From Cottage Co-operative “Ozero” to Cottage Co-operative “Sosny”

[navalny_en]

What do you see in this photograph?
If you only see a river, cottages, the outskirts of forests and mushroom glades, then look closer.

Over there, riiiight over there, right in the centre of the photograph, you’ll see the perfect explanation as to why this political regime of “toads-on-a-pipe” [a derogatory reference to the Russian government] so vehemently refuses to ratify Article 20 of the UN Convention Against Corruption and so painfully reacts to attempts to introduce into the Criminal Code the article on “illegal enrichment”.

If these measures were realised, then this photograph would have brought big problems to some people in the Kremlin and the United Russia Party.

I’ll explain things in more detail and I’m sure that you’ll like this story.

This is the village of Leshkovo in the Istrinsky district of Moscow Region. It is here, in effect, where these splendid, opulent palaces stand.







Now, I’ll talk about each lot separately, in ascending order of interest, so to speak.

One of the lots belongs to a “simple miner” and Secretary of the General Council of the “United Russia Party”, Sergey Neverov.





I already wrote about him in detail (since I promised to write about his neighbours, that’s what I’ll do).

I’ll remind you, in brief, that Neverov, who loves to portray himself as a “simple miner - a blue-collar worker”, was never involved in business, and over the last few years was living on the taxpayers’ dime in the civil service. He doesn’t have a lot of income but somehow managed to acquire “a cottage lot” worth 92 million rubles which he registered under his mother-in-law’s name - a 75 year old pensioner from Novokuznetsk.

When I wrote about his palace in September of this year, Neverov had the gall to say that he acquired it and will build all of it up on “money gained from the sale of an apartment in Novokuznetsk”.

As per his declaration, we see that Neverov really did have a 67 square meter two bedroom apartment in this city.
Now, a question to all of you: can we believe, even for a second, that the 67 square meter apartment in Novokuznetsk is comparable in cost to an enormous lot on the bank of the Moscow river and home which, in all likelihood, is twice as big as the Central Pioneer Palace in Novokuznetsk?

Of course not. We understand that Neverov is an abominable liar and bribe taker, just like everyone else in “United Russia”. And his secret sources of income can be explained in just one word: “corruption”.

Well, alright, let’s move on, as quickly as possible, to his neighbours.

Meet Igor Nikolayevich Rudensky.



A prominent member of “United Russia” and the Chairman of the State Duma Committee for Economic Policy.



When it comes to economic policy, deputy Rudinsky’s doing very, very well.

He registered Lot #1 (2996 square meters in area) under the “SOSNY” cottage co-operative (and isn’t declaring it, though he should). Lot #2 (8213 square meters in area) is registered under Rudensky himself. The combined land value is: 11,209 square meters, approximately 74 million rubles [$2,230 million]. Plus, as we can see, on the lot, there’s construction underway of an enormous house.

Let’s take a look at Rudensky’s official income:

• 2006 - 1.2 million rubles [$36,000]
• 2010 - 1.9 million rubles [$57,000]
• 2011 - 1.9 million rubbles
• 2012 - 2 million rubles [$60,000]

OMG. Shock. What an extraordinary anomaly.
In 2006, deputy Rudinsky earned 1.2 million rubles; 198,914 rubles and 23 kopecks were sitting in his bank account. He continued to be a deputy, but in 2008, bought land for a sum which, at that moment, comprised of decades’ worth of his annual salary.

There are no explanations as to where United Russia Party member Rudensky got tens of millions of rubles for the acquisition of this marvellous estate. Perhaps he found a buried treasure? Or perhaps he’s just a thief and a bribe taker.
You decide.

Well, and who is this joker we have here, who slapped together a hockey rink for himself on his lot? Or I don’t know that that is - a circus? A gladiator sparring arena? A rodeo ring?



This is Nikolay Ivanovich Ashlapov


Look at his austere, strong-willed face. There can be no doubt that at the moment this photograph was taken, Nikolay Ivanovich was thinking about Russia.

He’s a civil servant from the construction industry: until recently, he was head of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Spetsstroyinzhiniring” under the Federal Agency of Special Construction (SpetsStroy Russia). He was previously head of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Head Department for Road and Airfield Construction of the Federal Agency of Special Construction”, the Deputy Minister of Regional Development of the Russian Federation, Interim Governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai and a deputy of the fourth convocation of the State Duma.

