The Leningrad Region Office of the Investigative Committee has finished investigative operations in a criminal case over illegal acquisition of ownership right on Forest Fund land.
The charges under Part 1 of Article 293 of the RF Penal Code (negligence) were pressed against director of Gatchina Forestry of the Leningrad Region Forest Management Department Valery Tereshkin.
According to investigators, between 1990 and 1993 Tereshkin was director of Gatchina mechanized forestry enterprise of Leningrad forestry industrial association. Due to his negligent attitude to service Tereshkin did not properly control stocktaking and saving of state forest resources and let his subordinates in charge of technical execution of documents put the information on current change of forest regulation in Gatchina forestry – alienation of 45 ha of forest in the settlement of Siversky.
Moreover, due to Tereshkin’s failure to do his duty the changes were put in the documents of Gatchina mechanized forestry enterprise based on the illegal for Tereshkin decision by the presidium of Gatchina district council of people’s deputies. In addition, the decision stipulated that alienation and transmission should have been applied only to the land lot in Ryleyevsky forestry, which was non-existent at the moment.
This way, a number of articles of the Forestry Code of the RSFSR were violated and 45 ha of state forest fund dropped out illegally from the charge of Gatchina mechanized forestry enterprise. The said omission of Tereshkin entailed considerable violation of state interests protected by law as later on the territorial office of the Federal State Property Management Agency did not have any opportunity to possess, use and dispose of the said property as when the Gatchina District local government concluded civil deals regarding part of the property of 30.5 ha in 2006 OOO Lesnoye registered its ownership on it.
During the probe the investigators identified and questioned dozens of witnesses, ran a number of complex forensic analyses – forest regulation, ecological and historical cultural ones.
By now Tereshnkin has been notified that the investigative operations were finished and on one of these days he and his lawyer will start studying the files of the criminal case, which is over 40 volumes.
It should be said that Alexander Bastrykin, the Chairman of the Russia’s Investigative Committee is keeping the case under his personal control. During numerous personal receptions Mr. Bastrykin based on the reasons of citizens speaking against building houses in Siversky forest ordered to study them carefully. As the result the Investigative Committee organized a check into legality of the decision to give the property away for building, following which the Leningrad Region Directorate initiated the criminal case. In addition, reasons of the investigation based on the conclusions of expert examinations that the property has natural, esthetical and memorial value and that building of cottages there may lead to mass cutting down of trees and bushes, pollution of the Oredezh river and destruction of its banks were filed with the region administration and considering high historical and cultural and recreation value of the property in the township of Siversky, the Leningrad Region Government decided to reject the project for construction of residential buildings on the said property.
Head of Media Relations V.I. Markin
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