The story of a criminal case initiated against a forester near Moscow who fought with VIP summer residents

The story of a criminal case initiated against a forester near Moscow who fought with VIP summer residents

In Soviet times, to prove the love for the forest, it was enough to collect a few kilos of waste paper as part of the pioneer team. Today: love the forest - get ready for prison. One example, as they say, is private - but so much so that, most likely, it risks becoming a common place. The forester of the Zvenigorod forestry, Vasily Zarubin, had to love and preserve the forest in accordance with his official duties. What turned into a planting: only not a spruce forest, but himself.

July 5, 2011 Vasily Zarubin was arrested at his workplace, allegedly at the time of receiving a bribe in the amount of three million rubles. The piquant character of the following is given by the fact that this whole corruption story unfolded near the village of Nikolina Gora, Odintsovo District, which has long been chosen by citizens with incomes much above average.

The motive for what happened is simple: people want to have dachas here. But there are no longer enough clearings, what remains is forests, which can be used for housing construction only if you have a lot of money and great connections. All the rest will be chased by the forester. But after all, the forester, if desired, can be driven.

Bribe

In the hot August 2010, Arkady Dudko, chairman of the SNT (non-profit gardening partnership) Lira, makes a request to the forester Zarubin (now he represents the non-profit gardening partnership (SNP) Lira-S). They have known each other for more than twenty years, and therefore the request does not seem particularly ambiguous: since the summer residents did not have a normal road, Dudko asked Zarubin to agree to the use of a clearing for the passage of members of the association. The offer is mutually beneficial: for summer residents - travel, for forestry - a fire road. Zarubin sent an official letter to the director of the Zvenigorod FGU "Mosoblles", in it - the obligation: "To fill with sand and gravel a forest clearing 3.7 m wide and 3 km long to ensure fire passage, forest management and the passage of partnership members to their sites." The director gave the go-ahead: "I don't mind without the right to cut and damage trees."

We agreed that the forester would take over the organization of the construction: Zarubin entered into an agreement (he is in the criminal case) with a construction company on work for cash and indicated their cost - 3 million rubles. 2.5 million rubles for the company, 300 thousand for Mr. Dudko, 200 thousand for himself - for mediation. But the deal stalled. Almost a year has passed. During this time, the forester never once reminded Dudko of 3 million.

Not that Dudko - on July 5, 2011, he called Zarubin: he was ready, they say, to transfer 3 million . Zarubin was charged with accepting a bribe on an especially large scale. Term from 8 to 15 years. Well, it would seem, of course, especially since Zarubin, during the night communication with the operas, wrote a confession.

However, the study of the materials of the criminal case and - especially - the chronology of events preceding the "bribe" suggest that the forester was very carefully set up. Of course, in this story, Zarubin does not look like a bunny either: but his misconduct still does not pull on a serious crime. And what pulls - the court should understand. We are also interested in who and why could provoke a bribe.

Then we delve into the realm of assumptions. A certain Vladimir Gavrilov appears in the criminal case, the chairman of the same SNP "Lira S" who needed a road - a retired colonel, a military specialist who served in Angola, now better known as an entrepreneur who is actively developing the lands of the Moscow region. Firms connected in one way or another with Gavrilov lease about 1000 hectares of forests in the most attractive areas of the Moscow region: Odintsovo, Krasnogorsk, Istra districts. Andrei Chernomyrdin, the son of Viktor Stepanovich, was a co-founder in his company Kremlin Hills, and his other company, Grenadiers, fell into the scandalous decrees of the former governor on the inclusion of forest land in the boundaries of settlements. On formal grounds, the decision is, of course, legal, although it is clear to any sane person: the transfer of forests to another category is more like a large-scale scam.

The Zvenigorod forestry was also aware of Gavrilov - the forester Zarubin tried to prove the illegality of the claims to the forests under his jurisdiction. He and his colleagues have repeatedly filed complaints and statements about actions to seize land. Naturally, with a zero result: on the one hand, a "patriot" with connections and a letter of thanks from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Putin, on the other, they are just foresters. Four times the militia-police, under various pretexts, refused to open criminal cases. They wrote to the prosecutor's office, which replied: "The legality of the decision (refusal to initiate a criminal case) is currently being checked by the regional prosecutor's office." That is - a game in the back burner: more than a year has passed, but nothing is known about the results of the check.

However, even such a fruitless struggle unnerved businessman Gavrilov. And in the fall of 2010, in the presence of witnesses (I know the names, they are ready to confirm), Zarubin was threatened with landing. The conflict happened at the site of a cottage construction site, which the forester considered illegal.

And it would not be bad for the same prosecutor's office to figure out: is there a causal relationship between the threats and the criminal case initiated? And also in how right or wrong the forester Zarubin was when he called the construction site illegal.

Prometheus

Vladimir Gavrilov is a member of the SNT "Prometheus-3". The territory of the SNT borders on forest plots that were used on the basis of a lease agreement concluded between the Mosleskhoz and Sergey Pugachev. Back in 1994, the notorious banker rented 10 hectares of land in the Nikolina Gora area, then retired and in December 2008, a certain Nefedov renewed the contract by proxy. Zarubin suggested that the unknown Nefedov could act in the interests of Gavrilov.

Next - here's what. The regional prosecutor's office in its response to the appeal of the chief forester of the Zvenigorod biological station of Moscow State University Sergey Koshovsky dated 25.05. 2011 noted: "In the Mosleskhoz there are copies of the lease agreement for a forest plot ... dated 25. 12. 2008 differing in their content." The prosecutor's office does not decipher what the difference is. I'll try to fill the gap. In one instance, the forest remains a forest, in the other, it is divided into land plots that have cadastral numbers and legal owners. But this is not all miracles. The contract was concluded in December 2008, and the power of attorney was issued to Nefedov in August 2009.