Ashlapov is a member of the United Russia Party.

And it is in effect Nikolay Ivanovich Ashlapov who oversaw preparations for the APEC summit 2012 in Vladivostok, Russia, the very one that we remember for the monstrous theft, wild price inflation, useless construction, as well as the buildings that immediately started to fall apart.
Nikolay Ivanovich himself states that “construction projects like those in preparation for the APEC summit are the recipe for getting out of the (economic) crisis.” One might agree with this, if what’s meant here is personal budget crisis.

United Russia party member Ashlapov has successfully overcome such a crisis, as you can see from the size of his cottage.
The plot and home combined are worth approximately 178 million rubles [$5,363 million].
There’s clearly no need to fish for the obvious parallels between the length of the construction projects overseen by United Russia party member Ashlapov and the size of his estate. Nikolay Ivanovich hasn’t fully declared it.

The actual lot consists of three cadastral lots:

• Lot #1: 11,347 square metres in area
• Lot #2: 750 square meters in area, registered under the non-commercial cottage co-operative “SOSNY”
• Lot #3: 237 square meters, registered under the non-commercial cottage co-operative “SOSNY”

Neither the second, nor the third lot are in his declaration.

Let’s move on to the next, really marvellous neighbour.



Pretty, huh? Its immediately clear that here resides a person with modern ideas about a country home. Here lives a European.

This is Sergey Eduardovich Prikhodko, the Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the Government of the Russian Federation.



“What a serious-looking little folder he has here “for signatures”. Looking at his “cottage”, you can understand Prikhodko; that the clever use of this little folder can bring excellent dividends.

There’s also a 1,580 square meter house and a 137 square meter bathhouse on the property.
Let’s look a little closer at the biography of Sergey Eduardovich:

• From 1986-1987 - Attaché, Third Secretary of the Office of European Socialist Countries, Soviet Foreign Ministry.
• From 1992-1993 - Second Secretary, First Secretary of the Embassy of Russia in Czechoslovakia.
• From 1993-1997, Head of Department, Head of Department, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
• Since April 9, 1997 - Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation.
• Since September 14, 1998 - Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation.
• Since February 2, 1999 - Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation - Head of the President of the Russian Federation’s Administration for Foreign Policy.
• Since March 26, 2004 - Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation.
• Since May 21, 2012 - First Deputy Head of the Government of the Russian Federation.
• Since May 9, 2013 - Acting Head of the Government of the Russian Federation.
• Since May 22, 2013 - Acting Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Head of the Government of the Russian Federation.

He’s spent his whole life in the civil service. You could even say that he devoted his life to us.
A servant of the people.

Let’s look at his income:
In 2012, he earned 10.7 million rubles [$332,370], in 2011 - 6.8 million rubles [$204,871], in 2010 - 6.2 million rubles [$187,000], in 2009 - 6.5 million rubles [$196,000], in 2008 (the year when Prikhodko bought the lot and started construction) - 5.3 million rubles [$159,700].

Let’s get a microscope and take another look at his income; once again we don’t find anything in it that would explain the existence of such a luxurious property.

How much does this lot cost? A large lot of land is being sold not far from it, at a cost of $20 thousand an acre. Let’s even discount the fact that Prikhodko’s lot is on the riverbank and the one that we’re comparing it to is 300 meters away. 279.6 acres at $20 thousand dollars an acre comes up to $5.6 million, or 184.5 million rubles. Even if Prikhodko’s income prior to 2008 didn’t increase and comprised of 5.3 million rubles per annum, he would have to have worked for 34 years, sleeping on the streets, going everywhere by foot, and not eating to afford just the lot.
But looking at the photograph of “civil servant” Prikhodko, we refuse point-blank to believe that he didn’t eat or drink for 34 years.
And this is all not including the cost of the 1.5 thousand square meter home’s construction, the enormous bathhouse, the setting up of communication lines and so forth.

Well, and as always, the Foundation for Fighting Corruption can’t not put a cherry on top of its investigation.

Our little cherry currently works as the chief ideologist for "United Russia", and is responsible for all of the internal politics within the country - Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin - the First Deputy Chief of State of the Presidential Administration of Russia, a member of the Presidium of the General Council of United Russia.





