Last week, the authorities interrogated fraudsters and divided places in the State Construction

Recommendation points

• Tragedy in Novokuznetsk
• Serdyukov and SK: round two
• The machinations of the former head of the Moscow Federal Property Management Agency
• The Ministry of Culture “cultivated” the lands of the federal reserve
• There is a new contender for a leading position in the State Construction Committee
• Luxury tax: the illusion of social justice
• UEC: harmless innovation or means of control
• Moscow and the region are improving transport infrastructure

The attention of the press and the public last week was riveted, mainly, to the resonant criminal cases brought against the officials of the Ministry of Defense and the Moscow Federal Property Management Agency, who were responsible for theft, due to which billions of rubles migrated from the state treasury to the pockets of fraudsters.

The list of such “heroes” of the past year was also supplemented by officials of the Moscow Region Ministry of Culture, in whose case an investigation of fraud with the lands of the “Radonezh” reserve was launched in January.

In addition, the interest of the media was aroused by the incessant struggle for vacancies in the State Construction Committee, in which the first appointments have already begun after the general dismissals of the department’s leadership..

And the country’s leadership, in addition to the planned introduction of a luxury tax for the rich, decided to please the people with the construction of new roads in the capital and the Moscow region, at the same time increasing control over the personal life of citizens by the introduction of universal electronic cards..

Not without misfortune – on Tuesday there was an explosion in a residential building in Novokuznetsk, which claimed 2 human lives.

Tragedy in Novokuznetsk

So, on Tuesday, January 8, in the Ordzhonikidze district of Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo region, in a nine-storey residential building on the street. Radishcheva, in the early morning there was an explosion of a gas cylinder in one of the apartments.

An internal partition collapsed due to the explosion, as a result of which 2 people immediately died – a woman and a child.

The fire that began after the explosion covered, according to various estimates, from 3 to 4 apartments located on the 7th and 8th floors of the building. Eight people were hospitalized, among them were children aged 7 to 11 years. All victims were taken to intensive care, 2 of them had burns over 80% of the body surface.

Photo: Novokuznetsk Internet TV

Rescue services evacuated a total of 30 people. It took over 1 hour to put out the fire. In addition to 4 apartments, directly destroyed by the explosion and fire, as it turned out later during the survey of the house, 65 apartments received partial damage due to the explosion and the ingress of water supplied to extinguish the fire..

Of the 4 mentioned apartments that are not suitable for living, people have been temporarily resettled. Repair of the damaged housing will be carried out at the expense of the city budget.

The tenants have already returned to the apartments, not affected by the consequences of the explosion. The entrance is warmed up using heat guns. On Sunday, January 13, 2 people were discharged from the hospital from among the victims – mother and daughter, who were poisoned by carbon monoxide..

Photo: Novokuznetsk Internet TV

The regional investigative committee opened a criminal case into the death of people due to negligence. The house in which the balloon exploded was not supplied with gas. Kemerovo Governor Aman Tuleyev instructed local authorities to check all residential buildings in the region for unauthorized installation of gas equipment.

Serdyukov and SK: round two

During the second interrogation at the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, the former head of the Ministry of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov did not say a word. On Friday, the ex-minister arrived for interrogation at the RF IC.

To the disappointment of the investigators, Serdyukov refused to answer the questions, and presented, as an explanation, materials on the facts of the illegal sale of the Ministry of Defense facilities in writing, prepared in advance. The former official motivated his silence with the right, given by Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

According to the materials presented, Serdyukov considers only his subordinates guilty of the crimes committed, including Yevgenia Vasiliev, the former head of the property department of the Ministry of Defense.

Serdyukov limits his participation in the theft of state property by the fact of signing completely legal orders indicating the need to sell the property.

According to the representative of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Vladimir Markin, Serdyukov’s position of silence somewhat surprised the investigation. If in this way the ex-minister is trying to mislead the RF IC, then this may lead to a change in his status from a witness to a suspect.

The opposite point of view is held by Henrikh Padva, the lawyer of Anatoly Serdyukov. Thus, the lawyer believes that his client will most likely cease to be summoned for interrogation altogether, so he gave exhaustive testimony on the merits of the case in writing.

It is possible that the reason for the change in Serdyukov’s status may be the investigation of the construction of the road for the funds of the Ministry of Defense in the amount of 18 million rubles..

The road, 8 km long, was built in accordance with the directive of the former Minister of Defense, to one of the commercial objects belonging to his relative.

When the investigator asked about this fact, Serdyukov replied that he knew nothing about this construction..

The investigation combined 10 criminal cases into one proceeding on the fact of theft of property and financial resources of the Ministry of Defense. The heads of the appraisal firm “CPP Expert” Ekaterina Smetanova, Maxim Zakutailo are in the pre-trial detention center.

The owner of the companies “Security and Communication” and “Slavyanka” Alexander Yelkin, employees of these firms Andrey Lugansky and Yulia Rotanova were arrested. Former head of the property department of the Ministry of Defense Yevgenia Vasilyeva is under house arrest.

