In January of this year, we published an investigation on how in the Orlovsky district of the Oryol region a group of people, consisting of officials and businessmen, managed to withdraw 123.2 hectares of fertile land from agricultural circulation in violation of the current legislation.
The mayor of Orel, Yuri Parakhin, has so far been officially accused of only one serious crime.
In it, we also mentioned that on this site, illegally, without a decree of the regional government, transferred to the lands of rural settlements intended for housing construction, there is a mansion of Orel Mayor Yuri Parakhin, whose criminal case is now at the final stage of investigation and will soon be received to the regional prosecutor’s office, from where it will be submitted to the court. True, the first message about this was back in December 2021.
Six months have passed since then, and almost a year has passed since the mayor of Orel was charged with a serious crime. The refusal of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Oryol Region to transfer a long-prepared indictment to the prosecutor’s office and to the court is called by journalists “a classic example of red tape.” But according to our information, this document, which after the signature of the prosecutor will become an indictment, will still have to be transferred, since the case is under control both in the Prosecutor General’s Office and in the central office of the ICR.
Well, for now, the investigation into how Yuri Parakhin, being in 2018 the head of the Orlovsky district in which his mansion is located, paid from the budget for the road leading in his direction, instead of the one that should have been repaired according to the plan, is coming to a logical conclusion, we publish a new investigation.
An amazing fact: none of the convicted corrupt officials, neither Alexander Khoroshavin, the governor of Sakhalin, nor the head of Komi Vyacheslav Gaiser, nor the governor of the Kirov region Nikita Belykh, nor the neighbors from Bryansk Nikolai Denin and Tula Vyacheslav Dudka had what the Orlovite Yuri Parakhin has.
They had apartments, mansions and even palaces, but only the mayor of Orel has his own street. And he is registered and lives in the only house on this street with the pretentious name of Nikolskaya and with a kind of “exclusion zone” of empty plots registered in the name of his friends and business partners. And no one has been built on these sites for ten years. Except Mayor Parakhin…
Since February 2020, police officers from the Orlovsky regional department (the road is located there and it was this area that Yuri Parakhin was in charge of in 2018, when Nikolskaya Street was being built) refused to open a criminal case at least five times on the facts of a possible commission of crimes during the construction of the “mayor” streets, and the prosecutor’s office over and over again canceled their refusal decisions. We understand this in this case, which threatens to become no less resonant than the one in which the mayor of Orel is already facing up to 10 years in prison …
NO ONE SEEN A ROAD CONSTRUCTION PERMIT
Imagine, dear readers, a hypothetical situation: you have a plot of land with a house near a municipal highway. Can you, without permits and approvals, build an asphalt road on it with lighting and adjoining this highway? It would be logical to assume that no one will let you do this. Yes, and the current legislation on this account is unambiguous. There is Article 16 of the Federal Law “On highways and road activities in the Russian Federation” No. 257 FZ of 08.11.2007, according to which a permit for construction and reconstruction is issued (clause 3.1) by the local government of a rural settlement in relation to roads within the boundaries settlements of a rural settlement, as well as private highways, the construction or reconstruction of which is planned to be carried out within the boundaries of a rural settlement, if the law of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation fixes the issue of road activities in relation to these roads, and in the absence of such fixing – by the authority local government of the municipal district.
With documents in hand, we honestly tried to look for permission. None of the responses of the official bodies, none of the inspection materials referred to by the police when they decide not to initiate a criminal case, contain a single mention of the document required to start construction.
First Deputy Head of the Orlovsky District N.I. On February 7, 2020, Golovko announced that the district and village administrations do not have the authority to issue permits for the construction of the road, and these powers “are exercised by the Government of the Oryol Region or an executive state authority of special competence of the Oryol Region authorized by it.” “Thus,” writes N.I. Golovko, – the district administration did not issue a permit for the construction of the road along the street. Nikolskaya in the village of Kondyrev of the Nepolodsky rural settlement, nor permission to put the facility into operation on this road.
