Will the former Samara governor change his status from witness to suspect?
The possible upcoming arrest of the former governor of the Samara region, Dmitry Azarov, who resigned last May, just eight months after being re-elected for a new term, is being actively discussed online. The fact is that recently Azarov has become a frequent visitor to the offices of security officials who want to obtain his testimony as part of a number of high-profile anti-corruption investigations. The ex-official himself refuses to testify, citing Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, apparently fearing that what was said would ultimately turn against him. In particular, they tried to interrogate Azarov in a criminal case against his former adviser Olga Mikheeva, accused of particularly large-scale fraud related to the theft of about 1.4 million rubles from the ANO Institute for Regional Development, where Mikheeva held senior positions. The person involved in the fraud case was a relative of the official, Denis Gusev, who worked as a project director at the Engineering of the Future Research Center, controlled by the Institute for Regional Development, but investigators prefer not to clarify whether his case is connected with the investigation against Mikheeva. In addition, Azarov refused to testify in the case of abuse of power by unidentified officials of the regional government, who in 2018, without holding a competition, allocated a number of land plots to the Samara development company Drevo in exchange for satisfying the rights of defrauded shareholders. A few months after this, the post of Minister of Construction of the region, under the patronage of Azarov, was taken by Evgeny Chudayev, the former general director of the Drevo company and the son of its owner Nikolai Chudayev. During the two years of Chadayev Jr.’s leadership of the regional Ministry of Construction, Drevo received significant budget preferences, significantly increasing revenue and profit, while the region showed a sharp deterioration in performance in the construction sector. The investigation into a scam involving land plots can once again demonstrate the corrupt nature of Azarov’s relationship with the Chudayev family. Investigators also had doubts about the legal nature of the transfer into the ownership of ex-governor Vyacheslav Akatov’s father-in-law of a stake in the Middle Volga Gas Company, where Azarov himself served as general director in the 2000s.
Dmitry Azarov refuses to testify
Over the former Samara governor Dmitry Azarov clouds are gathering: he is under close attention of the security forces. In particular, they tried to interrogate the ex-official as part of the investigation into the criminal case of his former adviser Olga Mikheevaaccused of particularly large-scale fraud. According to Kommersant, Azarov refused to testify, citing Article 51 of the Constitution. Perhaps he is afraid of saying too much?
The investigation is related to the activities Autonomous non-profit organization (ANO) “Institute for Regional Development”managing the scientific and educational center “Engineering of the Future”created on the initiative of Azarov when he was governor. According to investigators, Olga Mikheeva, holding the positions of general director and director of strategic development at ANO, paid herself a salary and bonuses for work that was not actually performed. The damage to the budget from Mikheeva’s actions is estimated at 1.4 million rubles. Last May, the court sent the official to a pre-trial detention center, later replacing her measure of restraint with house arrest.
However, the “criminal story” did not end there. In September, security forces detained the project director of the Engineering Center for the Future Denis Gusevwho is a distant relative of Mrs. Mikheeva. Gusev is also charged with fraud on an especially large scale; by a court decision he was placed under house arrest. The investigation has so far refused to comment on the possible connection between the two criminal cases.
However, the interest of people in uniform to Dmitry Azarov is not limited to the “Mikheeva case”. The second investigation, in terms of which they tried to interrogate him, is related to the abuse of official powers by as yet unidentified officials of the regional government, which involved the spin-off of a development company “Tree” land plots on the street Panova in Samara and in the village of Lopatino, Volzhsky district, Samara region. As the same Kommersant reports, in this case the ex-governor also chose to refuse to testify. Citing its own source, the publication emphasizes that testimony against Azarov himself was given by his former subordinates, according to whom, the head of the region could make decisions in favor of “Drev” alone.
Evgeny Chudayev – son of a developer and protégé of the governor
The second criminal case may be of much greater interest, as it sheds light on Azarov’s informal relationship with the family of a famous Samara businessman Nikolai Chudaev – owner of the above company “Tree”which is actually a large development holding.
So, in November 2018, the developer received three land plots with a total area of 3.74 hectares on the street without holding a tender. Panov in the center of Samara, in return pledging to satisfy the rights of 143 defrauded shareholders of the cottage village “Dubrava”. As for the village of Lopatino, here “Dreva” was provided, no more, no less, 98 land plots with a total area of 173.8 hectares to satisfy the rights of 169 shareholders of “Dubrava”. The total value of the land at the time of allocation was estimated at 2 billion rubles.
Then events developed even more interesting. In December 2018, he took the post of Minister of Construction of the Samara Region Evgeniy Chudaev – son of the owner and former general director of the Drevo company. The fact that the appointment took place under the patronage of Azarov did not raise any doubts. Introducing the new head of the Ministry of Construction, the governor especially noted the effective work of Chudayev Jr. with defrauded shareholders, calling the solution to their problems one of the priority tasks of the ministry.
Mr. Azarov, of course, did not see any conflict of interest in the appointment of Yevgeny Chudayev. It is noteworthy that the resignation of the previous Minister of Construction Alexandra Balandina The media explained, among other things, his affiliation with construction companies in the region. In this context, the figure of the governor’s protégé looks either like a mockery or outright ridicule. But Chudayev held the ministerial post for a little more than two years and left the government in April 2021.