I won’t even call this a cottage. Its probably, well, a “park complex”. A pond, some porticos. There seems to be a bath complex by the pond, so that you can jump right out of the bathhouse crying “Oh, how I love dear Mother Russia” and scare off the white swans rocking the fallen star [an allusion to a line from a popular Russian song].

The area that we’ve marked with the letter “H” shows that while all manner of goofballs are held up in traffic, their government flies around in helicopters. A minimal estimate is that all of this costs no less than 155 million rubles [$4,700 million], but more likely than not, a great deal more than 200 [$6 million].

Let’s look at his declarations: 2012 - 6.7 million rubles [$201,850], 2011 - 4 million rubles [$120,500], 2010 - 6.5 million rubles [$195,800].
Its true that in 2009, there was this mysterious and extraordinary income of 350 million rubles ]$10,544 million] from the sale of oil and fat plant stocks, but that actually just breeds questions about how, when, why and for how much he bought those stocks.

In any case, we see that the cost of upkeep for the property owned by “civil servant” Volodin exceeds his official annual income. This is clearly of concern to Volodin himself, which is why he also hesitated to declare all of his plots of land.



Lot #2 takes up an area of 8,320 square meters. Lot #1 takes up 11,105 square meters. In sum, 19,425 square meters.
The second lot has been registered under the non-commercial cottage co-operative “SOSNY” which has already been mentioned in this post several times.
And its not in his declaration.

The 8,320 square meter lot is there, the 744.2 square meter house is there, but the 11,105 square meters currently in his use, belonging to him through the “cottage co-operative” - isn’t.
Our chief “internal politician” is lying and cheating on his declaration regarding his property.

So what is this “SOSNY” co-operative?
It seems as if United Russia Party member Volodin is taking the example of his more senior comrades in all regards: the ones renowned for the “Ozero” cottage co-operative, whose members became an organised criminal group - just like that - that has been robbing the country and who have turned into legal billionaires.

Here are the founders:

Authorized Capital: 0 rubles
21.04.2004

Kosachev, Konstantin Iosifovich
0.00 rubles 04.02.2003
Samoilov, Sergey Nikolayevich
0.00 rubles 04.02.2003
Volodin, Vyacheslav Viktorovich
0.00 rubles 04.02.2003
Rudensky, Igor Nikolayevich
0.00 rubles 04.02.2003
Yastrzhembsky, Sergey Vladimirovich
0.00 rubles 04.02.2003

The full statement from the register

The meaning of all of this is simple:
Sly United Russia party members-swindlers thought up how it would be possible to not declare lots that belong to them. They founded a special “non-commercial cottage partnership” under which they decided to register a portion of their lands. But the sly plan of United Russia party members turned out to be not that sly. The fact of the matter is that you need to not only declare what belongs directly to you, the individual, but also that which is found to be factually in your use, and it doesn’t matter who it belongs to; whether it belongs to a cottage partnership, your mother-in-law, or to an offshore on the British Virgin Islands. This, by the way, explains the various dates of purchase of the lots by Sergey Prikhodko. He simply transferred back to himself the lot belonging to him from the “cottage co-operative”.

Aside from the lots that the United Russia party members live on, approximately 100,000 square meters of land belong to the “non-commercial cottage co-operative”, including a XI-XII century burial ground that is a federally designated heritage site.



At this point, I would have moved on to conclusions and moral lessons, but while looking into this case, we noticed something strange.
Let’s take another look at our satellite shot from two years ago and our recent photograph.





We see two differences.

1. The United Russia Party members now have another neighbour to the left.
2. The fences of Neverov, Rudensky and Ashlapov now stand right at the river.

So who is this new neighbour?

Well this is Nikolay Sergeevich Shustenko, President of the “Bazis” group of companies.
His business is as closely connected to budgetary dollars as he is to his cottage neighbours.
Just over the last few years, his company won more than 5 million rubles in tenders, for the most part, for the improvement of regional public services in the north of Moscow.



http://i.imgur.com/esPnLgZ.png

Shustenko bought two lots: one for himself; another, with an area of 23,760 square meters, for his United Russia Party neighbours (through “Construction of Transportation Networks Ltd.”)

