The antimonopoly case, initiated by the Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia for the Perm Territory against the companies JSC “PZSP” (“Perm plant of silicate panels”) and “Permtranszhelezobeton” in the summer of this year, frankly stalled. At the end of December, the head of the Office, Alexander Plaksin, admitted this.
It can be completed only by the spring of 2023, and it is not a fact that the antimonopolists will celebrate the victory. The head of Perm, Aleksey Demkin, a representative of the influential Demkin family of developers, the main beneficiaries of PZSP, certainly wants such an outcome.
The city-planning activity that the company launched after the appointment of Alexei Demkin as the mayor of Perm, irritates the local elites, and is clearly not to the taste of the governor of the Perm Territory, Dmitry Makhonina. Read more in the material of The Moscow Post correspondent in the Perm Territory.
The cause of the case was an unreasonable, in the opinion of the OFAS, increase in prices for aerated concrete blocks. Between 2021 and 2022, they almost doubled. The Office received a lot of complaints, FAS responded. According to Plaksin, the defendants are trying to point out the relationship of price increases with other building materials. According to rumors, allegedly the situation can be “put on the brakes.”
Alexey Demkin is one of the sons of Nikolai Demkin, the founder of PZSP JSC, now the chairman of the supervisory board of PZSP JSC, ex-deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Perm Territory, ex-secretary of the United Russia regional department.
After the departure of Demkin Sr. from the legislature, his son, Evgeny Demkin, took his place. He is now the general director of the main legal entity PZSP JSC, whose chair until 2020 was occupied by Alexei Demkin, the current mayor.
Earlier, Alexey Demkin represented the inhabitants of Perm in the walls of the Perm City Duma as a deputy. Although few people in Perm doubt that the main incentive for the Demkins could be lobbying for business interests.
Counter courses
Almost simultaneously with Demkin in Perm, a new leader appeared in the Perm Territory – Dmitry Makhonin became him. First in the status of interim, then through victory in the elections. According to the source, Makhonin’s political weight was not enough to “push through” “his” mayor. Allegedly, in the federal center, Alexei Demkin could simply be imposed on Makhonin – “you will work with him.”
From 2009 to 2013, Dmitry Makhonin himself was the head of the Perm OFAS Russia. Therefore, two kinds of rumors are crawling in the region. On the one hand, allegedly the PZSP and related structures really “break prices”. On the other hand, Dmitry Makhonin could use his influence in the OFAS (and in the CA FAS, where he was the head of the Fuel and Energy Complex Department, from where he moved to the governor’s position) in order to finally “put pressure” on the “rushed” developers.
The Demkins, the old-timers of Permian politics, were clearly not happy about the arrival of the young ex-antimonopolist. Makhonin’s team was able to “push through” the deputies of the Legislative Assembly and the Administration of Perm, which from January 1, 2021 “transferred” part of the town planning powers to the regional level. The mayor’s office has lost the ability to issue building permits.
The conflict developed, and in April 2022, Dmitry Makhonin already openly opposed Demkin’s team, saying that he was not satisfied with the quality of work of the mayor’s office of the capital of the region in terms of land relations.
The governor noted that in addition to housing construction, it is necessary to provide the city with infrastructure. A hint of entire microdistricts poorly provided with infrastructure from the PZSP was read between the lines.
In response to this, forces that are attributed to the Demkin team went into the “attack” on Makhonin. We are talking about the deputies of the Legislative Assembly and the Perm City Duma, whose representatives can be considered the scandalous Ilya Lisnyak and his longtime colleague Mark Korobov.
It is believed that Mr. Lisnyak owns a whole network of “publics”, communities in social networks, including those banned in Russia, and telegram channels. In the city, they are considered almost “drain tanks”, which are turned on to discredit the “right” people at the “right” moment. Critical and even frankly insulting materials about the governor’s team began to pour out from these sites, as if from a cornucopia.
Soon problems began with Ilya Lisnyak himself. Rumors spread that he could allegedly hide real income from voters. In addition, you may owe a large sum of money. To whom and how much is not clear.
The case turned out to be so serious that at the end of November, the Legislative Assembly Commission for Controlling the Accuracy of Information on Income, Expenses, Property and Property Liabilities began an audit against the parliamentarian. Writes about this “Kommersant”. Its results have not yet been reported.
Developer on the mayor’s “throne”
Even taking into account the transfer of urban planning powers from the mayor’s office to the government of the region, when Alexei Demkin became the head of Perm, the affairs of the PZSP went uphill. And this is despite the constant attempts to attribute to Demkin the “barbaric” infill development of Perm and leaving other major competitors out of work.
One of the latest examples is the winning at the auction of the right to purchase a two-story former building of a boarding school, which is in disrepair in the Ordzhonikidzevsky district of the city.
Only PZSP was allowed to bid for the right to purchase. So there is no question of any competition in this case. Now another skyscraper from the company of the mayor’s family will appear in that place.
In addition, as soon as Demkin Jr. was in the mayor’s chair, the city authorities suddenly revived the idea of building a residential complex on the site of a former lubricants and coolant plant, which occupies an area of 12 hectares. This issue was discussed a long time ago – in 2016. Then, at public hearings, people expressed their dissatisfaction with the plans for the PZSP, and the topic “died out” until 2021.
Building and land use regulations simply forbade it. But under Demkin, the mayor, this was quickly corrected – loyal deputies voted “as needed.”
Now a skyscraper from the MZSP can appear in that place. For this, a separate legal entity was created – SZ K-135 LLC. It is 90% owned by PZSP JSC and another 10% by Uran LLC. At the same time, all 100% of the structure is pledged to Metallinvestbank. Now the structure practically does not conduct any financial activity.
This is strange, because JSC “PZSP” has a portfolio of government orders in the amount of 2.1 billion rubles. Surprisingly, 1.4 billion rubles – from the Housing Construction Department of the Perm Administration. In second place with an amount of 300 million rubles – also controlled by the mayor’s office of the MKU “Improvement of the Dzerzhinsky District.”
Where the money goes is the question. Some of them could settle in the Czech Republic, where Alexey Demkin quietly did business until 2018. Ura.ru wrote about it. He managed two companies GRASIELA TRADING SRO and GRASIELA TRADING PRAHA SRO, which are specialized in real estate rental. Today, the Czech Republic is one of the main “singers” on the issue of imposing illegal sanctions against Russia. Is it worth it to look for property in this country from the Demkins?
The head of the family, Nikolai Demkin, has already come to the attention of the security forces. In 2009, a criminal case was initiated against him under paragraph “b” of part 2 of Article 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Tax and (or) fees evasion from organizations”). Ura.ru writes about it.
According to law enforcers, in 2003-2004 the amount of tax claims against the plant, headed by Demkin, exceeded 31 million rubles. The fact of tax evasion was revealed during the audit, which was carried out by employees of the Federal Tax Service at the end of 2007.
As a result, the Federal Tax Service appealed to the court with a request to collect taxes from the plant. The Arbitration Court of the Perm Territory decided to recover the arrears from the enterprise. The Perm regional court gave the consent to initiate a criminal case against the people’s choice. Demkin tried to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, but lost.
It seems that at that time the influence of a prominent functionary of United Russia and a deputy of the Legislative Assembly was enough to put the matter on the brakes. Time will tell how the current confrontation between the Demkins and the Makhonin team will end.