Police reported a scam by the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Property of Karachay-Cherkessia with the land of the national park

Three officials are suspected of appropriating lands of the Teberdinsky National Park.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, a plot of land in the Prielbrusye National Park illegally became the property of a resident of Kabardino-Balkaria based on a false decree of the head of the village of Elbrus, the prosecution claims.

The Cherkessk City Court will consider a case of fraud involving 5.6 hectares of land in the village of Arkhyz worth more than 97 million rubles. The land plot was part of the Teberda National Park, TASS reported, citing the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the North Caucasus Federal District.

"The organized criminal group included the first deputy head of the administration of the Zelenchuksky District of Karachay-Cherkessia, and later the deputy minister of property relations of the Karachay-Cherkessia Republic, the head of the inter-municipal department of the Rosreestr administration, the head of the administration of the Arkhyz rural settlement and one of the local residents," the press release says.

According to the police, in 2015-2017, officials submitted forged documents to the Rosreestr bodies of the Karachay-Cherkessia Republic on the right of a local resident to inheritance: the land in question was in the village of Arkhyz. At the same time, the land belonged to a deceased relative of the defendant, who illegally registered the right of ownership. Officials certified forged documents, on the basis of which the right to inherit a land plot of 5.6 hectares belonging to the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Teberdinsky National Park" was established. The cost of the plot was more than 97 million rubles. Later, officials divided the land into 41 plots, some of which were sold.

The Teberdinsky Nature Biosphere Reserve, organized in 1936, was transformed into a national park in August 2021. Its total area is more than 112 thousand hectares. On the territory of the national park there are ski slopes, climbing and hiking routes, hotels, a summer ecological camp for volunteers, huts for field work and expeditions, as well as an estate with a nature museum and enclosures for wild animals, Interfax specifies.