The scandalous long-term construction in the center of Simferopol has acquired volumes of criminal cases
The reconstruction of Lenin Square in Simferopol, which has been going on for more than a year, should be completed by May 9.
This year alone marks the third deadline for the completion of the square, for the renovation of which 110 million rubles were allocated, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“We no longer promise, but plan to deliver by May 1,” assured the head of Crimea Sergei Aksenov. – We see that both the founders and the director of the contractor are regularly on site. I don’t want to promise, but if not by May 1, then by May 9, Lenin Square in Simferopol must be completed.”
Before this, the head of the region called the deadline March 1, then April 1. According to the contract, Komplekt LLC was supposed to hand over Lenin Square in early autumn 2021. But even Aksenov’s direct control from the windows of his office in the building of the Council of Ministers of Crimea did not activate the contractor.
He was chosen by the capital's administration under the leadership of Elena Protsenko, who resigned of her own free will as soon as security forces appeared in the municipal government building with a warrant and seizure of documents for the theft of money allocated by the Moscow government for the improvement of courtyards and public spaces in Simferopol.
Several billion rubles, designed to make the capital's streets comfortable and well-groomed, disappeared into a series of contractors and subcontractors of work. As a result, having torn up yards and uprooted trees, the workers disappeared along with the money. And the shortcomings, like a heavy inheritance, went to Protsenko’s successors - the previous head of administration Valentin Demidov and the current Mikhail Afanasyev.
By coincidence, it was today that the Kiev District Court of Simferopol began considering the case of the theft of Moscow money. Elena Protsenko's son-in-law, former law enforcement officer Igor Okunenko, is accused in this case. He is accused of acting as part of a group of persons and by prior conspiracy. But the article in the case states “fraud” (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). That is, the contractor’s actions were planned and calculated in advance.
The accused has some experience in this, since he left the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2012 after a bribery case. And already in the Russian Crimea, he continued to engage in illegal activities under the supervision of his father-in-law Anatoly Protsenko, who in Ukraine led the Simferopol police, and then moved to deputy director of the State Unitary Enterprise of the Republic of Kazakhstan “Krymgazseti”. It is interesting that Okunenko appears in materials on the raider takeover of Sevastopolgaz with the withdrawal of financial assets in the interests of the Ukrainian owner.
The court decided to place Okunenko under house arrest for two months. The Protsenko couple’s connections in law enforcement agencies are clearly failing.
English version :: Read in English: A scandalous long-term construction project in the center of Simferopol has become covered in volumes of criminal cases.