Hundreds of millions of budget funds intended for the resettlement of dilapidated housing could be used in dubious structures affiliated with the state corporation Housing and Utilities Reform Assistance Fund.
The leader of the People’s Housing and Public Utilities party, Sergei Krekov, sent an appeal to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation with a request to conduct an audit of the spending of budget funds.
The appeal concerns the dubious activities of the public organization NP ZhKKH Control. The chairman of the council of the NP, Svetlana Razvorotneva, in the public field often positions herself as a defender of the interests of ordinary citizens. But is it really so?
Where is the money, Light?
So, for example, one of the tasks of Ms. Razvorotneva is to create a network of regional centers of public control in the housing and communal services sector. It should be noted that the Centers are created within the framework of the corresponding order of the President, and budgetary funds are allocated for their creation. In particular, in an appeal to the RF IC, it is noted that in the period from 2014 to 2019, NP ZhKKH Control won tenders, including for the organization of Housing and Public Utilities Centers for a total of 304.71 million rubles.
Only now it turns out that some employees work on a voluntary basis.
“I work for free, i.e. on a voluntary basis… Ever since Soviet times, I have been accustomed to helping those who need my help, support and protection,” Valentina Kotova wrote in a personal correspondence on social networks (a copy is at the disposal of the editors), the head of one of these centers.
It is noteworthy that it is with the mention of the work of these Centers that, for example, the annual report of NP ZhKKH Control, posted on the official website of the organization, begins.
“It turns out that the Centers were created, but the budget money due to them did not reach them in the end? I believe that this fact could well become the basis for an inspection by law enforcement agencies,” Sergey Krekov notes.
An indirect confirmation of the fact that something is clearly wrong in the financing of the Centers is the fact that the state corporation Fund for Assistance to the Reform of the Housing and Public Utilities Acts as the customer for the creation of a regional network – a structure whose main function is to resettle emergency housing stock and carry out major repairs. What about educational centers in the regions?
By the way, one can only guess how these Centers actually help ordinary citizens. What are the statements of the same Mrs. Razvorotneva about the fight against debts for housing and communal services worth. “The most common types of non-payers are either asocial elements or owners of investment housing, citizens with an economic or legal education, with a position in society, who are well aware that no one will force them to pay their debts under the current legislation,” said Svetlana Razvorotneva, suggesting debtors on payment of housing and communal services to deprive apartments. The fact that most of the defaulters are not rich investors, but ordinary Russians, whose incomes have been falling for more than a year in a row, Ms. Razvorotneva seems to be unaware.
“Defenders” – order bearers
It would be possible not to pay attention to such loud statements. You never know what representatives of dubious public organizations say there. However, practice has shown that NP “ZhKH Control” is not just some kind of “social activists”, but a real forge of personnel for the lower house of parliament.
Today, two people from the NP at once hold the positions of deputy chairmen of the Duma Committee on Construction, Housing and Communal Services: the already mentioned Svetlana Razvorotneva and now the former chairman of the Council of the NP ZhKKH Control Pavel Kachkaev.
“One gets the impression that in order to get a position in the relevant Duma committee, one must first work in the housing and communal services control,” Sergei Krekov ironically. – Dubious functionaries of a dubious organization, which is connected with both the Housing and Public Utilities Fund and the Ministry of Construction, will now make legislative decisions for the entire industry. All this can only mean one thing – the “necessary” people will promote convenient bills. This means that there is no need to wait for truly effective solutions.”
What is interesting: at the state level, the merits of Ms. Razvorotneva in the field of housing and communal services have already been highly appreciated – neither more nor less, but the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st degree.
Such an award is given to citizens of the Russian Federation for special achievements in industry, construction, science, education, as well as for a great contribution to the defense of the Fatherland, strengthening law and order.
Among the awarded are a lot of security officials who have proven themselves in the service, as well as athletes. For example, the world-famous Russian biathlete Olga Zaitseva was awarded such a medal twice.
What achievements of Ms. Razvorotneva were discussed when deciding on the award, one can only guess.
The story that happened at the beginning of last year eloquently shows how another people’s choice Pavel Kachkaev – a native of the same “ZhKH Control” – takes care of the interests of his voters. The deputies of the Legislative Assembly of the Murmansk Region then came up with a strange initiative: they say, due to the fact that citizens installed water meters, the size of the payment became smaller, so that resource supply organizations (RSO) can no longer cover their losses on networks.
Deputy Kachkaev was one of those who supported the initiative of the regional parliament, suggesting that the authorities of the regions be given the authority to approve water loss standards. “We began to consume less water because it has risen in price. But the costs of water utilities practically do not change, ”the deputy said without hesitation.
Went out of competition
It should be noted that these “public defenders” of the people’s interests, in “ZhKH Control”, receiving generous state contracts, obviously, did not always participate in competitions on a general basis.
There are several examples when ZhKKH-Control, offering not the most favorable conditions, still became the winner.
Considering that the state corporation Fund for Assistance to Housing and Public Utilities Reform was the customer at the tenders, it can be assumed that the Fund itself could not do without patronage. The special relationship of the Housing and Public Utilities Fund with its contractor is easily explained. The fact is that Svetlana Razvorotneva, Chairman of the Board of NP Housing and Public Utilities Control, is also a member and executive secretary of the Supervisory Board and the Housing and Public Utilities Fund. That is, in fact, in one person it is present on the part of the customer and the contractor.
So, for example, in 2016, during the tender, the lowest price – 41.6 million rubles was offered by the Russian State Social University. However, the notorious ZhKKH Control with a contract amount of 54.06 million rubles was still declared the winner of the competition.
There are cases when “ZhKH Control” even after the tender and did increase the cost of the contract. So, in 2017, with an initial contract value of 56 million rubles, a contract was signed with NP for the amount of 55.6 million rubles. However, the amount of the contract has subsequently changed. As follows from the additional agreement signed to the contract, the total cost of the contract amounted to 59.05 million rubles. That is, as much as 3 million more than the original cost of the lot!
As a result, it turns out that, hiding behind the mask of ordinary public figures and defenders of the interests of citizens, the leaders of ZhKKH Control, now included in the leadership of the State Duma Committee on Housing and Public Utilities, are clearly not opposed to lobbying the interests of large resource organizations, and on the sly do not forget to deftly fit into millions of tenders for public procurement.