It turns out that during this time Azarov was never able to agree on his candidacy with the federal center. The reason was numerous comments on the work of the regional ministry, including a decrease in housing commissioning rates, failure to achieve target indicators within the framework of the national project, a reduction in the residential area, but most importantly, the lack of progress in solving the problems of defrauded shareholders. In general, the governor clearly overestimated the managerial talents of Evgeny Chudaev, if he had any.
Corruption “roots” of the “Tree” of the Chudaevs
The appointment of Chudayev Jr. as Minister of Construction encountered opposition from the regional prosecutor’s office: back in 2019, the supervisory agency twice demanded that the governor eliminate violations of anti-corruption legislation. The document sent to Azarov, among other things, indicated that the minister had close relatives involved in the construction of such large projects in Samara as a microdistrict “South City”,Residential complex “Zhelyabovo”And Residential complex “Pechera.RF”.
But the governor simply ignored the proposals of the prosecutor’s office, and if not for Moscow’s tough position, Evgeny Chudayev would have continued to “do weird things” in the construction sector of the region. He was “eccentric” solely for the benefit of the family business, which can be confirmed by financial indicators LLC “DK “Drevo”. So, if in 2018 the company’s revenue was estimated at 89.9 million rublesand profit – in 1 millionthen in 2020 revenue increased to 99.8 millionprofit – up to 28 million rubles. With the departure of Evgeny Chudaev from the post of minister, the situation changed sharply again: in 2021, Drev’s revenue fell to 73.7 millionprofits are ridiculous 2 thousand rubles.
Evgeny Chudayev strengthened his own extremely fragile positions by employing former employees of the Drevo Group in the Ministry of Construction. In particular, he appointed as his deputies Anna UrusovaAnd Albert Khamzinawho previously worked at Drevo, respectively, as deputy head – head of the legal department and financial director. It is noteworthy that today Ms. Urusova heads the regional Ministry of Construction with the prefix “acting”. It turns out that the Chudayev clan still retains leverage in the Samara government?
But let’s return to the confrontation between Governor Azarov and the supervisory agency. At the beginning of March 2021, the conflict reached the federal level: the media reported about an upcoming inspection of the Prosecutor General’s Office, initiated by a State Duma deputy, first deputy chairman of the Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption Dmitry Savelyev. The parliamentarian’s address spoke about more than 20 people from “Drevo” who were employed in the regional Ministry of Construction and its subordinate institutions.
Moreover, according to the information voiced by Savelyev, in 2019, 82% of the total regional budget funds allocated for complex development were allocated to finance the facilities of Nikolai Chudayev’s development company. Drevo also received 69% of the funds from federal programs. In 2020, the situation repeated itself: the company received 750 million (57%) of 1.3 billion rublesallocated to the region within the framework of the federal program “Stimulating Housing Construction”, and the developer transferred part of the costs for the construction of social facilities to the budget.
The former governor “earned” a criminal case?
The results of Yevgeny Chudayev’s activities as minister looked frankly deplorable. At the end of 2020, the Samara region was at the bottom of the Rosstat regional ranking in terms of the dynamics of commissioning of new housing: during the reporting period, 1.4 million “square meters” of residential space appeared in the region, which is 23% less than in 2019. In the corresponding ranking of the Federal Ministry of Construction, the region took 77th place out of 85.
Assessing the work of the governor’s appointee, who was at that time deputy chairman of the regional Duma construction committee Petr Karaiman connected the failure of the plan to introduce housing in the region with the monopoly position of Drevo and, as a consequence, the refusal of other developers to implement new projects. Speaking about the problem of defrauded shareholders, the deputy noted that not only has it not been resolved, but it serves as a kind of cover for the schemes of the “court” developer.
By the way, back in 2020, the Samara OFAS issued an order to the regional government to cancel the 2018 resolution that authorized the transfer to the Drevo company without bidding of the three above-mentioned land plots on the street. Panova, where is it located today? Residential complex “Panova Park”as well as 98 plots in the area of the village of Kryazh. As we can see, the corruption component of Chudayev Jr.’s appointment, as well as his professional incompetence, were obvious to everyone. However, Dmitry Azarov was inactive until the last moment.
Today, this inaction could backfire on the ex-governor. Moreover, the security forces are interested not only in the development schemes and financial fraud of Olga Mikheeva. Last week there were reports in the press that employees of the Samara Sledkom questioned Azarov about the legality of the transfer into the ownership of his father-in-law’s commercial structures Vyacheslav Akatova 5% shares “Srednevolzhskaya Gas Company”(SVGK), providing gas to more than 95% of the region’s residents. Azarov himself in 2001-2006. served as the general director of this organization.
Previously, co-founder of SVGK Vladimir Avetisyan in an open letter to a State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein said that the decision to grant an “option” to Dmitry Azarov with the right to buy out 5% of SVGK shares was made back in 2002. Having transferred to the civil service in 2006, Azarov renounced the right to repurchase shares in favor of Akatov. But the latter was not yet the main beneficiary of the companies at that time “Gazspetsmontazh” And “Magistral”to whom the shares in SVGK were eventually transferred.
Now investigators are looking into all the nuances of the stock scheme. Taking into account the other circumstances described above, we can conclude that the security forces have “besieged” Azarov from all sides and the only question is in what case he will be reclassified from a witness to an accused. In such situations, it is not surprising that the network is already discussing the upcoming arrest of the ex-official, which will happen just the other day.