Response from the administration of the Orlovsky district.
Let’s believe Nikolai Ivanovich Golovko, especially since he is a retired police colonel and former deputy head of the UGIBDD in the Oryol region, so everything should be known about the roads.
And what about the government of the Oryol region? The Governor of the Oryol Region Andrey Klychkov, in his response dated June 2, 2020, without saying anything about the availability of a construction permit, writes: “In accordance with paragraph 5 of Article 14 of Federal Law No. 131-FZ “On the General Principles of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation” … road activities in relation to local roads within the boundaries of settlements and ensuring road safety on them are within the competence of local governments.
Answer of the Governor of the Orel Region A.E. Klychkov.
There are many suitable Russian proverbs and sayings such as “Peter nods at Ivan, Ivan nods at Peter”, but one conclusion follows from the mutual “turnover” between local, district and regional authorities: permission to build a highway along the street. Nikolskaya, in violation of federal law, has never been issued to anyone!
In the same way, no one has ever been able to find any permission to join a private road along the street. Nikolskaya to the municipal road on the street. Peace, no written consent to such a connection from the owners of the municipal highway, which is required by Art. 20 FZ No. 257./
The legal practice of road construction requires an agreed and properly executed project for the construction of the road, which we also could not find. Why? Most likely, it simply did not exist, because not a single state examination will give a positive conclusion on laying a road through black soil to a single house. Even if the head of the district or the mayor lives in it. For the same reason, no one was able to find permission to put the facility into operation.
General conclusion: in 2018, by building a private asphalt road leading to the house of the mayor of Orel, without the proper permission and consent of the owner of the municipal road, Region Agro Trade LLC grossly violated the requirements of Art. Art. 15, 20 of the Federal Law “On highways and road activities in the Russian Federation”.
THREE CONTRACTORS AND INITIALLY UNIDENTIFIED INDIVIDUALS
The first deputy head of the Orlovsky district N.I. Golovko, in his response to a request from the deputy of the Orel Regional Council of People’s Deputies Vitaly Rybakov (both documents are at the disposal of the editors), wrote that the customer for the construction of the road along the street. Nikolskaya was Region Agro Trade LLC, and the contractors in 2017 were Oreldorstroy JSC, and in 2018 StroyAvtostrada LLC.
A curious thing: “Oreldorstroy”, it seems that there are no works on the street. Nikolskaya did not conduct it, although in 2017 he received contracts for road repairs from the administration of the Orlovsky district for more than 65 million rubles. The absence of any results of work on Nikolskaya in 2017 is evidenced by satellite imagery, which is publicly available on the Google Earth resource. In August 2016, there was a plowed field on the site of Nikolskaya, from October 2016 to August 5, 2018 there was a primitive primer, and then in three months the foundation was prepared and asphalt was laid. By the way, here is a photo of August 29, 2018. Asphalt on Nikolskaya near the mayor’s house and from Mira Street has already begun to be laid, although the contracts have not been officially concluded.
Screenshot of satellite imagery 08/29/2018
Question: So what did JSC Oreldorstroy do for Region Agro Trade LLC, and in fact for the construction of the road to Parakhin’s house? It seems that this organization did not agree to build a road to the house of the then head of the district “from the saved materials”. Bottom line: the last of the three contracts concluded with the administration of the Orlovsky district was only half paid, and JSC Oreldorstroy was never again allowed to participate in municipal contracts that were signed by Yuri Parakhin!
But at least 62 million rubles (almost 90 in total in the district) was signed specifically with Parakhin by LLC StroyAvtostrada, the very one that built the road along Mira Street instead of Bugristaya and Svoboda streets. The mayor of Orel will be responsible for this in court, in 2018 he signed documents on payment for work that did not comply with the contract, but was carried out on the street connecting the houses of his close relatives, in one of which he lives. https://flb.ru/2/4381.html
And it was StroyAvtostrada LLC, which built the road along the street in the summer of 2018. Mira, which adjoins Nikolskaya, signed a contract with Region Agro Trade LLC. Officially (according to police checks), the following contracts for the construction of the road were concluded:
Under an agreement dated October 1, 2018, StroyAvtostrada LLC supplied Region Agro Trade LLC with asphalt concrete mix grade 1 type B for a total amount of 1,379,400 rubles.
