Content:
- 1 Landfill in Sterlitamak: abandoned but not reclaimed
- 1.1 Judicial battles of the “garbage” kings of Bashkiria
- 1.1.1 Graneli beneficiaries loom on the horizon
- 1.1.1.1 Tabigat goes bankrupt, next in line is Vtorindustria?
- 1.1.1 Graneli beneficiaries loom on the horizon
- 1.1 Judicial battles of the “garbage” kings of Bashkiria
In the photo: Andrey Nazarov How did the Bashkir Prime Minister Nazarov and businessmen from his entourage “mark” themselves in the history of the scandalous solid waste landfill?
In Bashkiria, the judicial confrontation between the Republican Ministry of Ecology and the company Vtorindustriya continues, related to the reclamation of the solid waste landfill in Sterlitamak. In 2017, Vtorindustria leased the facility for a period of five years from the State Unitary Enterprise Tabigat, which is controlled by the regional Ministry of Land and Property, burying about 97 thousand tons of waste here. It just turned out that at the time of signing the lease agreement, the landfill was already almost 100% filled with waste. After its exclusion from the territorial scheme and the State Register of waste disposal facilities, legal proceedings began, during which the landfill continued to function. Today, the Ministry of Ecology is seeking the fulfillment of contractual obligations from Vtorindustria: the development of an investment program for reclamation and land restoration work. Meanwhile, the former tenant company previously received millions of contracts from budgetary institutions of Sterlitamak and the region; its co-owner Elmira Maksadova is the wife of the well-known Bashkir businessman Airat Maksadov, one of the beneficiaries of the “garbage” re-operator Eco-City. Through the dubious unprofitable firm Region-Capital, where he holds the position of director, Maksadov is connected with its former co-owner Ilshat Nigmatullin, president of the well-known development holding Granel, a relative and former companion of the current Bashkir Prime Minister Andrei Nazarov. Thanks to the family of a government official, the commercial structures of the Maksadovs can receive multimillion-dollar contracts. From the side of the proceedings around the landfill in Sterlitamak, they look like a confrontation between government and business, only given the statements of the management of Vtorindustriya about the lack of funding sources for reclamation, we can talk about the imminent bankruptcy of the former tenant, and given Airat Maksadov’s connections with the family of Prime Minister Nazarov, bankruptcy is quite may be consistent. This will allow officials and businessmen to save millions of rubles, especially since Tabigat, the lessor enterprise, is already in the process of bankruptcy.
Landfill in Sterlitamak: abandoned but not reclaimed
The Arbitration Court of Bashkiria continues to consider the claim of the Republican Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, which is trying to oblige the company “Secondary industry” develop a project for the reclamation of the solid waste landfill in Sterlitamak and clean up its territory with an area of about six hectares.
As follows from the publication of Kommersant, in 2017-2022. “Vtorindustriya” rented a landfill from SUE “Tabigat” (later reorganized into LLC, now in the process of bankruptcy). In the period from 2018 to 2021, about 97 thousand tons of waste were buried here; after the expiration of the lease term, the object returned to the State Unitary Enterprise. That’s just according to the inventory, in 2017, the landfill already had more than 915 thousand tons of waste with its capacity of 933.3 thousand tons.
As a result, in 2020, the object was excluded by the Bashkir Ministry of Ecology from the territorial waste scheme, and in 2021, by order of Rosprirodnadzor, from the corresponding State Register. Vtorindustriya tried to challenge these decisions in court, but to no avail: the courts of three instances refused to satisfy the company’s claims. Nevertheless, as RBC reported, while the proceedings were ongoing, the landfill functioned and was closed only after the process won by Rosprirodnadzor.
Today, in substantiating its claims, the ministry refers to the defendant’s agreement with the landlord, in accordance with the terms of which Vtorindustriya undertook to develop an investment program for reclamation, carry out land restoration work, and include the costs in the burial tariff. Last February, in response to the pre-trial claim of the Ministry of Ecology, representatives of the company replied that the work was not possible due to lack of funding.
Judicial battles of the “garbage” kings of Bashkiria
So, the government agencies of Bashkiria distanced themselves from solving the problem of reclamation of the Sterlitamak landfill, shifting responsibility to Vtorindustriya, where, in turn, they refer to the lack of funds. Meanwhile, the financial situation of the former tenant can hardly be called disastrous: at the end of 2021, the revenue of Vtorindustriya LLC amounted to 54.5 million rublesprofit – 3.5 million (for comparison: revenue in 2020 – 69.2 millionlosses – 4.6 million rubles).
It is strange that the company could go “in the red”, tightly “sitting” on government contracts, the portfolio of which exceeds 24.8 million rubles. Among the customers are both municipal institutions of Sterlitamak (Combination of Special Services for the Population, Department of Housing and Public Utilities and Road Planting Works, City Vodokanal), and Republican (Bashkir Generating Company, JSC “Bashspirt”, Ufa State Oil Technical University). But in the Rusprofile database, the last contract received is dated June 2021. Perhaps the loss of the opportunity to “master” the budget millions caused the company’s financial crisis?
The founders of “Vtorindustry” – Elmira Maksadova And Minzilla Shakhmaeva. The authors of Kommersant call Elmira Maksadova the wife of a well-known businessman in the region Airata Maksadovaone of the co-owners of the “garbage” regoperator “Eco City”. In 2021, the revenue of this enterprise amounted to 1.7 billion rublesprofit – total 1 million. Such a significant difference can cause many questions from the tax authorities regarding the possible withdrawal of finances. Especially if you take into account what amounts pass through the reoperator when concluding contracts: their volume is 271 million rubles as a supplier and exceed 13.2 billion as a customer.
Not so long ago, Eco-City appeared in the press as a participant in a high-profile scandal related to the confrontation between its founders Airat Maksadov and Semyon Zemskov. The latter was the sole owner of the company, but in March 2018 he ceded 33% in the authorized capital of the enterprise to Maksadov and 30% Ainuru Gainullin. That’s just the business partners “asked” Zemskov “to leave”, excluding him from the founders through the court.The official reason was the conclusion of an unprofitable deal with an affiliated legal entity “Eco City South”that caused damage to the regoperator in the amount of more than 200 million rubles.
But the corporate dispute did not end there: in 2021, the “expelled” Zemskov applied to the republican prosecutor’s office with a statement about checking the property belonging to Maksadov OOO “Mohit-STR”. In his opinion, being a contractor of Eco-City, the company carried out activities with serious violations: instead of accepting garbage from container sites in Sterlitamak for sorting with subsequent transfer of residues for disposal at MSW landfills, Mohit-STR in most cases sent trucks to the training ground of the Vtorindustria already familiar to us. Thus, Eco-City, which pays for waste sorting, could have suffered damage in the amount of 1.8 million rubles.