As a result of SNT "Prometey-3" and LLC "Novoe Maslovo" 44 land plots were registered (as amended there is a conclusion of the branch of Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Roslesinforg" "Centrlesproekt" dated 01.02.2012, which says "that all these sites are located on the lands of the forest fund of the Zvenigorod district forestry”). And how legally could such art pass the cadastre?

Sergei Koshovsky, chief forester of the Zvenigorod Biological Station of Moscow State University:

-__I'll explain with an example. In the dacha cooperative there is an absolutely legal plot with an assigned cadastral number. This cadastral number on the plan is transferred to forest lands with a change in the coordinates of the site. Land bullshit is magically registered.

But where does Gavrilov - just an ordinary member of the SNT? For some reason, he registered one of these sites in his name. In the same response of the regional prosecutor's office it is said: “A number of land plots belonging to Lerner M.V., Lerner N.M., Gavrilov V.I. in SNT "Prometheus -3", illegally put on the state cadastral register. On this fact, the Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor's Office of the Moscow Region on 23.05. In 2011, an application was sent to the Odintsovo City Court to deregister illegally supplied land plots, and a decision was made to send the audit materials to the investigating authority to resolve the issue of criminal prosecution. But there was no trial. Gavrilov and other owners sold their plots. The defendants are different people.

grenadiers

If in the SNT "Prometheus-3" Gavrilov is an ordinary member of the partnership, then in the DNT "Grenadiers" he is the owner. And Vasily Zarubin tried to prove that the DNT "Grenadiers" put on the cadastral register a land plot of 1.25 hectares that belonged to the Zvenigorod forestry. Then it was divided into smaller plots, which were successfully sold.

"Grenadiers" is located on the territory of two districts: Odintsovo and Krasnogorsk. On someone's initiative, these 1.25 hectares of forest land belonging to the Zvenigorod forestry were transferred on paper to the Krasnogorsk region, simply by moving the borders. There, the plots were registered without any problems, the “neighboring” foresters, of course, without asking.

From the conclusion of the FSUE “Roslesinforg” branch “Tsentrlesproekt”: “The land plot ... is partially located on the lands of the forest fund of the Zvenigorod district forestry (kv.90, vyd.7, sq. 1, 25 ha)”. All this was revealed at the end of April 2011 - two months before Zarubin's arrest.

Lyra

In the dacha cooperative SNT "Lira-S" (Istra district), Gavrilov is the chairman. In the region, at least 30 forest plots are registered with the cadastre, they are calculated quite easily - using a public cadastral map. If the cadastral number is real, then the address of the site is displayed on the map: “reg. Moscow, Istrinsky district, pos. Obushkovskoye, near the village. Chesnakovo, section number ... ". If the cadastral number is strange, then it is simply not on the map.

And the construction of an access road that passed through the Zvenigorod forestry, just to this holiday village, became the reason for the arrest of Vasily Zarubin. As soon as it was closed, the road began to be built. Only now it looks different than it was supposed by the original contract - not modest, covered with gravel and 3.7 m wide, but almost a highway.

Sergei Koshovsky, chief forester of the Zvenigorod Biological Station of Moscow State University:

-__In the place of the supposedly fire-fighting road, out of nowhere, such a freeway came from, which looks more like a runway - densely laid reinforced concrete slabs. A ground survey also revealed the appearance of many identical wooden houses in the forest along the highway. I personally measured its width - from the wall of the forest to the other side, about 13-14 meters. Consequently, a strip about 10 meters wide was simply cut down, as clearly evidenced by stacks of logs.

Well, why, in this situation, the forester, who documented almost all the facts of the strange development of forest lands? Having studied the materials of the criminal case initiated against Zarubin, we can assume: it is possible that Gavrilov was the initiator of giving money under the control of law enforcement agencies; it is possible that it was he who gave out 3 million rubles; perhaps it was at his request that Arkady Dudko turned to the forester about the road, it was he who, by his own admission, had “conflict relations” with Zarubin. These versions must be confirmed or refuted during the trial.

From the protocol of the confrontation between Vasily Zarubin and Arkady Dudko.

“The question of the lawyer Verbitskaya I.V. Dudko A.S.

07/05/2011 Gavrilov V.I. asked you to come to him, did he indicate the reason?

Answer Dudko A.S.

No, did not indicate

Question of lawyer Verbitskaya AND.The. Dudko A.S.

Upon arrival to Gavrilov V.I. how did you understand that the persons present are law enforcement officers?

Answer Dudko A.S.

They were in civilian clothes, they showed me their IDs: one was from the FSB, the other was from the economic security officer of the Moscow Region.

Question of lawyer Verbitskaya AND.The. Dudko A.S.

What was suggested to you by the above employees?

Answer Dudko A.S.

Do what I did under their guidance

Question of lawyer Verbitskaya AND.The. Dudko A.S.

Why did you agree anyway?

Answer Dudko A.S.

I was made such an offer, which I could not refuse (Dudko refused to disclose what the essence of the offer was, referring to Article 51 of the Constitution (not to testify against himself).

The legal process has already begun. I would like to believe that the court will objectively figure out what Vasily Zarubin is guilty or not guilty of. But in any case, an object lesson was taught to the forest rangers near Moscow. So it will be with everyone who stands up for the defense of the forest. I must say that the foresters have learned this lesson. It is much safer and calmer to work according to the principle: if you love the forest, collect waste paper.