"Karlovarsk" for sale

“Putin calls the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and says:“ If you allow the Americans to build a radar for your PRO system, we will aim our missiles to Prague! ”.“ Okay, ”the Czech prime minister replies,“ then we will fire Karlovy Vara! ”This is a popular anecdot of 2008 in the Czech Republic, when Russia and NATO countries entered the diplomatic conflict about the planned one The placement of American anti -missile defense facilities in the eastern Europe for a long time in the past, but the reputation of the Karlovy Var as the “Russian enclave” remains unchanged. As the Czechs sometimes call this city, and the faces passing on loud criminal cases and even the wanted list are trying to sell their homes and apartments, but to no avail: the demand has fallen sharply.

The Internet project "Municipal Scanner" submitted the other day the results of its investigation , called "Carlovy Varam guide." Its authors found out the owners of all real estate in the city without exception and found that about 50% of them belong to immigrants from the former USSR. One of the authors of the investigation, who has left Russia to Lithuania Civilian activist Mikhail Maglov, believes that Czech law enforcement agencies should pay more attention to who and how invests money in real estate of the resort town in the west of the Czech Republic:

- We have long been interested in the Czech register of real estate. We had several investigations regarding Russian officials in the Czech Republic. For example, there was a story with a deputy of the Perm Legislative Assembly, who had a residence permit [in the Czech Republic]. But there (in Russia. - RS) they refused to institute criminal proceedings. There was a story with the head of the Committee for Nature Management of the Leningrad Region, which, despite the fact that it is prohibited, owned and managed Czech companies.

- What is your interest in the Czech Republic? Is there any simplified mechanism for obtaining information about real estate owners?

- Just the Czech Republic in terms of openness of registers is a very good state. If you look at the cadastral , trading register , then they are not to say that they are directly perfect, but very well open. If you go to the trading register, you will see a selection of all documents related to a legal entity there. These are, as a rule, financial reports, constituent documents, charters, documents on changes in status, power of attorney, all these documents are scanned and laid out on the site.

- How did you manage to check all the real estate of the same Karlovy var? These are thousands of objects!

-We just used Google, downloaded all the addresses that the Google knows in this city, there were about 8-10 thousand of them.

- What did you manage to find out in the end?

- We proceeded from the considerable thesis "Russians bought everything in Karlovy Vary." We were wondering if only Russians really and is it all? Of course, we were primarily interested in people who are somehow related to political activities: officials, deputies or businessmen who are directly related to the authorities, because they always win state contracts miraculously. In their countries, they, as a rule, express only views, but they associate their future and their investments with other countries and other values.

- And how many real estate in Karlovy Vary in Karlovy belongs to the Russians? Who are they? What are your most interesting finds?

- Let's just say: we found a certain peak of iceberg. We made a complete study of the registry, then excluded the Czechs and citizens of other countries from it, except for the former republics of the Soviet Union, and began to work with the remaining ones, determine which of them who. On our map in Karlovy Vary, probably, 100-150 objects turned out. In the course of the study, we had ties with real estate objects and in other cities of the Czech Republic, so on the map not only Karlovy Vary. If you look at who we found, there are politicians, businessmen related to the authorities who settled there back in the 90s, this can be seen from their companies, under the contracts of the purchase of real estate.

Map of "Russian Real Estate" in the Karlovy Vara project "Municipal Scanner":

There are people causing questions. For example, there is a villa in the center of Karlovy Var, who belongs, as it turned out, to Gennady Lakhov , to the person who in the 90s headed the transport department of "tartarplification" under his head [Alexander] Kotelkin, when there were a lot of corruption transactions . The question is - what kind of money this villa was bought? There is another problem. Despite the fact that in the Czech Republic all these registers are open, and this is fine, the question arises: why do corrupt money settle in this country? Stories were revealed when there are deputies who hide their real estate. For example, a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnodar Territory from United Russia has not been indicated with his wife two apartments in Karlovy Vary in his declaration for several years.

