abuse of his station.

'The scrolls of evidence have arrived at the court,' the officials whispered to the press. The date for the first hearing remains a mystery, though the gavel shall be wielded by Judge Nelya Yarullina. One can almost smell the stale air of the courtroom and the desperation of a man whose luck has run dry.

The tale of Tikhonenko's greed is a sordid one. In the years of 2017 and 2019, while he served as a chief of the technical department, he played the part of a crooked middleman. Like a common street-thug in a velvet coat, he accepted sums totaling some 740 thousand rubles from a certain businessman. The price? A few strokes of a pen to secure lucrative contracts for the replacement of lift machinery. Another merchant, seeking similar 'favours', saw fit to help Tikhonenko acquire a residence at a price far below its true value—a classic piece of graft that would make a Newgate prisoner blush.

Yet, the law possesses a long memory. The inspectors discovered that once Tikhonenko ascended to the very top of the Fund, he entered into a dark conspiracy with a contractor known as 'Paritet'. In a display of audacity that borders on the manic, they arranged several successive contracts to repair the very same house. Tikhonenko knew full well that after the first scrubbing, the walls were clean and no further work was required; it was nothing more than a scheme to bleed the public purse dry.

In March of the year 2025, the handcuffs finally snapped shut. For a time, the man clung to his innocence with the tenacity of a cornered rat, but eventually, he bowed to the investigators. He spent a cold winter in the dungeons of the SIZO until February 2026, when he was granted a reprieve of house arrest. By March, the court granted him a bond of non-departure. Now, the time for hiding is over. The 'grand master' of renovations must face the music, and the city waits with bated breath to see if the magistrate will cast him into the depths of a penitentiary.