The circle of suspects is expanding as the investigation proceeds. Thus, the leadership of a large construction company SU-155 was summoned for questioning. As it turned out, the Expert CPP headed by Smetanova and the MIRA company, which were engaged in the illegal sale of the Ministry of Defense’s property, have a share in SU-155.

The machinations of the former head of the Moscow Federal Property Management Agency

Arrested on December 25, Anatoly Shesteryuk, the former head of the Moscow Federal Property Management Agency, was charged with almost 100 episodes of fraud with state-owned real estate. According to the investigation, the fraudulent actions of the ex-official caused damage to the state in the amount of 10 billion rubles.

Frame from the plot of the First Channel

Some representatives of the criminal group, which included Shesteryuk, were also arrested. These are the chairman of the board of the bank “Moscow Capital” Viktor Krestin, as well as the deputy general director of the company “Project” Olga Voznyak.

Another suspect in fraudulent manipulations with state property, the head of the company “Gran” Alexey Volkov, as well as the general director of the “Project” Alexander Dunaev, fled from the investigation and were put on the wanted list.

Anatoly Shesteryuk does not admit his guilt. However, according to law enforcement agencies, the evidence of his criminal activities is irrefutable..

The attention of the investigation was especially attracted by the blatant fact of an attempt to sell the building of the Zaikonospassky monastery to a buyer from abroad, who was ready to offer 110 million rubles for it..

In the course of investigative actions, a curious fact was clarified: Shesteryuk once studied at Leningrad State University on the same course as Vladimir Putin.

After the arrest, Anatoly Shesteryuk received an offer to release him on bail, but the judge refused, after consulting with the investigation, who was able to reasonably prove that the suspect might try to hide abroad.

The Ministry of Culture “cultivated” the lands of the federal reserve

Among the “newcomers” to fraud with state property is the case of the “Radonezh” reserve. The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation and the Public Chamber began parallel investigations on the suspicion of officials of the Ministry of Culture of the Moscow Region in the illegal sale of lands of the Radonezh reserve in the Sergiev Posad region.

Ministry employees are suspected of organizing the sale of 260 hectares of protected land in the period 2007-2012 for the development of cottage settlements.

According to information from some sources, Russian President Vladimir Putin personally instructed the FSB to conduct an investigation..

It is noteworthy that the federal Ministry of Culture made an attempt to approve a project that would change the boundaries of the reserve. According to law enforcement agencies, this was done in order to hide the traces of a crime committed by the regional ministry..

As Igor Fedun, deputy head of the Moscow region’s Ministry of Culture, said on Friday, the land was given for the development of cottage settlements by the municipal authorities without the ministry’s participation. The official also said that the investigation by the Public Chamber was initiated by the Ministry of Culture of the Moscow Region in order to independently assess the situation..

The opinion of the Public Chamber is not as unambiguous as the preliminary findings of the FSB. Chamber expert Sergei Bakirov spoke about the presence of irrefutable evidence in favor of the version of the involvement of officials of the Moscow Region Ministry of Culture in land fraud.

At the same time, one of the members of the profile commission of the Public Chamber, Boris Yakemenko, demanded that Bakirov provide this evidence and expressed his firm belief that the Ministry of Culture was not to blame for the alienation of reserved lands..

There is a new contender for a leading position in the State Construction Committee

Arrests and trials of dishonest officials, however, do not dull the desire to take the most lucrative places of those ministers of the people who have not yet been caught in bribes or embezzlement. So, the epic with personnel reshuffles in Gosstroy continued last week..

Igor Donato has been appointed deputy head of Gosstroy, whose position is still vacant. Until the arrival of the new head of the department, Igor Donato will perform his duties.

Prior to that, the official was in charge of the Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod highway. In connection with the appointment, Donato intends to resign as a deputy of the Nizhny Novgorod Legislative Assembly, where he was elected from “United Russia”.

In December 2012, Vladimir Kogan was dismissed from the post of head of the State Construction Committee. According to experts, the dismissal was due to dissatisfaction with his work from the Minister of Regional Development Igor Slyunyaev.

The actual reason for the dismissal, in all likelihood, was the fact that Kogan is closely acquainted with Vladimir Putin and resolved issues related to the department directly with him, without the participation of the minister. The decision to resign Vladimir Kogan was made by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

The duties of Kogan after his dismissal were performed by his deputy, Ilya Genkin, who also wrote a letter of resignation along with the other deputies – Grigory Prokurorov, Irina Bulgakova and Ilya Ponomarev.

Nevertheless, the dismissal did not seem to upset Kogan, previously declared the richest official of the Ministry of Regional Development..

He owns the company “Neftegazindustriya”, which, together with the investment group Invest AD in the UAE, claims to buy the state package of the Novorossiysk Sea Trade Port..

Kogan expressed his interest in acquiring the state share of the largest stevedoring company in the Russian Federation back in December in a letter to Igor Shuvalov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

Luxury tax: the illusion of social justice

The country’s leadership, nevertheless, pretends that it does not leave unpunished the uncontrolled enrichment of those in power and representatives of big business. In order for the bulk of the population to receive moral satisfaction, the president instructed to develop new laws that would involve taxes for the rich.

