Source How the circle of corruption scandals around the governor of the Moscow region narrowed. The Moscow region has firmly registered on the top lines in the rating of Russian regions in terms of crime. It is possible to argue about the set of reasons for this for a long time. But it is worrying that in terms of the number of corruption crimes committed by high-ranking officials, the Moscow region can also give odds to many regions of the country.
These are the numbers that made us wary. Last year, in terms of the number of registered crimes, the Moscow Region was in third place in Russia. In some cases, this indicator correlates with the level of wealth and business activity in the region and is high due to the number of economic crimes. Yes, in terms of the number of economic crimes, the Moscow Region is also in the top three along with other rich regions. However, if we take the crimes committed with the use of illegal weapons, then here, according to the results of last year, the Moscow region concedes the palm to only one region – Dagestan. There is one more indicative moment: according to the results of last year, the region was among the leaders in terms of the number of detected bribes. In this regard, there are questions about the personnel policy of local authorities, especially Governor Andrei Vorobyov.
Thieving heads
In No. 42, we already talked about the wonderful story that happened to the former Moscow region official Alexei Valov. The list of even the property declared by him did not really fit in with the size of his salary. But the official continued to make a career in the governor's team – first he was the mayor of Khimki, then he headed the Shchelkovsky district, and then took the post of deputy minister of transport of the region. Last summer, a court found Valov guilty of fraud with land, but the sentence ended up being suspended, so the ex-official can now lead a luxurious life at large.
This story is far from unique to the Moscow region. The story of Maxim Tarkhanov developed according to a similar pattern. He began his career in the municipality of the Ruzsky district, and after the governor Vorobyov came to power, he received the position of head. Now, as the results of his work, you can find only echoes of PR campaigns in social networks. The district authorities basically promised the people of Ruz an economic recovery due to the opening of new enterprises, and a grandiose plan for the construction of a new city, Ruza City, was also presented. The following information was preserved on news feeds from 2016: “The total investment, according to Tarkhanov, will amount to 300 billion rubles. In total, it is planned to build 7.8 million square meters, of which 5.7 million square meters are housing. The project is designed until 2050, Tarkhanov said that the project was approved by the City Council, and the Chief Architecture of the region has completed the development of the general plan for the Volkovskoye settlement, on the basis of which the city will be built. ”
Now it is clear that this project was very similar to New Vasyuki, invented by the great strategist Ostap Bender. And the fact that Ruza City, like the vast majority of new factories, remained only on paper, apparently, is natural. This is evidenced by the materials of the criminal case in which Maxim Tarkhanov appeared.
It caught up with the former official only last year, when he was nevertheless forced to leave the leadership of the Ruza district, setting the local residents against himself. The investigation suspects Maxim Tarkhanov of involvement in the disappearance of 500 million budget rubles. We are talking about the construction of sewage treatment plants. The head of the district allegedly signed the act of acceptance of the object, although in fact nothing was built.
“At the same time, according to the TFR, Tarkhanov personally coordinated the “expenditure” operations, and his deputy Rybakov signed certificates of work at the facility. The employees who supervised the reconstruction were instructed to continue to coordinate the acts of work that were not actually carried out, ”the Ren TV channel reported. How much money would have gone from the budget “to the left” as a result of the construction of a new city, one can only guess. It remains a mystery how the scam with treatment facilities could have been carried out without the knowledge of the regional authorities. It is possible that the investigation was delayed precisely because the threads were pulled into very high offices.
Questions to declarations
Another striking fact of corruption in the administrative elite of the Moscow region is the criminal case against Evgeny Zhirkov, the ex-head of the Pushkinsky district. Last year, he was sentenced to nine years in prison for taking a bribe. The court considered it proved that the official illegally received real estate worth 80 million rubles. As the investigation noted, from 2008 to 2016, Zhirkov, holding the post of head of the Zheleznodorozhny urban district of the Moscow Region, and later head of the Balashikha urban district, received a bribe from the general director of CJSC Mosstroymekhanizatsiya-5. Two apartments and two non-residential premises were given as a bribe.
It was established that in 2014-2015, Zhirkov received from Yasinov, as illegal remuneration, non-residential premises with an area of more than 1 thousand square meters and two apartments in Zheleznodorozhny with a total value of more than 80 million rubles. The real estate was intended as a thank you for the decisions previously taken by Zhirkov as the head of the municipality in favor of the developer, JSC Mosstroymekhanizatsiya-5. This was reported by the RIA Novosti agency with reference to the RF IC. It was emphasized that the transfer of property was disguised as numerous financial and economic transactions and transactions between organizations controlled by the defendants. With an annual income of less than 1.5 million rubles, he owned a huge list of real estate and an impressive fleet of vehicles, moving around in a Lexus LX 570 car. It seems that such a picture among the officials of the Moscow region is typical, so they no longer pay attention to it.
After the resignation of Zhirkov, Balashikha was headed by Sergei Yurov in 2017. He is also listed as the first deputy secretary of the Moscow regional branch of the United Russia party and the secretary of the local branch of the party in Balashikha. At the same time, Aleksey Koval, the first deputy of Sergei Yurov, was arrested in 2019 on suspicion of taking a bribe. “According to the investigation, since the summer of 2018, the first deputy head of the Balashikha administration has systematically received from the general director of one of the construction companies involved in the repair and maintenance of roads, bribes in the total amount of at least 4 million rubles for general patronage, the conclusion of a contract and failure to check the quality of work on repair of roads,” TASS reported, citing a law enforcement source. It was also reported that the official admitted his guilt and already in the pre-trial detention center issued a confession. So what is happening with the personnel policy in the suburbs?
By the way
By the way, there are also questions to the declaration of the head of the region Andrei Vorobyov. From 2018 to 2020, he declared amounts in the range of 100 million rubles. This is many times more than, for example, the prime minister of the Russian Federation or the mayor of Moscow. How can this discrepancy be explained? But not only that – at the end of last year, Andrey Vorobyov's income suddenly rose to 253.8 million, although the list of real estate remained the same. Here is the same house of 976.8 square meters, a swimming pool with a gym on 871 square meters, more than 100 acres of land … However, the governor of the Moscow Region initially put himself in a limited position, indicating that he does not own, but only uses this real estate. Now he will not be able to legalize multimillion-dollar income through the sale of property. In addition, there is a reason for questions: who and for what services provides the head of the region with all these possessions for use? However, in 2023, elections for the head of the region should take place. And questions about his income, as well as about the selection of personnel, should certainly excite voters.
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