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Mouse Uncovers Big Name Land Grab
The Interior Ministry yesterday issued charges in a criminal case over a land swindle on the edge of Nikolina Gora, one of the most prestigious dacha settlements in Russia, along Rublevo-Uspenskoe Highway outside of Moscow. Owner of the Tervolina shoe company Vadim Stepanov has been charged with illegally taking possession of 20 hectares of land in the settlement, worth $160 million. He has been charged under article 159, part 4, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Fraud of Particularly Large Size as Part of an Organized Group”), which carried a punishment of five to ten years in prison.
The case began after the Federal Natural Resources Uses Supervision Service discovered that some of their land-use maps had been eaten by mice, and the copies of them destroyed in a fire. When the maps were restored, it was discovered that 20 ha. of forest had been converted to private property, now in the hands of Stepanov after a complicated scheme was carried out.
Police say that Stepnov and several members the management of the RANIS dacha cooperative (Russian abbreviation for “Science and Arts Workers”) at Nikolina Gora entered into a conspiracy to use forged documents to add 20 ha. of federal forest land to the cooperative and then illegally took personal possession of it. Members of the cooperative include some of Russia's leading intellectuals and artists. In particular, musician and chairman of the cooperative Yury Bashmet has been mentioned in connection with the case.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 06, 2007
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