Azov City in hand of profiteers
Kuban`s Prosecutor`s Office got concerned about the situation with the sale of lands in “Azov City”. In the course of the inspection it found out that the regional Department of Property Relations had refused to buy out land plots in the would-be gaming zone from local residents, and consequently they ended up in hand of profiteers. Now the Department employees are facing criminal proceedings. According to a gambling operator, casino owners are still offered land plots within Krasnodar`s part of the gaming zone.
The Prosecutor`s Office`s data prove that, contrary to the legislative requirements providing for the regional administration`s priority in buying out lands in “Azov City”, the regional Department of Property Relations went slow in buying land plots within the gaming zone. Moreover, owners of lands on the would-be construction sites, willing to sell their land plots to the administration, were getting the Department`s refusals in December 2006 to April 2007, which enabled a certain natural person to buy up large areas in the gaming zone, and then sell them to Krasnodar`s regional administration at excessive prices.
According to Georgiy Sorokin, acting as the head of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Department of Kuban`s Prosecutor`s Office, Krasnodar authorities started purchasing lands in “Azov City” in spring this year only. “I know that the Department of Property Relations bought some land plots for several million rubles,” he said to the “RBC daily South”, specifying that according to the preliminary data the amount of losses due to land speculations accounted for 624.8 thousand rubles. Mr Sorokin also added that now they consider instituting criminal proceeding against an employee of Krasnodar`s regional Department of Property Relations. The name and the position of the guilty official were not made public by the Prosecutor`s Office. The Department itself refused to give official comments referring to the absence of the Department`s top managers.
Meanwhile, according to Nickolay Oganezov, the head of the Regional Gambling Operators` Association in the Southern Federal District, several natural persons have been involved in buying up and reselling land plots in Kuban`s part of “Azov City”. “When I was offered to buy a land plot in “Azov City”, I could not believe it at first. But then I was shown the ownership certificate and the cadastre map,” he said to the “RBC daily South”. He added that he had been contacted by various owners with similar proposals at least 10 times, and the land plots for sale had been located within “Azov City”. “Should these land plots be sold, and someone will perform commercial activities within them, how will the authorities determine if they belong to the gaming zone or not?”, Mr Oganezov is puzzled.
Source: RBCdaily.ru