-Did you manage to find any other cases that allow us to talk about the violation by the owners of this real estate of existing Russian laws, restrictions that are imposed in this respect to officials?

- There are several such episodes, and statements to the prosecutor's office have already been sent to them. The question is not so much in Russian legislation as in the fact that the legislation is, there is law enforcement practice, and there is also a practice of corruption transactions, and from the point of view of the law, such transactions are always clean. It seems to me that if we look precisely from the point of view of corruption money, this concept is somewhat wider than the Russian law. We have Rotenbergs, Timchenko in Russia, and they have no problems with the law, they are honest entrepreneurs and philanthropists. But from the point of view of international practice or common sense, they are simply corrupt officials.

- Among the owners of real estate in Karlovy Vary and in the Czech Republic, as a whole, Russians who are defendants in criminal cases and even put on the international wanted list were discovered. Can you tell us more?

- Two stories were discovered there. The first is a citizen Abessel Gulordava . We know very little about him, even we managed to find his photo only in the plot of the Russia-24 television channel. This is an old criminal case , it was instituted back in 2010 and is associated with fraud on the overhaul of real estate and state contracts with the Moscow Mayor. Judging by the media publications, this person was put on the international wanted list. The second story was connected with the company, which, according to state contracts, was supposed to provide the judicial department of Moscow and the Moscow region of translators, that is, to make official translations for them. They wrote a lot about this criminal case. And one of the women, Iraid Landarenko, was arrested in absentia and is on the wanted list.

- Czech registers allow you to see only individuals who are owners of real estate, or the company too?

- Legal entities too. There are a lot of people who own their real estate through legal entities. For example, the story with the head of the apparatus of the Governor of St. Petersburg Poltavchenko, his name is David Adamia , and he also has violations of the law. He has two apartments in Karlovy Vary, this is family real estate purchased in 1999 and in 2001, but the owners are legal entities. The problem with adamia is that at the time he became a civil servant, he continued to own and manage these companies for several months, and from the point of view of Russian legislation, this is strictly prohibited.

The house in Karlovy Vary, in which, through his companies and companies of his wife, owns two apartments, David Adamiya:

- That is, in the case of adamia and other objects that are registered for legal entities, did you have to conduct additional research?

- If we saw in the cadastral registry that this is a legal entity, we had to go to the trading register and see who is the final owner of this company.

- In the end: how many percent of Karlova Vara is the "Russian city"?

- Based on the fact that our 8 thousand addresses are all real estate, then to immigrants from the countries of the former Soviet Union belong no more than 50 percent. This is mainly the tourist center of the city, that is, the most expensive real estate. Including, Russians, from the total number of objects - 40%

- What interesting personalities from the countries of the former USSR have real estate in Karlovy Vary?

- The story about the most expensive quarter stands out of the political figures, not far from the Russian Consulate, where the villa recorded for relatives of Nursultan Nazarbayev is located. Although he himself loves to relax there, judging by the publications, and even invited him to rest on this villa after the "orange" revolution of the already then President of Ukraine Kuchma. The villa is called "Alkhan". She is recorded on the father of the wife of the grandson of Nazarbayev.

Villa "Ahlan":

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There is a former Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan (the apartment is recorded on his wife), who is now the leader of one of the parties in Kyrgyzstan, and his wife is a party functionary. The number of deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, for the most part from the Party of Regions, was surprised. There is Igor Sharov , there is Vladimir Oleinik , who owns an apartment in Karlovy Vary, and in Ukraine is currently on the wanted list. There is a deputy from Lugansk Irina Berezhnaya . All of them for the most part bought apartments before the second revolution in Ukraine, the latter - around 2012-13. There are rather funny personalities. For example, a whole house is owned by a person who was an ardent activist of the financial pyramid MMM-2013, actively participated in this pyramid and invested accumulated funds in real estate in Karlovy Vary.

- Is it possible to see the cadastral value of real estate in the Czech registers?

