New feudalism and “Russian Courchevel”

The Altai village with a population of 1.5 thousand people has become a place where big money is made. However, not all residents see them. The local “mayor” Korchuganov has been sitting in his chair since the first term of President Yeltsin.

It seems that the “golden” plots are going into the right hands, and the deputies of the Manzherok council do not ask unnecessary questions. And criminal cases against not alien Alexander Korchuganov people are strangely aroused after the statute of limitations expires, and then fall apart in court. Does this happen?

The news that the Federal Agency for Fishery put up for auction 14 Altai lakes made a lot of noise in the region. Reservoirs will be provided to tenants for fish breeding for a period of 25 years and it is clear that they will become inaccessible to the public due to “peculiarities of economic activity”. The list includes four lakes each in the Kosh-Agachsky, Ulagansky and Ust-Kansky regions, as well as one lake each in the Choisky and Ongudaysky regions.

In Altai, this was not measured, but behind the scenes decisions of officials to transfer natural areas to the use of private companies and individuals, clearly chosen in advance, no longer cause surprise. Take, for example, the situation around the only warm lake Manzherok in the region, the surroundings of which are called almost the “Russian Courchevel”. Of course, they will not close it for the sake of breeding fish. In 2010, a resort complex built with Sberbank money began to operate on Manzherok. With this in mind, and also against the backdrop of the rapid development of Russian tourism, the land in this area becomes truly golden. Local officials understand this much better than others. They began to prepare for the “tourist fever” in advance. Some of them had to be a little nervous because of the criminal cases, which, however, quickly died out. The sale of land around the lake, recognized as a natural monument, continues at full speed.

“Subjects” instead of deputies

On May 12, the decision of the Maiminsky District Court of the Republic of Altai came into force, which terminated the criminal case against a local official due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. Her name is Galina Pozdnyakova. In the administration of the Manzherok rural settlement, a woman with this surname answered for issues of improvement, construction and land relations. The criminal case was initiated under Part 1 of Art. 292 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (official forgery). As far as one can understand, the issues of law enforcement agencies were connected with the allocation of land opposite Lake Manzherokskoye with their subsequent resale in the interests of a certain high-ranking person from Gorno-Altaisk. The statute of limitations under Article 292 is 6 years. Judge for yourself how long this shadow scheme could operate … And could it operate without the knowledge of the permanent head of the settlement Alexandra Korchuganova?

Korchuganov recently turned 66 years old, he has headed the Manzherok rural settlement since 1991. In September, against the background of the mentioned case, the chapter won the next elections, for which he was nominated by the United Russia party. The rival of Alexander Korchuganov, obviously technical, was B.K. Samashev. They could, of course, put one of the well-known local deputies against the “heavyweight”, there are as many as 11 of them in Manzherok. But, apparently, such a scenario could turn into an unnecessary resonance – almost every dog ​​knows how exactly the members of the council of a rural settlement depend on the “mayor”.

There is no need to talk about deputies from among the employees of the local school, but there are others – for example, Evgenia Asanovaa relative of the leading specialist of the Manzherok administration Natalia Asanova. Or Nicholas And Ivan Popov – father and son, self-employed welders. Alexander Korchuganov for them, it seems, is not so much an official in need of supervision as a profitable customer for welding work. But these are trifles, in any village council there are such connections. The most interesting representative of the deputy corps of Manzherok should be considered a pensioner Tatyana Tabakaeva. her son Maksim owns and manages the Geocad+ company in Gorno-Altaisk, which is engaged in land surveying and closely cooperates with Rosreestr. The land on the shore of the reserved lake promises its owners millions, and even tens of millions of dollars.

According to sources, in October last year, financial and economic relations between the administration of Korchuganov and a number of village deputies nevertheless attracted the attention of the security forces. Somewhere there was even a possible amount of “expenses”: 320 thousand rubles under civil law contracts. Due to mysterious circumstances, this case has not yet received development. Will he get it?

big sale

The incredible loyalty of the deputies to the head of the Manzherok rural settlement is clearly bearing fruit. In February last year, the municipality held an open auction for the sale of the right to conclude contracts for the sale of more than 20 (!) land plots for individual housing construction. At the same time, some of the sites, as far as one can judge, were formed without taking into account the functional territorial zones established in the Master Plan and the Rules for Land Use and Development of the Settlement: according to the documents, the recreational zone, in fact, will be someone’s private property. None of the council members had any questions. However, they did not arise before, and for much more acute reasons.

On the website of the Manzherok settlement, we were unable to find information about holding public hearings on the draft budget of the settlement in 2019, 2020 and 2021. On the eve of the approval of the budget for 2023 and for the planning period of 2024 and 2025, hearings were scheduled by Alexander Korchuganov for November 11, 2022, but local residents do not remember the corresponding announcement in the district newspaper, they did not see it and the stands of the local administration.

If everything is so, then absolutely any Russian official could envy the “survivability” of the Manzherok “mayor”. 32 years in power, and not a single criminal case, although people in uniform come to others for much less reasons. But there is nothing incredible about this story. Especially when you consider that land plots in Altai Courchevel can be distributed not only for the personal interests of the local leader, but also for interested parties in the district administration and the regional government.