Source: www.rucriminal.info
In Volgograd, as in a mirror, one can observe how closely the housing and communal services, criminal cases, former security officials, local courts and those who have been cleaning up unprofitable businesses with the precision of a surgeon for years are intertwined. The center of this system, as the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel and Rucriminal.info found out, has been the former deputy head of the city for housing and communal services Andrei Potapov for several years now, a man who managed to emerge from a series of criminal cases, reforms and billion-dollar debts - with a reputation as a "fixer" and the right to vote on big money issues.
Behind Potapov's figure, however, one can see a much more serious shadow of former law enforcement officers, formed back in the days of the power of the former head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the region and "night governor" Mikhail Muzraev, convicted of terrorism. Through long-standing friendship and partnership with them, Potapov controlled a significant part of the city's management companies for many years. It was this group that organized the transfer of the municipal water utility and heating networks into the hands of the so-called "Concessions", which essentially became a black hole in the regional budget.
Just a few years ago, Potapov headed the "Renaissance" management company. A criminal case was opened against him - 122 million rubles, intended for the payment of heat and hot water, according to the investigation, for some reason turned out to be loans from individuals. However, after a few months, the case was closed. Moreover, by decision of the Dzerzhinsky Court of Volgograd, whose then chairman Rulev, according to sources of the VChK-OGPU, was on friendly terms with Alexey Dozhdev, another former player in the housing and utilities system. Dozhdev, by the way, is now wanted in Spain - for creating an organized criminal group and money laundering.
However, it was like water off a duck's back for Potapov. The case is closed, the property is unblocked. And already in 2014, as if nothing had happened, he occupies the seat of the first deputy head of Volgograd - with direct control over the housing and communal services.
It was Potapov, hiding behind the lack of funds for repairs, who actively promoted the scheme for transferring the water utility and heating networks to a concession. The details of the deal resemble a classic scam: the debts of the management companies in the amount of over 2 billion rubles "fell" not on them, but on the city budget.
The investor, who promised multi-billion dollar injections of private funds into the communal infrastructure, bonds were issued for these purposes, as a result, in 2020, allowed a technical default.
What's next? Next is a beautiful trick: in 2023, 99% of the concession assets will come under the control of state structures - Volgogradoblektro and the Volgograd Region Development Corporation. But this will not last long: in June 2024, the shares will be transferred to JSC "IVC Housing and Utilities and Fuel and Energy Complex". It is unclear who is behind this structure. It is only known that after privatization in 2017, its beneficiaries became opaque.
But the result is transparent: 7.1 billion rubles - that is how much had to be allocated from the regional budget to repay the bonds. The same ones that were supposedly used for "investments in infrastructure".
The history of arbitration case No. A12-9693/2024 is an indicative episode in the communal epic. The company "Teplosnabzheniya Concessions" demanded 45 million rubles in debts for heat from the management company "Voroshilovsky District" controlled by Potapov under the heat supply and hot water supply agreement dated October 1, 2016. № 006052 for November 2017-April 2018, October 2018 - April 2019, November 2019 - February 2020. In 2024, the court, citing the expiration of the statute of limitations, refused. That is: money was collected from the population, the resource supplying company was not paid, but from a legal point of view, no one owes anything, as a result, the state will pay for everything again. There are already several dozen similar stories with multi-million dollar non-payments. According to Rucriminal.info, Potapov is actively promoting himself as an intermediary between business and security forces. An example is the case of Kalonkin, accused of embezzlement during the reclamation of a landfill. Potapov promised to "settle", but Kalonkin ultimately received a real sentence. The finale of this communal drama is classic: more than 10 billion rubles withdrawn from the system through fictitious transactions, strange court decisions and closed cases. The debt of management companies has been written off. And the communal infrastructure? According to official data, depreciation is approaching 100%.
And in this sense, Volgograd is not an exception, but rather an example. How you can legalize billions of criminal rubles, remain in the shadows, and then return - already in a new status. A businessman, an investor, and maybe even an official. After all, no one was jailed in this story. But the entire region now has new debts.
Arseny Dronov
To be continued
Source: www.rucriminal.info