- No. Sometimes this real estate can be evaluated by indirect signs. If it is recorded on a legal entity, then in their annual financial reports, as a rule, legal entities indicate the value of their immovable assets, and with the help of these financial reports you can make an approximate assessment of these assets. For example, there is such an interesting character - Alexander Troster . He headed the Klinsky district of the Moscow region for 22 years, and now he is a deputy there . He owns an apartment in Karlovy Vary, a hotel was registered in the same place, and through the Czech company in 2014 they bought an expensive spa resort in Slovenia, consisting of four hotels. We give data on the value of the assets specified in the financial reports of its Czech companies.

- In what range is the alleged value of the real estate you find varies?

- From simple apartments with an area of 50 square meters, including on the outskirts of the city, to hotels and villas.

-Do you plan to continue these research on the Czech Republic in relation to Prague, maybe to some cities?

- I hope that the Czechs themselves will continue these studies. We were interested in making a story about Karlovy Vara, to study the scale.

- And how can Chekhov interest this story?

They do not understand whose money they let into the economy

- The fact that they have big problems: they do not understand whose money they let into the economy, who invest, what kind of people they let in their country. If a person was engaged in corruption in his country, then, having acquired real estate in the Czech Republic, he will corrupt this country. And the dirty money imported into the country, which, as a rule, are stolen, it simply falls under the article "Illegal enrichment". It seems to me that this is a problem for the Czech Republic, because it is simply indecent to let corruption money into your country.

- How can it be that a person is on an international wanted list and at the same time is officially the owner of real estate in the Czech Republic?

- If we take, for example, Vladimir Oleinik, then he acquired it, while still a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, in 2013, before the revolution. Then the Maidan occurred, he escaped to Russia with the Yanukovych team, they have now created some kind of “Committee for the Salvation of Ukraine”, where he is an official. The fact that he is the owner does not mean that he lives there. I won’t be surprised if he had not appeared there from the moment Yanukovych escaped from Ukraine. We remember when the Maidan happened, it turned out that the whole environment of Yanukovych had large amounts that were incomparable with their income, in Austria. The Austrians then said: oh, they say, we did not know that we had the accounts and assets of these people. But this is a pure lie, and the state, of course, knows about all such people, because the state owns all these registers. Some countries of the former Soviet Union may have laws, but there is no right, respectively, they cannot judge corrupt officials there. The Czech Republic is part of the European Union, and it should, it seems to me, is somehow painful about the money of dubious origin, ”says Mikhail Maglov , author of the investigation“ Guide to the Karlovy Varam ”.

The escape of the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych from the residence "Mezhigorye", February 19, 2014:

The situation with the purchase of real estate in Karlovy Vary by immigrants from the former USSR for Radio Freedom was commented on by Ondrzhi Kundra , a journalist of the Prague weekly "Respect", specializing in safety and corruption problems.

- Do money "smell" for the Czech authorities? In other words, what are the priorities of the Czech side: attracting foreign investments at all costs-or nevertheless control over the origin of the money coming to the country?

Under the firms through which real estate is being purchased, it is legally impossible to dig up

- Naturally, the possible laundering in our country, received illegally, including at the expense of corruption transactions, is perceived here as a problem. On the other hand, especially if we are talking about money from Russia, then it is very difficult for the Czech authorities to prove anything. For those companies through which real estate is most often conducted, it is usually impossible to dig up. In recent years, I do not remember large scandals of this kind. You can only call the review by the National Bank of the Czech Republic of License from the First Czech-Russian Bank, there were problems with doubtful financing. From time to time, this kind of incident happens, but there are few of them.

-The rules governing the possibility of acquiring real estate in the Czech Republic by foreigners have somehow changed in the last two or three years in connection with the deterioration of relations between the EU and Russia?

-No, to purchase a real estate object or land in our country a foreigner, regardless of its origin, is still relatively easy. The market for intermediary services in this area is also quite large. Politics or problems such as a pro -Russian misinformation campaign, the signs of which we have a lot, does not concern such practical issues. Economic factors are more likely to affect here - in connection with the crisis in the Russian economy, interest from Russians in the same Karlovy Vara fell.