Vladimir Putin instructed the Russian government to develop bills providing for the introduction of a luxury tax for owners of expensive cars and luxury housing.

The government should submit the bill on changes in the taxation of car owners to the State Duma in April, and on the increase in rates for owners of luxury residential real estate – in June 2013.

According to some State Duma deputies, the criteria for luxury have not yet been determined in the country, as well as the procedure for paying increased tax rates. So, according to the current opinion, the tax will be paid based on the cost of the car, and not the power of its engine. The Ministry of Finance proposed to establish a price criterion for classifying cars in the luxury category at the level of 3 million rubles and more.

Maxim Rokhmistrov

As for the mechanism for paying the “automobile” tax, then, as suggested by Maxim Rokhmistrov, the first deputy of the State Duma Committee on Budget and Tax Issues, the best option would be a one-time fee for the initial purchase of a car.

Maxim Rokhmistrov: the increase in budget revenues from such innovations will be scanty and this initiative is most likely aimed at creating the illusion of social justice among the poor population of the Russian Federation.

As for luxury apartments, there are certainly more criteria for classifying real estate as luxury. The deputies propose to take into account both the footage and the estimated cost of a particular housing. So far, the preliminary price criterion for luxury housing has been announced – the cost is from $ 30 thousand per square meter.

Rokhmistrov proposed to differentiate the criteria depending on the city. So, the price for an equivalent housing in Moscow or St. Petersburg is, of course, much higher compared to many other cities in Russia. The tax is likely to be charged on a one-off basis. The size of the rate should be formed taking into account the number of people living in one living space.

UEC: harmless innovation or means of control

But the authorities will now monitor everyone, regardless of their wealth and status. This is the opinion of some experts who emphasize that the introduction of universal electronic cards on the territory of the Russian Federation, the issuance of which has already begun in Moscow, will allow government agencies to concentrate and read from these carriers all personal information about a person without any problems..

Applications for receiving universal social cards have already begun to be accepted in Moscow in 5 opened points of OJSC UEC. Application reception points are located in international financial centers in Zamoskvorechye (Bakhrushina st., 13), Nagorny and Nagatino-Sadovniki (Varshavskoe shosse st., 47), as well as in the branches of Uralsib banks (Profsoyuznaya st., 56) and Sberbank “(Bolshaya Gruzinskaya St., 37).

To submit an application, you only need an identity card and a SNILS pension insurance account number. From the moment of submission of the application, the card is prepared within 1 month.

The introduction of the cards will begin in 2013 throughout the Russian Federation. Issuance of cards was planned for 2012, but the dates were postponed.

Universal electronic cards will serve for identification of the owner, bank payments, payment for transport services, purchases in stores.

The cards will be used to identify the owner of health insurance, recipient of pensions and other social assistance.

OJSC “UEC” claims that contrary to popular belief that the authorities will have full access to the personal information of each citizen, the cards will not directly contain such information, but will include records for access to information already stored in the databases of state institutions and banks.

Moscow and the region are improving transport infrastructure

We must pay tribute to the government, last week it was also engaged in useful things, for example, the prime minister held a meeting on the development of roads in Moscow and the Moscow region in the current and subsequent years.

At a meeting devoted to the problems of the development of the Moscow transport hub, which was convened by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, on the issue of the construction of the Central Ring Road, Acting A. Governor of the Moscow Region Andrey Vorobyov.

According to Vorobyov, the completion date for the construction of the Central Ring Road has been postponed approximately to 2017, previously it was planned to complete the construction of the route only by 2019. Construction will begin in 2014. According to acting. Governor, the future road should not be closely built up with shopping centers, as happened with the Moscow Ring Road.

At the same meeting, the floor was taken by the Mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, who announced that in a year the indicators for the construction of city highways would grow to 140 km annually.

As for the development of the Moscow metro, the official promised to build 14 km of new metro lines in 2013 and noted that 7 km of lines had been laid over the previous 2 years. The mayor did not forget about buses, announcing the renewal of the public transport fleet by 75%.

In addition, Sobyanin announced the development of a joint program for suburban transportation of the Moscow government and Russian Railways. The amount of necessary investments to improve the railway transportation system in the suburbs will amount to about 260 billion rubles.

And the cities near Moscow, it seems, have decided to keep up with the capital in the pace of development of road infrastructure. So, in the city of Zhukovsky in 2013, more than 10 thousand square meters of roadway will be repaired, including along Lesnaya, Semashko, Nizhegorodskaya, Zavodskaya, Gudkov, Keldysha, Komsomolskaya streets, as well as on Shkolniy proezd and the road in the area of ​​the house culture.

In the first quarter of 2013, it is planned to complete the construction of a road from Rechnoy Proezd Street to the M-5 Ural highway. During the construction of this road, it was necessary to cut down almost a tenth of the area of ​​the Tsagovsky forest, which caused a negative reaction from the public. In addition, in 2013 Tupolev Street will be expanded to 4 lanes.