On the same day, Region Agro Trade LLC enters into an agreement with DorStroyObedinenie LLC for the provision of paid services for asphalting road construction equipment. The cost of the contract is 2,184,620 rubles.
On May 14, 2019, Region Agro Trade LLC concludes an agreement with IP Litvak S.A. for the provision of services for the arrangement of roadsides from crushed stone in the amount of 375,532 rubles.
Fragment of the certificate of inspection on the street. Nikolskaya.
A small detail: Roman Kruglenko was the general director of StroyAvtostrada LLC at that time, and he was also the founder of DorStroyObedinenie LLC. And of course, this LLC in 2017-2019 also received contracts for road repairs in the Orlovsky district for 45,606,999 rubles, of which directly from the administration of the Orlovsky district for 16 million rubles. In the first decisions of the police to refuse to initiate criminal cases, the name Litvak was not indicated. But then Svetlana and Oleg Litvak “lit up” in full. And it is their closeness to Yuri Parakhin that can play the most important role in the new investigation.
ABOUT HIDDEN BRIBE, Kickback, Fraud and Affiliation
On February 17, 2020, Vitaly Rybakov, deputy of the Oryol Regional Council, sent a request to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Oryol Region (available to the editors), in which he described the situation with the appearance in a secluded forest area of a mansion fenced with a high metal fence, to which Nikolskaya Street leads, which is ” perfectly repaired road surface”, illuminated by LED lights. The deputy questioned the availability of permits for the construction of the road. He asked to check the stated facts and pointed out that the very fact of illegal construction of the road can be qualified under Art. 204 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (commercial bribery) and Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (taking a bribe).
Record No. 2389 dated 04/03/2020 was made in the KUSP (Crime Reporting Book) and the checks began. We are reading the decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case dated April 24, 2020, which was signed by the detective of the OEB and PC of the MIA of Russia in the Oryol region, Senior Lieutenant Karpyuk A.I. The operative part of the decision: refuse to initiate a criminal case on the grounds of a crime under Art. Art. 160, 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Wait! The deputy speaks of commercial bribery and bribery, and the operative checks for embezzlement and abuse of power!
Fragment of a deputy’s request for verification under Art. Art. 294, 290 and the response to the refusal to initiate a criminal case, but under Art. Art. 160, 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Six months pass, and the decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case on November 7, 2020 is written by Captain P.I. Kondrashin. He does the same on December 14, 2020. And again, according to the articles, which the deputy did not even mention in his requests!
The participants in the audit are so reluctant to check the information from the angle of possible commercial bribery and bribery that they constantly “slide” into some other articles. But on December 14, 2020, a kind of “Freudian slip” occurs. Captain Kondrashin, in another refusal to initiate a criminal case on embezzlement and abuse of authority, suddenly includes the phrase in the text: “AFFILIATION of the head of Region Agro Trade LLC Melnikov I.A. with Yu.N. Parakhin and the heads of counterparty organizations that took part in the construction of the road, NOT ESTABLISHED.
Fragments of the response of the police, establishing the lack of affiliation of the mayor of Orel with customers and contractors of the road to his house.
Let’s find out if there is a connection between the citizens and organizations mentioned in the police order.
The customer and owner of the road, as well as the installation of poles for its lighting, is Region Agro Trade LLC. In the first refusal resolutions, it is reported that the road was not repaired, but completely built at the expense of Region Agro Trade LLC. It was also noted that “as for the lighting of this road, everything was paid for from the funds of Region Agro Trade LLC.”
