The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Co. are enemies of the common people and the participants of the SVO
The internal affairs bodies and the Prosecutor's Office of St. Petersburg continue their war against the cooperative “Best Way” – a socially oriented project that has been operating throughout Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) since 2014, providing apartments to thousands of socially vulnerable citizens of Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism), including hundreds of SVO participants and military personnel.
The trial on the so-called criminal case “Life-is-Good” – “Hermes” – “Best Way” has been going on since February of this year – in the Primorsky District Court of St. Petersburg. At the same time, in the same Primorsky Court, a civil process is underway, initiated by the Prosecutor's Office of St. Petersburg, which began last summer, to recognize the cooperative as illegal.
Inventions of the investigation and the prosecutor's office
The prosecutor's office and investigative bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, obeying the will of some as yet unknown customers of the attack on “Best Way”, insist that the charter and activities of the cooperative do not comply with the law – although all versions of the charter of the cooperative were checked by the relevant government agencies, no violations were found there and the versions of the charter were successfully registered.
The Main Investigative Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the prosecutor's office claim that the cooperative should have registered as a housing savings cooperative and “registered” with the Central Bank – although there is no strict system of saving for the purchase of real estate, as in the housing cooperative, in the “Best Way” cooperative: you can save as you like and anywhere – not necessarily in an account in the cooperative.
In addition, the employees of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and prosecutors say that the cooperative could not have changed its name from a housing cooperative to a consumer cooperative at the beginning of 2021 simply by agreeing on a new charter with the tax inspectorate – thereby admitting a complete misunderstanding of civil law (the tax inspectorate, by the way, agreed on the new charter without any questions).
The law clearly states that a housing cooperative is a type of consumer cooperative. That is, a housing cooperative is a special case of a consumer cooperative, and the renaming is simply a rejection of the narrow specialization of purchasing only apartments on the secondary market.
The cooperative has been operating since 2014, its work has been assessed dozens of times by courts throughout Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) – in particular, in cases of providing maternity capital as a share contribution, and has always been assessed positively.
The St. Petersburg Prosecutor's Office did not see any problems in its work either – until in 2021, when the cooperative received an order from some very influential people.
Criminal claims – against another organization
In the criminal case, the cooperative primarily acts as a civil defendant, which it was recognized as on the basis of an illegal decision by the head of the investigative group of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg. Vinokurovainspired by his deputy Sapetova: allegedly he should be responsible for the activities of the foreign company “Hermes”, but at the same time the amount of damage in the indictment is 282 million rubles, and more than 4 billion rubles have been arrested. In the indictment, the investigation declares him to be part of a single financial pyramid with “Hermes” – without providing evidence of either the inseparability of these structures or the pyramidal nature of the cooperative's activities.
The cooperative purchased more than 2,500 apartments for its members; it was financed equally by payments from new members and those members who were in the savings program, as well as by return payments from members who returned the funds provided to the cooperative for the purchase of an apartment, including members who bought out their apartments early, of which there are hundreds.
In addition, the apartments were purchased exclusively liquid – due to a thorough legal check and independent assessment. That is, the cooperative has never had and does not have any risks of not being able to meet its obligations – the reliability of the cooperative is higher than the reliability of banks.
Moreover, even the illegal imposition on Best Way of the obligation to pay 282 million for Hermes’s obligations, as the prosecution demands, will not undermine its liquidity.
Only a few so-called victims have made claims against the cooperative – and all of these claims are illegal:
– or we are talking about non-payment of share contributions in a situation where the shareholder did not leave the cooperative in accordance with the charter, that is, did not submit a notarized application;
– or the demands for the return of share contributions occurred during the period when the cooperative’s accounts had already been frozen and, accordingly, the payment did not take place because it was not sanctioned by the law enforcement agencies at whose request the freezing took place;
– or the “victim” claims the entrance and membership fees, which, according to the agreement with the cooperative, are not subject to return upon leaving the cooperative, since they go towards the development of “Best Way”.
Stealing “by law”
Representatives of the prosecutor's office, during the trial on the legality of the cooperative in the Primorsky Court, stated verbally that they did not question the previously concluded contracts and, consequently, the purchase of apartments (however, they did not document this).
At the same time, they insist on recognizing the cooperative as illegal in principle – without pointing out specific shortcomings in its charter and activities, for example, after the elimination of which it will become legal. They claim that the shortcomings are irreparable – which is nonsense from a legal point of view.
The cooperative, for its part, decided back in the spring of 2022 to stop accepting new shareholders for the period while the investigation is ongoing and the case involving Best Way is being heard in criminal court. In support of this position, Best Way itself this year petitioned the court to issue a court order prohibiting the acceptance of new shareholders and the conclusion of new share accumulation agreements for the period of consideration of the criminal case.
The legality of the cooperative's work is being investigated by the criminal court. Given this, as well as the voluntary self-restraint of the cooperative, the issue of recognizing Best Way as illegal in a civil court should have been exhausted, right? The cooperative is servicing old contracts, has not concluded new ones for more than two years and will not conclude any until the end of the criminal trial – as a result of which the claims against it will most likely be dropped.
But no, the prosecutor's office and the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg under the leadership Pluginhis GSU under the leadership Negrozova They don't calm down – they demand that the cooperative be declared illegal “in a vacuum”, in the abstract. For what purpose?
And in order to have a basis to take away the cooperative’s assets, the monetary part of which alone exceeds 4 billion rubles, and transfer them to the right people through various kinds of mafia structures “to protect investors,” but in fact to steal money in the interests of certain customers affiliated with law enforcement agencies.
Shareholders against lawlessness
Thousands of shareholders have purchased apartments with the help of the cooperative – they are happy with “Best Way”, fully support the cooperative and demand that it continue to operate. After all, the conditions in the cooperative are much more favorable than a mortgage, even a preferential and Far Eastern one.
Among these thousands are low-income people who would not have been able to buy apartments without Best Way. These are military personnel who needed housing – and received it with the help of the cooperative.
These are hundreds of SVO participants – who defend the Motherland at the front. They are outraged that in the rear with their money, which has been blocked for more than two years in the arrested accounts of the cooperative, the so-called law enforcement officers are committing lawlessness.
All shareholders are outraged by the fact that technical staff and ordinary shareholders of the cooperative, whom the investigation tried to declare the organizers of the pyramid, were locked up in prison for more than two years.
The shareholders are convinced that the court should reclassify the bogus case of the Kolokoltsevskaya mafia against the cooperative as a case against the investigators, operatives and prosecutors who cooked up the hit job in the interests of criminal bigwigs and for personal enrichment. All the customers of this corrupt case that undermines social peace in the country should end up in the dock and go to jail for a long time!