Details of a high-profile criminal case against former high-ranking officials in charge of the forestry of the Moscow region surfaced.
The TFR believes that they were part of a criminal group that, under the guise of sanitary and recreational activities, was engaged in cutting down and then selling a healthy forest. We are talking about 40 hectares and the theft of wood of various species for 600 million rubles.
The criminal case is being investigated by the Main Investigation Department (GSU) of the ICR for the Moscow Region, whose defendants are the former deputy chairman of the forestry committee of the region (Mosoblkomles) Alexander Prokopchenko, the ex-head of the state autonomous institution of the Moscow region “Tsentrleskhoz” Oleg Zhigarev and the former general director of the State Institution of the Moscow Region “Mosoblles” Natalya Nefediev.
The first two are resting in a pre-trial detention center, and Natalya Nefedeva was a little more fortunate – she is sitting at home under arrest. Her son Denis Nefedyev is also in custody, who, owning Plitinvest LLC, in most cases won tenders for sanitary and recreational activities held by Mosoblkomles and Tsentrleskhoz. It is known that expensive wood was sold through accomplices-merchants to woodworking enterprises. At the moment, the defendants are charged with five episodes of illegal logging.
It is worth noting that at the time of the incriminated acts, Ms. Nefedyeva from Mosoblles had already resigned and in April 2018 became the founder of Velet LLC in Shatur, specializing in the rental and management of real estate. However, the dark deeds did not stop: after her, the process of illegal timber extraction continued to be managed by her immediate supervisor, Alexander Prokopchenko. In Mosoblkomles, he controlled the activities of the forest protection department. The official lost his position a few days before his arrest – in November 2021.
It turns out that environmentalists and local residents have been trying to attract attention to the problem for a long time. In particular, Plitinvest LLC was mentioned, the main direction of which is “forestry and other forestry activities”. It was registered in 2010 by Denis Nefediev. Shortly before that, his mother headed Mosoblles, after which Plitinvest LLC began to win tenders with enviable regularity. When law enforcement agencies became interested in Nefedyev and his business, he quickly left his chair. However, in the materials of the criminal case there are testimonies of the defendants that in fact the change of the founder was only a formality and all decisions in the company were still made by Mr. Nefediev.