Citizen Litvak S.A. not mentioned as a payer at first. But then, in the refusal materials, they began to note that in 2018 Litvak S.A. at her own expense, she installed curbs on the road along the sections and sprinkled the road with gravel. Lighting poles were installed by Region Agro Trade LLC, and S.A. paid for the lanterns on them. Litvak. By the way, she also paid for electricity. Conclusion: Litvak was directly involved in the construction and improvement of the road to the mayor’s house on the street. Nikolskaya d. 1, which is owned by Region Agro Trade LLC.
“And what does Yuri Parakhin himself have to do with it?”, you ask. The police believe that it has nothing to do with it, but the truth is still more expensive. The fact is that Litvak S.A. not only paid part of the cost of building a road to his house, but since 2005 she has been a co-founder of Partner LLC, and later a co-founder of Soyuz LLC and Universal LLC, other shares in which all this time belonged to either Yu.N. Parakhin, or members of the family of Yu.N. Parakhina (now they are under management).
Parakhin himself has repeatedly been either a director or deputy director of Partner LLC. Currently, a criminal case has been opened against his family firms on charges of tax evasion.
We also note the fact that the sites around the house 1 on the street. Nikolskaya, where Yu.N. Parakhin, belong mostly to S.A. Litvak, and the land on which the house where the mayor lives was bought by his mother-in-law T.L. Stasenko at S.A. Litvak Sama S.A. In 2013, Litvak acquired this and 5 more plots from Region Agro Trade LLC under the purchase and sale agreement No. 01/12 dated 12/15/2013.
As for firms – contractors, everything is also quite clear. Yu.N. Parakhin personally signed municipal contracts and acts, as well as a certificate of work done by StroyAvtostrada LLC (as a result of which he became a defendant in a criminal case), and StroyAvtostrada LLC immediately after the repair of the road on the street. Mira, which is discussed in the criminal case, also became a contractor for Region Agro Trade LLC (Director I. A. Melnikov) for the construction of a road along the street. Nikolskaya, leading to the house of Yu.N. Parakhina.
Close connection Yu.N. Parakhina (general firms and real estate) and S.A. Litvak, and on the other hand, S.A. Litvak and Director of Region Agro Trade LLC Melnikova I.A. (joint payment for the construction of the road and electric lighting on Nikolskaya Street and the purchase and sale of land) is obvious.
Of course, someone may consider that if StroyAvtostrada received contracts for almost 90 million rubles in the Oryol region in 2018-2019, while repairing the road along the street. Mira, starting the route from his father-in-law’s house to his mother-in-law’s house, and then continued (already under an agreement with Region Agro Trade LLC) the way to the mother-in-law’s house, where the mayor lives – this is the lack of affiliation.
But for any sane person, this is a direct connection, which, with proper analysis, can result in a criminal case either under Articles 204 and 290, which Deputy Rybakov wrote about, or under Part 4 of Article 159 (large-scale fraud committed by a group of persons) .
Why is it about fraud now? The construction of the road is not only the laying of asphalt pavement and backfilling of roadsides, but also the preparation of the site – large-scale earthworks, laying layers of various materials (gravel, sand, etc.), rolling them with construction equipment, etc. Who specifically performed these works is in the materials checks are not mentioned. Only asphalt, roadsides, curbs and electric lighting are mentioned. Naturally, with such a formulation of the question, it is impossible to determine the exact cost of the road.
Here are interesting quotes on this subject from the materials of inspections (available to the editors).
Parakhin Yu.N. “The construction of the road and the improvement of road lighting was carried out by LLC Region Agro Trade”
Litvak O.L. (son of Litvak S.A.), acting on the basis of a power of attorney from his mother, said that in 2018 his mother installed curbs at her own expense not only near her plots, but also near “part of neighboring plots”. This was carried out by “employees”. Also Litvak O.L. reported that his mother, Litvak S.A. “At the expense of her own funds, she covered the road with gravel.” Who performed this work is not specified.
Litvak O.L. said that in October 2018, “asphalt installation was carried out by StroyAvtostrada LLC. And then he said that in the summer of 2019, Region Agro Trade LLC installed poles for lighting the road at its own expense. Who performed these works is not specified. At the same time Litvak S.A. “carried out the installation of lanterns on these supports.” Who did the work is unknown.
