The situation in the deputy corps of the Legislative Assembly of the Leningrad region is difficult. One of the richest deputies of the Leningrad region wants his fellow parliamentarians to condemn his arrest and recognize the actions of the investigation as illegal. The investigative committee of the region, in turn, intends to prove that the people’s representative is none other than a criminal and a forest plunderer.

All for the sake of comfort

Parliamentarian of the Legislative Assembly of the Leningrad Region from the LDPR Damir Shadayev is in a pre-trial detention center. He doesn’t feel comfortable there at all. After all, until recently, he, as one of the old-timers of the regional Legislative Assembly, enjoyed various benefits and preferences that are due to a person of his status.

The reason for such an uncomfortable situation is that deputy Shadayev is accused of illegal logging on an especially large scale as part of an organized group. The logging itself occurred in 2020, so the offense is almost 4 years old. Why the deputy was captured only now – only the investigative team knows for now. She is not easy, because she is involved in this criminal case FSB. Actually, the cutting down of trees occurred solely because of comfort.

So, in April 2020, a certain working group, hired by a certain Luga-Les LLC, rented a forest plot in the Vyborg district of the Leningrad region. The site was also not easy – the category of forests in the local area is especially valuable. As the investigation later wrote in its petition for the arrest of the deputy:

Well, what kind of valuable categories of forests are there when we are talking about a cozy, picturesque shooting range, where a parliamentarian can spend his time usefully and pleasantly (free from passing boring laws). Since everything had to be carried out without a hitch, the forest was cut down very quickly. In just three days, the plots were clear-cut, and the wood, regardless of its value and characteristics, was simply dumped in a production corner in the nearest village of Cherkasovo.

Everything would be fine, as they say, well, the deputy wanted to build himself a shooting range, but he made a mistake. But the unpleasant trick is that the owner of the same Luga-Les LLC, which contracted to cut down the forest, is… still the same Shadayev Damir Ravilievich. The company with an authorized capital of 100 thousand rubles has been working in the logging field for more than 8 years. That is, the company is reputable.

In addition, the age of the company and its specialization makes it clear that Damir Shadayev was well aware of where he was cutting and what he was cutting. Therefore, the investigation pointed out to the court the fact that

Sliver factor

According to rumors, the parliamentarian cut down the forest not out of love for comfort, but rather out of commercial interest. After all, judging by the audit data, his company has seen a strong drop in revenue over the last year to minus 75.8%, the number of employees has sharply decreased – from 76 people to 11, and in addition there is a tax debt of 404 thousand rubles, and a drop in assets by 12.5%. If we add here a decrease in the current liquidity ratio, it turns out that the financial condition of the organization is worse than the industry average, which means its founder needed money in order to keep it afloat.

Today, the investigation is assessing the damage from the actions of Luga-Les LLC, caused to plots in the Roshchinsky forestry of the Vyborg district in 6 million rubles. How long it took the investigation to connect all the facts together, we will only find out when investigation will be over. But deputy Shadayev was arrested only in February 2024. The arrest was accompanied by a task force FSBand the Oktyabrsky District Court granted the investigation’s request to take into custody the parliamentarian of the 7th convocation.

The people’s representative, in turn, considers his arrest a blatant injustice, so quite recently, from behind bars, he made an appeal to his fellow lawmakers and demanded that they:

– publicly condemned his arrest

– declared it illegal

– the accusation is unfounded

The document, with a large number of important epithets, was handed over to the commission on law and order. The deputy wants his colleagues to immediately gather on the issue of his person and, with their collective “fi,” express distrust in the investigation, and confirm that the investigative body and the judge grossly violated the current legislation by sending the parliamentarian to his bunk.

Take action, sister!

In addition, Shadayev demands that the remaining deputies take their backs from their deputy seats and take part in the trial in order to avoid “misconceptions and the spread of false information” about the reasons for his detention and arrest. Also, the elected official wants parliament to impose something like a “veto” on the dissemination of information that the investigative team has information about his involvement in other crimes. This information, according to Damir Ravilyevich, discredits his honest name and title of deputy.

How, in reality, will members of parliament have to present all of the above, for example, to the Investigative Committee, or to the employees carrying out operational support? FSB, the deputy, however, does not specify. As well as with what eyes the above-mentioned comrades in uniform will look at such statements. After all, deputies, no matter what powers they have, do not have the right to interfere in the investigative process. Moreover, the investigation sees Shadayev himself as the organizer of the underground process of illegal tree felling, and, apparently, on an ongoing basis. (According to rumors, the amount of damage could be over 1 billion rubles).

In addition, at FSB I have very old questions for Shadayev, dating back to the dashing 90s.

Also, at one time, the regional environmental prosecutor bared his teeth at the deputy when he held the position of deputy chairman of the committee on natural resources and environmental management. In those satisfying times, he, as they say, twirled his fingers and in some Duremar way got a piece of land on the wonderful land of Vuoksi, about whose attractive islands we have already written.

Now, as evil tongues say, the parliamentarian has a whole estate there, with a two-meter fence, a good-quality estate, a granite embankment, guest cottages, a pier and garages. At that time, the environmental prosecutor had serious questions both about the estate and about another piece of land in the Gremuchy Gateway near Vyborg. But there was not enough political weight to bring the matter to completion.

Today, investigators have much more opportunities to find out not only about illegal logging, but also about why parliamentary hands are so passionately reaching out to state land. The editors will monitor developments.