-Karlovs Vary somehow stand out on the corruption map of the Czech Republic thanks to the presence of capital from the post-Soviet countries? There are more, for example, cases of bribing officials than in other regions of the country?

There were cases when the construction of such "palaces" was approved by local municipalities retroactively

-It is difficult to talk about some detailed statistics here. In relation to Karlovy, the VAR was often said, for example, about cases of corruption of local officials in connection with the issuance of permits for the construction of Russian entrepreneurs. They erected some objects non-standard in size and location or built them in wrong places. There were cases when the construction of such "palaces" was approved by local municipalities retroactively. Yes, there was always a lot of money in Karlovy Vara in connection with the presence of wealthy immigrants from the former USSR, but I would not dare to call this city some kind of "Czech Sicily" or something like that.

- In the Czech Republic, parliamentary elections will be held this year. Their probable winner may be the movement of the ANO of the current Minister of Finance, an businessman-billionaire Andrei Babish . Will he pursue a policy of openness to investments from all sides?

- Babish, if it wins, is unlikely to be able to draw up the government single -handedly. So much will depend on the one who enters the coalition with him. In principle, Babish advocated the mitigation of sanctions against Russia, but he does not have a clear foreign policy program. Therefore, it will be important who will find himself with him in the government-Social Democrats and other projuroral parties, as it is now, or some populists, ”said the Czech journalist of Ondrzhi Kundra .

It should be added that in general, "Karlovarsk" is now experiencing a period of explicit decline-and precisely because of the departure of Russian tourists and investors. This began more than two years ago and was due to the deterioration of the economic situation in Russia and the fall of the ruble exchange rate. Как отмечает чешский специализированный журнал Development News , богатые клиенты из России и других постсоветских стран "перегрели" рынок недвижимости в Карловых Варах, покупая квартиры и дома в городе за небывалые по здешним меркам цены. Сейчас, когда "тучные" годы сменились "худыми", многие российские владельцы карловарской недвижимости стремятся избавиться от нее, не продешевив чрезмерно – но сделать это крайне непросто. По данным одного из карловарских риелторов, в прошлом году российскому владельцу 6-комнатных апартаментов, поначалу заявлявшему за эту квартиру цену в 850 тысяч евро (в пересчете по курсу), в итоге пришлось продать ее за 300 тысяч. На местном рынке недвижимости предложение новых квартир, построенных с расчетом на покупателей из бывшего СССР, исчисляется сотнями. Желающих приобрести их почти нет.

Еще хуже обстоят дела с туризмом, основным доходом городской экономики, – прежде всего из-за снижения притока гостей из России. Туристическая статистика Чешского статистического управления (ЧСУ) учитывает количество ночей, проведенных в совокупности гостями из той или иной страны в данном регионе. По Карловарскому краю данные таковы: если в 2014 году россияне провели там более 1,2 млн "человеко-ночей", то в 2015-м – менее 800 тысяч, а в прошлом году (до сентября, более свежих данных пока нет) – 500 тысяч. При этом в целом ЧСУ считает прошлый туристический сезон весьма успешным, поток иностранных туристов, побывавших в Чехии, вырос, за исключением лишь приезжих из двух стран: Японии и России.

С апреля 2015 года отменены регулярные рейсы "Аэрофлота" из Москвы в Карловы Вары. Правда, в этом году появятся другие – из Дюссельдорфа и, возможно, из Тель-Авива. Как заявил в недавнем интервью Чешскому радио мэр Карловых Вар Петр Кулганек , "не секрет, что ставших привычными для нас русскоязычных приезжих стало на 35–40% меньше, так что мы ориентируемся на другие рынки – в Европе, Израиле, на местный рынок. Отток русских клиентов в значительной мере компенсируется притоком гостей из Германии, Израиля и из самой Чехии". Правда, как пишет еженедельник "Тыден", владельцы карловарских магазинов жалуются, что "новые" туристы тратят на покупки заметно меньше, чем расточительные россияне в былые годы.