Decree to refuse to initiate a criminal case dated November 7, 2020: “Also, during an additional check, the general director of DorStroyObedinenie LLC, which was asphalting the road surface on the street, was interviewed. Nikolskaya, under an agreement with Region Agro Trade LLC and the head of StroyAvtostrada LLC, from whom Region Agro Trade LLC purchased asphalt mix for road construction.
Here several fundamental questions arise at once: who, when and for how much prepared the roadway for asphalt laying? Where did StroyAvtostrada LLC come from in October 2018, after the completion of repair work on the street in August 2018? The world took the asphalt mix? Why has a part of the “asphalt-concrete mixture” on both sides of Nikolskaya Street already been laid on the satellite image we provided on August 29, 2018? Maybe this is the material that StroyAvtostrada saved on the execution of municipal contracts and sold almost to itself (DorStroyObedinenie, which performed the work, is the family company of StroyAvtostrada director Roman Kruglenko). And in 2017-2019, both companies received contracts for the repair of roads in the Oryol region for about 145 million rubles!
A GIFT OF 25 MILLION RUBLES: LOOKING FOR ITS OWNER
Above, we have already cited, with reference to the police investigation, the amounts that were paid by StroyAvtostrada LLC and Svetlana Litvak for the construction of a road to the house of Orel Mayor Yuri Parakhin. And this almost kilometer of excellent quality of the road turned out to be extremely inexpensive. So inexpensive that it greatly interested the supervisory authority. The total cost of the road was only – just 3,939,552 rubles! Deputies of the Oryol City Council believe that its real value is 10 times more. The NTV channel “estimated” Nikolskaya at 12 – 18 million. FLB.RU and Orltimes call the figure of 28,800,000 rubles as usual for such a road in 2018.
If we take the last figure as a basis as an average, then it turns out that Nikolskaya Street cost Region Agro Trade LLC as a customer 25 million rubles cheaper than the market value.
Why did StroyAvtosrada LLC and DorStroyObedinenie LLC (we remind you that Roman Kruglenko was a director in one and a founder in the other) made Region Agro Trade a kind of “gift” of 25 million rubles? How did the customer help them so much? No answer.
This part of the road to the Orel Mayor’s mansion was completed by August 29, 2018, when the municipal contract for the construction of the adjacent Mira Street was still in effect.
But Yuri Parakhin, who personally signed municipal contracts with Kruglenko for tens of millions of rubles and received an excellent road to his house, looks more than realistic as the recipient of the “gift”.
A bribe, especially a hidden one, is very, very difficult to prove. But the construction of the road is five to ten times cheaper than the market value – this is clearly a hint of fraud. In order to prove it, it is necessary to check all sources for the purchase of raw materials (asphalt-concrete mixture), analyze whether it is similar in composition to the one laid in August on Mira Street and determine whether the asphalt pavement was made from the materials saved on the municipal contract on Nikolskaya street. We remind readers that contracts for the supply of asphalt were concluded in October, and satellite imagery shows that Nikolskaya began to be asphalted in August.
SUSPECT DOES NOT GIVE THE WEAPON FOR EXAMINATION
It would seem, what is easier, dear readers? To prove that the road along Nikolskaya Street leading to the house of the mayor of Orel was made of materials stolen during the execution of a municipal contract is an extremely simple task. Any road engineer knows that each composition of the asphalt concrete mix is unique. And it cannot be stored for weeks, but it is stacked hot. During the investigation of the criminal case against Yuri Parakhin, accused under Part 3 of Art. 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, as we know for certain, samples of the road surface on Mira Street were taken. And the street itself has not gone away, you can make any examination of any part of it, including the one that was built in August 2018.
But with Nikolskaya Street, everything is much more complicated. Operatives from the Orlovsky district, who were checking the road to the house of the head of the Orlovsky district (now the mayor of Orel) Yuri Parakhin, for two years found the most convincing, in their opinion, excuses for not doing a construction and technical examination.
