Rostov-on-Don's Mayor Mikhail Chernyshov denies accusations of land frauds

The Investigatory Department of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) of Rostov Region suspects Mikhail Chernyshov, Mayor of the city of Rostov-on-Don, of involvement in land frauds. Mikhail Chernyshov denies accusations against him and insists on the lawfulness of the alienation of land plots.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the inspection conducted by officers from the Regional Prosecutor's Office revealed that in December 2001 the Mayor had issued resolutions, withdrawn a land plot of 5.66 hectares, located within the Botanical Garden of the Rostov State University (RSU) (now the SFU - the Southern Federal University (SFU)), and divided it between individuals, including his close female relative, for the purposes of housing construction.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, rare trees were destroyed on the land plot, and a cottage settlement was built in their place. At present, the Mayor of the city is the owner of one of these land plots.

According to prosecutors, Mikhail Chernyshov's actions inflicted considerable material damage amounting to about 11 million roubles, including destruction of tree plantations and material breach of legally protected interests of the society and the state.

The alienated land belonged to the category of specially protected natural areas, and now it cannot be used for its primary purpose, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

The inspection's results were brought to the Investigatory Department of the ICRF of Rostov Region to solve the issue of criminal proceedings into the Mayor's abuse of his official power, the website of the Prosecutor's Office reports.

Mikhail Chernyshov categorically rejects accusations against him

"So far as the disseminated information is concerned, it contains fundamental uncertainties. For example, the land was not "withdrawn", and there was an exchange of lands between the municipality and the RSU. And the rector of the university was the initiator of that exchange. Furthermore, the exchange was done with the consent of the Ministry of General and Professional Education of the Russian Federation," Mikhail Chernyshov writes in his official blog.

According to the official, he as the Mayor and the city administration cannot deal with specific allocation of land plots to individuals, since the land plots were allocated (under then current law) by the decision of the district administration, said Chernyshov.

"And finally, in spring 2011, the ICRF has already inspected the facts set forth in the statement of the Prosecutor's Office of Rostov Region. No breaches of the legislation have been revealed. And earlier, in 2006, the Regional Prosecutor's Office conducted an inspection. They got the same result. Generally, I have a positive attitude to inspections of various levels. It's like a free audit. Let them inspect," Mikhail Chernyshov writes in his official blog.

SFU's representatives comment on the conflict

The public relations centre of the Southern Federal University (the Rostov State University merged with the SFU in 2008) states that the land withdrawal was held for the benefit of the university.

"So, the university, which was facing severe financial problems in the 1990s and the 2000s, tried to solve its problems; the land plot was intended for the construction of housing for the university teachers," the "Kommersant" refers to the opinion of the representative of the public relations centre of the SFU.

Let us remind you that, earlier, the land of the Botanical Garden in Rostov-on-Don has already become a conflict source. In August, Alexander Vodyanik, ex-Director of the Botanical Garden, stated that the RZhS (Federal Foundation for Housing Construction Development) intended to allocate 160 hectares of federal land, on which the Botanical Garden was located, for sale for housing construction.

Then, the initiative group of the Botanical Garden defenders organized collection of signatures of city residents on a petition to Governor Vasily Golubev demanding not to build up cottages in the Garden. The activists' petition and collected signatures were handed over to the representative of the Rostov Committee of the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party. In his turn, Vladislav Zakharevich, Rector of the SFU, stated that the university would not give up the territory of the Botanical Garden for construction.