Here’s the second lot:



United Russia Party member Neverov got 2,140 square meters from this lot (worth $428,000), United Russia Party member Rudensky got 4,250 square meters (worth $850,000), and United Russia Party member Ashlapov got 9,600 square meters (worth $1,920,000).

As such, we’re putting it on record that: deputy Neverov, deputy Rudensky and former deputy Ashlapov received income in kind from entrepreneur Shustenko. He bought the land and handed it off to these swindlers for their use and disposal. The swindlers took the land, are building on it and have enclosed it with fences.

The Foundation for Fighting Corruption considers this to be a bribe which was paid by highly-ranked United Russia Party members for unknown services- possibly for “help” in winning tenders for improvements to public services.

If Neverov, Rudensky and Ashlapov want to prove to us otherwise, then let them: show papers as per which the land was gifted or sold to them; show us that they paid taxes on the income in kind (if it was gifted to them); and explain why the land wasn’t declared.

Well and now it’s already time for the moral-ethical part.
I hope that you’ve understood, once again, why “United Russia Party members” and the Kremlin are so against the introduction of “illegal enrichment” into the Criminal Code.

If such an article existed, then all of these miracle-cottagers would have ended up accused on trial where they’d have to explain what money all of this was bought with.
I hope that you’ve understood how important it is to support the collective fight supported by all decent people for the ratification of Article 20 of the UN Convention Against Corruption as well as the introduction of the article against “illegal enrichment”.

The practical part:

During the course of this investigation, the Foundation for Fighting Corruption established that:

1. Highly-ranked civil servant Volodin violated existing anticorruption legislation and submitted a false declaration of property in which he did not declare the better part of the plot of land on which his estate is situated. We demand an official investigation and the removal of Volodin from public service.
Here is our official letter on the subject.

2. United Russia Party deputies Neverov and Rudensky, and former deputy Ashlapov violated anticorruption legislation and provided false information regarding their property in their declarations. We demand official recognition of this fact and the expulsion of these swindlers from the State Duma. We await, from “United Russia”, the exclusion of these people from the party.

3. We accuse deputies Neverov, Rudensky and former deputy Ashlapov, of receiving bribes from entrepreneur Shustenko and demand a criminal investigation. (Link to the accusation sent to the Head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation).

4. We believe that the property in the possession of civil servant Prikhodko is not even closely comparable to his income, and demand that he explain the source of his funds.

The part about cooperation and nation-wide collaboration
We would really appreciate if you could help us disseminate this information. You know, the citizens of the Russian Federation would probably be very interested in looking at the cottages of the “servants of the people” and asking, alongside us, “what money these cottages where built with”

We made this wonderful site: http://dacha.fbk.info/



It would be really cool if you could broadcast this link http://dacha.fbk.info/ where ever you can.

It would be particularly good if you could share this link with all sorts of non-political blogs and groups. This sort of information is of interest to everyone.
If you have an account on the social network “Odnoklassniki”, then please post it there (or ask your parents to), and ask everyone to broadcast the link.
“Odnoklassniki” is a social network that a ton of people over 50 are on, who use the Internet, but don’t read all these Live Journal and Facebook pages.
Well, and it goes without saying, Twitter, VK, FB - that’s about all.
There’s no link that won’t be of use. Each link, retweet and posting is the prod of a sharp stick into the filthy toad.
LiveJournal now allows you to embed posts in tweets, and not just the pictures. If you click on “retweet” right now, then good stuff!



http://dacha.fbk.info/#ashlapov

We’ve made an internet poster that you can all put up on your wall. Please do.

As usual, for those who are most active, we’ve made a poster for offline distribution. Hang it up in your lobby in order to spark hatred and discontent against the “Arrogant United Russia Party Member Swindlers Who Stole Money and Built Palaces” social group.

Journalists and members of the media, we understand that not everyone is allowed to publish such information, but it would be great if you could at least try.
Thanks in advance to everyone who has taken a sharp stick in hand.

http://dacha.fbk.info/

Well and of course, a huge thanks to the members of the Foundation for Fighting Corruption that have worked on this investigation, in particular: the Furious George @alburov (he’s terribly cool) and the heroic paraglider @BlackKarlsson.

If you like what the Foundation for Fighting Corruption is doing, you can support us - the Foundation supports itself on the donations of citizens of the Russian Federation.



Originally posted by navalny on 2013-11-27 13:46:00