Yakub Belkhoroev, 69, a former United Russia MP and former head of the Ingush Social Insurance Fund, was sentenced by Moscow's Presnensky Court to 10 years in prison. He was found guilty of embezzling nearly 14 million rubles.
The investigation established that Belkhoroev, also a prominent figure in the Batal-Khadzhi vird, systematically transferred budget funds to his associates, framing them as payments to workers' compensation. The defendant admitted his guilt and voluntarily compensated for the damages. However, this did not prevent him from serving a prison sentence. Three of his accomplices—Belkhoroev's ex-wife Tanzila Polonkoeva, Beslan Tochiev, and Issa Tsechoev—were given three-year suspended sentences.
This sentence is not Yakub Belkhoroev's only one. In November 2022, he was sentenced by the Moscow City Court to nine years in prison for similar embezzlement of over 23 million rubles.
According to media reports, Yakub Belkhoroev took over the Batal-Hadji community after the death of Sultan Belkhoroev in 2017. Several members of the community are implicated in other investigations, and its armed wing is officially designated a terrorist organization and banned in Russia. The community's leadership, however, denies any involvement in criminal activity.