Here is the chronology of events, given in full accordance with the resolutions at the disposal of the editors on refusals to initiate criminal proceedings:
May 2020 “a visit was made with the participation of a specialist from the ECC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Oryol Region to inspect the road surface.” The results of the “inspection” are not reported.
October 2020 (six months later) “A request was sent to the ECC of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Oryol Region to conduct a construction and technical examination of the road surface in order to establish its composition, the amount of work performed, as well as the cost of the work performed. According to the response received from the ECC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Orel Region, studies related to the construction, repair, reconstruction of road facilities do not relate to the tasks solved within the framework of the construction and technical expertise based on the ECC … ”
In the same response, it is reported that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Orlovsky District sent a request to Construction and Technical Expertise and Inspections LLC, ZhILEKSPERTIZA LLC, Micro JSC, Stroy-Expert LLC, S-Test LLC for involvement of a specialist in order to establish the composition of the road surface, the amount of work performed, as well as the cost of the work performed. “At the present time, – reports the detective of the OEB and the PC of the OMVD of Russia for the Orlovsky district of Art. police lieutenant N.S. Andreev, – no response was received to the request.
On May 8, 2021 (after another 6 months), another detective captain Kondrashin P.I. again reports that “the Russian MIA Directorate for the Orlovsky District sent a request to LLC Construction and Technical Expertise and Surveys to attract a specialist in order to establish the composition of the road surface, the amount of work performed, and the cost of the work performed. To date, no response has been received.”
Answer of the head of the UEB and PC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Orel Region about the impossibility of conducting an examination due to the disagreement of the owner of the road.
And finally, after numerous deputy inquiries, publications in the press, decisions of the prosecutor’s office, on April 29, 2022, a response came from the head of the UEEB and PC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Oryol Region E.A. Miroshkin. In it, he (two years after the start of the epic with the examination of the road surface) reports: “It should be noted that the construction and technical examination of the above road surface, as a private property, is not possible due to the refusal of the owner of the land plot to take samples of the asphalt surface “.
The conclusion is disappointing: for two years, under various pretexts, the employees of the OEB and the PC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Orlovsky district actually grossly violated the law, preventing their inaction from clarifying the circumstances of a possibly committed serious crime.
As for the refusal of LLC “Region Agro Trade” – the owner of the land on which the road is located along the street. Nikolskaya in the sampling of asphalt pavement is an attempt, under the pretext of private property, to hide possible traces of a crime and obstruction of the official verification of the report of this crime (KUSP No. 2389 dated 03.04.2020, OM No. 430/20).
Imagine a hypothetical situation: the police receive a report about the possible commission of a serious crime on a plot owned by a private person. It is necessary to make an examination of the soil, look for traces of, say, blood, look for a corpse, take soil samples. And the owner says: “Fuck you … My property, I won’t give anything to dig. Only by court order! Will the cops back off, wait two years to do an examination?
Representatives of Region Agro Trade LLC, who, according to police officers, are refusing to take samples of asphalt pavement, according to the whole logic of events, are now gradually moving into the rank of suspects in a crime. And quite naturally, they really do not want the examination, designed to prove the fraud committed on their territory and, possibly, with their participation, to be carried out. And they will insist on their own.
On March 10, 2022, the prosecutor’s office of the Orlovsky district checked the material on the street. Nikolskaya was withdrawn from the OEB and PC and transferred to the Investigation Department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Orlovsky District for further consideration and decision in accordance with Art. Art. 144-145 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. As far as we know, in early June 2022, the prosecutor’s office of the Oryol region received comprehensive information about the construction of a road to the house of the mayor of Orel and the far-fetched difficulties with conducting an examination and forming an evidence base for a new criminal case. How events will develop, time will tell.
As for Nikolskaya Street, the mayor of a provincial town who lives on it may not know that in the capital it only starts near the Kremlin and goes straight from Red Square. But now it ends with Lubyanka …