In Dagestan, Director of HBC "Daman", suspected of deceiving real estate investors, put on wanted list

In Dagestan, Murat Guliev, the head of the housing building cooperative (HBC) "Daman", is suspected of fraud and document forgery. According to investigators, Murat Guliev raised from real estate investors more than seven million roubles for the construction of an apartment building and disappeared.

Officials from the Dagestan Prosecutor's Office told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the criminal case was instituted against Murat Guliev and that he was put on the wanted list. The investigators revealed that the same apartments in No. 62 "c" in Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya Street in Makhachkala, which were under construction by the HBC "Daman", had been sold 2-3 times.

"Murat Guliev raised the money by fraud, using his official position and forged documents," stated a source at the Prosecutor's Office.

The situation at the HBC "Daman" drew attention of the law enforcement agencies after the protest actions that took place in Makhachkala on December 22, 2011. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reported that on that day, dozens of people, who called themselves to be defrauded real estate investors of two construction companies LLC (Limited Liability Company) "Spetstekhnologii" and HBC "Daman" gathered in Rhodope Boulevard.

According to Saida M., one of the participants of that protest action, the Director of the HBC disappeared yet in 2011, when the real estate investors started to voice their claims, since the house had to be put into operation in the second quarter of that year.

"I remember that the project documentation on the house has been changed twice. Initially, this was to be a three-storey building, then a six-storey building. At present, there are six floors have been built; however, they do not plan to build the roof," Saida said.

According to her, when they were purchasing real estate, the contract on instalment to the HBC was concluded with her and with the other victims. "I paid about 700,000 roubles," the woman has noted.

The defrauded real estate investors filed the complaint to the Dagestani Prosecutor's Office, and it issued instructions to check the complainants' claims.

It has been already revealed that Murat Guliev, being the Chairman of the HBC "Daman" and the developer of the indicated building, had no intention of building a house. According to the Prosecutor's Office, that fact is proved by the absence of documents for construction.

"By imitation of starting the works on construction of residential building, Murat Guliev raised citizens' money to build that residential building. However, he failed to build the residential building, and he embezzled the money, raised from real estate investors in the amount of more than 7 million roubles and disappeared. Till present, his whereabouts is unknown," the source in the Prosecutor's Office said.

The criminal case was instituted against the suspected under Part 3 of Article 159 (fraud committed on a large scale by a person using his or her official position) and Part 1 of Article 327 (forgery of an official document) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

At present, investigators conducts investigatory measures to establish all circumstances of the incident. The Prosecutor's Office does not clarify whether criminal proceedings will be instituted against other staff members of the HBC "Daman".

Till present, the "Caucasian Knot" has obtained comments from representatives of the HBC "Daman", since telephone numbers of the HBC do not respond.

Officials from the Dagestani Ministry of Construction and Housing and Utilities Infrastructure told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that at the beginning of 2012, the inspections, conducted by the Department on supervision of real estate investment sphere revealed several construction companies with problematic objects and claims of real estate investors. Apart from the HBC "Daman", their number included LLC "Spetstekhnologii", HOA (House Owners' Association) "Phoenix", HBC "Krasivy Dom", Individual Entrepreneur Zagirov, and LLC "Ekhtibar".