Housing and Utilities Dealer
A pensioner and public activist from Salavat, Svetlana Dublistova, lost a court case to the city mayor to protect her honor and dignity. In total, she will have to pay the mayor about 70 thousand rubles. The situation is made especially piquant by the fact that the official defending his honor, Igor Mironov, is under investigation.
At the center of the lawsuit against Svetlana Dublistova were her posts on VKontakte. The reason for the investigation was the phrase “a thief should sit in prison,” which Svetlana used in one of her publications, telling about the activities of the city mayor Igor Mironov.
What is interesting: initially, the Salavat City Court, which began considering the case on the mayor's claim, sided with the pensioner. The court's decision, in particular, spoke about the admissibility of sharp criticism of public officials.
But the mayor, dissatisfied with the decision, appealed it to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan. The outcome of the trial was the defendant's obligation to refute the disseminated information, which was untrue and defamed Mr. Mironov's reputation. In addition, the pensioner will have to pay about 70 thousand rubles: 15 thousand rubles – compensation for moral damage, the remaining amount – expenses incurred by the plaintiff for linguistic expertise, state fees, etc.
Social activists against managers
This is not the first time that Svetlana Dublistova has come into conflict with local officials. Several years ago, she headed an initiative group of residents of her building, trying to prove that the local management company (MC) had unlawfully raised the residents' rates for maintenance and repairs.
The management company with a peculiar reputation turned out to be SalavatZhilServis LLC, headed by an honored worker of the housing and communal services of Bashkortostan, a member of the Council of the urban district Ildar Khanmurzin.
Dissatisfied residents claimed that the management company allegedly falsified the minutes of the general meeting of owners (GMO), at which a decision was made to increase the fees for maintenance and repairs.
The confrontation between residents and the management company lasted for several years. As a result of numerous proceedings, the owners managed to break off relations with SalavatZhilServis and choose new managers. However, it was not so easy to return the money, which they considered excessive, paid to the management company. The procedure for recalculation and the amounts of overpayments eventually became the subject of lengthy legal proceedings.
Ironically, the dubious activities of Salavat mayor Igor Mironov, who accused a pensioner of slander, also concern housing and communal services.
Caught in the net
In 2023, Mr. Mironov became a defendant in a criminal case of abuse of office. The investigation continues to this day, and the city mayor himself has been suspended from his duties.
The investigation focuses on the transfer of city power grids to concession.
The investigation believes that the concession agreement concluded by the city administration for 50 years was illegal.
In fact, the story of the transfer of networks to concession turned out to be quite complicated. The proceedings have been going on for several years now and it is clearly too early to put a final point in it.
It all started in 2020 when a certain LLC “AvtomatizatsiyaSistemyTekhnologii” (AST) and LLC “Bashkirenergo” took part in tenders for the concession of the city networks of Sterlitamak, Salavat and Ishimbay. The winner of the bidding was AST, which received the networks for use until 2070.
Bashkirenergo did not agree with the results and appealed to the republican UFAS, which, in turn, issued an order to the administrations of all three cities on the need to terminate the concluded agreement.
The case was moved to the Arbitration Court of Bashkortostan. The decision on the concession in Salavat was made in early 2023.
The court ruled that although the FAS’s findings regarding the illegality of the agreement were correct, the requirement to terminate it was unenforceable.
As a result, the city networks are now in the hands of AST. It is interesting to note that in 2023, AST's revenue grew by 2.8%, amounting to 1.3 billion rubles. It can be assumed that such optimistic financial indicators were achieved, among other things, due to the operation of city networks.
But the strength of AST itself raises questions. The founder of the company is listed as a certain JSC Nikol-Invest, which employs only one person. At the same time, the organization had zero revenue in 2022 and 2023.
It is possible that as part of the investigation into the case of Salavat mayor Igor Mironov, the issue of the operation of networks by the AST company will be reconsidered once again.