While the governor of Kuban was gathering planning meetings and banging his fist on the table for illegal logging, in the Tuapse region, a representative of the party in power put together an organized crime group, dubbed himself a forest watcher and degreased the forestry industry. Details at Rucriminal.info.
As the source said, the main beneficiary of the criminal timber business in the Tuapse region is Harutyunyan Arthur Walterovichson of Anapa crime boss Walter Harutyunyan. Artur Valterovich, in order to receive a deputy mandate and hide his connection with his father’s criminal past, changed his last name to Podolsky, but did not intend to give up his criminal family traditions.
In 2017, Artur Podolsky dubbed himself the “guardian of the forest” in Tuapse and created an organized crime group consisting of 20 people, the purpose of which was to line the pockets for the sale of illegal timber on the domestic market and abroad.
Podolsky, being a deputy from United Russia in the Tuapse region, developed a scheme for the procurement and sale of black wood and created a company, which he registered in the name of his gullible former driver, nicknamed “Manuk”, who had little understanding of business.Manukyan Andrey Surenovich). Podolsky gave Manuk start-up capital to purchase equipment and distribute bribes to local foresters.
Manuk, on the advice of Podolsky, brought him into his organized crime group, previously convicted under Part 3 of Art. 260 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Bald” (Kobzha Yuri Khamedovich) and “Beka” (Shkhalakhov Murdin Damirovich). To cut and transport timber, Manuk, Kobrza and Lysy hired local residents, who were assured of the legality of cutting and transport. They worked only at night with the consent of the local forestry department. The money was divided among four. Part was given to Podolsky for general leadership, patronage and investment, and the rest was given to each other.
The cutting volume was at least 3,500 cubic meters of wood annually, from 2017 until September 2022, until the next batch was covered by the regional BEP.
Podolsky’s gang has been in development for almost a year. They burned only because of the illiteracy of “Manuka”, who entered information about wood into the EGAIS FOREST, which differed from the real ones. The shipment of timber was carried out daily and was carried out using forged documents, which were generated and delivered personally by “Manuk”, misleading the traffic police officers.
After conducting searches in the forestry and in the houses of the defendants, detaining “Manuk”, “Bek” and “Lysy”, the total damage was estimated at 25 million rubles and Podolsky’s well-thought-out scheme could have worked to this day, if not for the tenacity of regional operatives , who refused Podolsky’s bribes and were not afraid of local security forces.
The gang was destroyed, the main defendants are awaiting sentencing, but Podolsky is still at large. Fearing reprisals in the “zone,” members of the organized crime group still do not testify against Podolsky, knowing his connections in the criminal world and well-fed government and security forces.
