On September 20, during a working visit to Dagestan, the Minister of Construction and Housing and Public Utilities of Russia Irek Faizullin presented departmental awards of the Ministry of Construction of Russia to representatives of the construction industry and housing and public utilities sector of the republic. The news for the republic seems pleasant, however, it caused widespread bewilderment in the construction community of Dagestan. Why? Rucriminal.info answers.
That day, not only the acting head of the Ministry of Construction of the Republic of Dagestan Bakhtiyar Ullaev received a letter of thanks, but also the new head of the Department of State Construction Supervision Shamil Mirzakhanov, who followed him from the mayor's office of Makhachkala to the ministry. How did two officials, who had not worked for even a year, distinguish themselves so much?
Let us recall that in the Makhachkala administration, Bakhtiyar Ullaev, as deputy mayor until 2023, supervised the work of the Department of Architecture and Urban Development, and Shamil Mirzakhanov at that time headed the most “fat” department in this Department for the coordination of capital construction, better known as “Arkhstroynadzor”. Mirzakhanov was directly responsible in the Dagestani capital for the identification and demolition of illegal buildings, and Ullaev supervised his activities. This did not reduce the number of illegal buildings in the city, but both officials successfully moved to do the same thing at the republican level with an honorable promotion. What Mirzakhanov and his colleagues were actually doing in Makhachkala was clear to everyone just from the number and cost of luxury SUVs parked in front of a shabby office building on ul. Dakhadaeva, 11, where the capital's department for the coordination of capital construction is located. "Capital handsome men", as the department employees sometimes immodestly called themselves, quickly identify any unauthorized construction in Makhachkala without the slightest problem. However, at meetings in the mayor's office and the prosecutor's office, where the reasons for the spontaneous construction of the city are regularly discussed, they traditionally sigh and throw up their hands.
"The number of new unauthorized construction projects continues to grow in Dagestan. We are talking about hundreds of illegal objects in Makhachkala, Buinaksk and other cities, which the Ministry of Construction of the Republic of Dagestan does not have effective tools to influence," said Shamil Mirzakhanov, head of the department for monitoring compliance with legislation on urban development.
Reading between the lines of Mirzakhanov's speech on the RIA Dagestan website on December 25, 2023, it is not difficult to understand that this official, who has received federal awards, has already begun to "sigh and throw up his hands" at the republican level. And this means that the nature of the part of his official activity that is not advertised in the media has also remained the same. There is no secret in principle: state the growth of illegal construction rates at meetings, and between meetings, provide comprehensive patronage to this construction. Of course, not "for nothing".
Neither Mirzakhanov himself nor his colleagues from the Ministry of Construction of the Republic of Dagestan feel any selfless love for developers.
So what is happening in the construction industry of Dagestan behind the scenes of journalistic lenses? All the same for which Shamil Magomedbegovich Mirzakhanov was convicted in 2016 - provided for by subparagraphs "a, b, c" of Part 2 of Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Extortion by a group of persons with the use of violence on a large scale".
The only thing that has changed in Mirzakhanov's activities over the past 8 years is that instead of physical violence, he has now begun to abuse his official powers, thus putting pressure even on those developers who might want to start working according to the new requirements of the law, but the Ministry of Construction of the Republic of Dagestan does not allow it.
Hypocrisy as the basis for career growth.
Corruption as its main driver. Both of these qualities, apparently, are quite inherent in Mirzakhanov. Otherwise, how can one explain the fact that a person sentenced to three years of imprisonment and two years of probation immediately after serving them ended up in the team of "young and promising" capital officials?
"If stars light up, it means someone needs it." In the case of Mirzakhanov, who was convicted of extortion and who quickly rose up the career ladder, this "someone" is apparently very influential, since he receives certificates from the hands of the head of the federal Ministry of Construction. And why this “someone” is rapidly building him a brilliant career is also quite clear.
As ill-wishers slander, communicating with developers already at the regional level, Mirzakhanov directly says that “he is not alone” and, allegedly, works in tandem with the “prosecutors”, who also “need to be given some attention”. But something tells us that behind his career are by no means modest representatives of the prosecutor’s office, but influential employees of some mysterious department.
Having official access to state secrets, but not having the required specialized education in this case, Mirakhanov can proudly be called a successful practitioner. Without any education, he learned to identify the main miscalculations in the documents of developers and without hesitation voice the legal consequences threatening them in such a case ia.
Whether such official zeal of Mirzakhanov can be called violence is for the investigation and the court to decide. However, he has achieved much more in criminal success with the help of his official position and legal knowledge. And if he suddenly ends up in the dock again, he will be charged with extortion on an especially large scale.
The work of the architectural construction supervision in Dagestan, now headed by Mirzakhanov, is similar to conversations in Makhachkala coffee shops: "a million here, a million there." On average, in these conversations, as ill-wishers chatter, the figure is 5 million. For this amount, the developer gets the right to a month of shock construction without any escrow accounts and other "nonsense" from meetings.
You can't build a high-rise building in a month, and paying the cost of an entire apartment every month is too much even for illegal developers. That is why the price of apartments in buildings under construction in Makhachkala is growing exponentially, although most of them are being built without the required documents and without observing building codes.
And why all these formalities, if it is enough to sigh at a meeting and shrug your shoulders as usual? After all, it is for this approach to "work" that influential patrons promise officials like Mirzakhanov further career growth, protection from criminal prosecution and a respectable old age in the image of a universally respected statesman.
Mikhail Ermakov
Source: www.rucriminal.info