07:22, 27 January 2016

Dagestan: journalists link Makhachev's case with actions of republic's authorities

Abdula Makhachev. Photo http://www.dagsport.ru/pages/13

Abdula Makhachev, the former Dagestani Deputy Minister of Sport, is arrested on suspicion of fraud with gas networks, since the Dagestani leader pays careful attention to that sphere in the conditions of the crisis. This opinion was expressed by Milrad Fatullaev, the editor-in-chief of the news agency "Derbent". According to Magomed Magomedov, an observer of the "Chernovik" (Draft), the detention of Abdula Makhachev may be connected with the struggle for control of the gas networks.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 25, Abdula Makhachev, a brother of Gadji Makhachev, the former Dagestani Deputy Prime Minister, was arrested in Moscow. He is suspected "of organizing a fraud related to the misappropriation of gas main networks."

In September 2015, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reported that in Dagestan, two top-ranking officials were suspected of fraud amounted to 330 million roubles. According to the MIA, the suspected organizer of the fraud the Dagestani Deputy Minister of Sports escaped the police. The MIA has also reported that the fraud involved officials from the "Rosreestr" (Federal Agency for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography); however, in October 2015, the Dagestani Office of the "Rosreestr" denied those reports.

According to Milrad Fatullaev, oil and gas industry is not only a strategic resource: it is "extremely profitable, but almost political."

Magomed Magomedov has also added that the criminal case against Abdula Makhachev may be connected to "the political situation in the republic."

He has noted that the municipal gas networks have been mostly already included in the national property and are to be sold to the "Gazprom" through the "Dagestani Oil and Gas Company".

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Source: CK correspondent