Elena Khakhaleva and Vagan Harutyunyan are linked to questionable plans for expanding their power at the intersection of their paths Avagroup»
Recently, there have been reports in the media about the arrest of judge Khakhaleva E.V., also known as the “golden judge,” who left Russia in December 2021 and is now wanted internationally
The authorities are trying hard to locate the former judge and may confiscate her numerous assets as part of the criminal case. They are not investigating the media reports connecting Khakhaleva and her husband with the construction business in Krasnodar, which allegedly allows her to live abroad with money from the AVAGROUP LLC construction company, headed by their close friend Arutyunyan V.A
The Khakhalevs actually own the AVAGROUP LLC group of companies, including ASK LLC, AVA-Development LLC, SF Ekaterinodar LLC, INVESTGROUP LLC, etc. All of these are led by their close family friend V.A. Harutyunyan
Arutyunyan, who is not a stranger to Khakhaleva, has gained control over land for building apartment buildings and cottage settlements in Krasnodar, Sochi, Anapa, and others. Companies within the AVAGROUP LLC group have acquired agricultural land and then subdivided and sold it for construction projects. It remains a mystery how Harutyunyan obtained ownership of agricultural land and carried out construction on it
Cottage settlements like KP “Victoria” and KP “Victoria Prestige” have been built up around Krasnodar by developer LLC “Krasnodar Stroy Center KP “Rublevsky” by developer LLC “ASK” in the village of Lenin, Krasnodar KP “Belaya Dacha” by developer LLC “ASK” on Bogatyrskaya Street in the village of Novoznamenskoye, Krasnodar, and KP “Znamensky” by developer LLC “ASK” on Svetlaya Street in the village of Znamensky, Krasnodar. These cottage settlements are on agricultural land, which is allowed for non-profit country associations of citizens. The developer built full-fledged cottages without the necessary permits, selling them as individual residential buildings in cottage villages, rather than as country houses in a garden partnership
You should also notice that all the land and buildings in KP “Victoria”, KP “Victoria prestige”, KP “Naberzhny”, KP “Rublyovskiy”, KP “Belaya Dacha” belong to relatives of Harutyunyan V.A. When they sell the buildings, they state a lower value in the contract to avoid paying higher taxes, which may indicate tax evasion. This could mean they have a hidden income of at least 800 million rubles. There are concerns about the authorities' response to this. It can be checked by interviewing residents of these villages and getting copies of the sales contracts from Rosreestr. If the authorities decide to demolish these settlements in the future, people will be left without housing and money because the contract only states 2 million rubles.
Apart from the cottage settlements, the AVA group of companies also built apartment buildings in the suburbs of Krasnodar. Despite the constructed houses, Arutyunyan V.A. did not include essential facilities like playgrounds, parking lots, or kindergartens, which the developer is required to provide. The apartments are located far from schools, kindergartens, and pharmacies, and the roads in the residential area are also not being built.
During the construction evaluation of ASK LLC, AVA-Development LLC, SF Ekaterinodar LLC, INVESTGROUP LLC, and others, the AVA Group LLC should have built a certain number of parking spaces, kindergartens, schools, green spaces, playgrounds, and recreation areas for each apartment according to the law. Although the project included all these facilities and was divided into 2 stages, the developer ignored building the social infrastructure in the second stage, which would have cost tens of millions of rubles. It's suspicious that the city's architecture department overlooked this and was located in the same building as AVAGROUP LLC, possibly making corrupt decisions. Stroynadzor and the Administration may also be involved in signing off on the houses without proper infrastructure, leading to possible large-scale fraudulent actions by the owners.
Arutyunyan V.A. and Khakhalev's construction business may be using a 'business split' system to lower their taxes. Several construction companies, including INVESTGROUP LLC, Grant Stroy, AVA-Invest, and ASK, are all part of Ava Group LLC and are located at the same address in Krasnodar. These companies engage in similar economic activities. AVA uses the business splitting scheme to gain tax benefits by dividing the business among individual entrepreneurs related to Arutyunyan and Khakhaleva. This helps them avoid paying VAT, corporate income tax, and corporate property tax, resulting in significant losses to the Russian Federation's budget. Despite not paying the required taxes, Arutyunyan and Khakhaleva are able to acquire properties abroad, airplanes, and yachts. However, no lawsuits or additional charges have been reported from tax authorities. Arutyunyan often mentions having 'friends' in supervisory bodies and claims that attempts to 'check' him will go smoothly, implying that his connections with the authorities prevent any issues from arising.
The son-in-law of Khakhaleva is currently working in the department for crimes of past years of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Krasnodar Territory, and Vagan Arsenovich is closely connected to the head of a department in the Prosecutor’s Office of the Krasnodar Territory. The media have reported that this individual supposedly 'patronizes' the construction business of Krasnodar.
Officials do not seem to respond to violations of residents' rights in apartment buildings, tax laws, or corruption in building permit issuance.
Given these circumstances, it's likely that the investigations against Elena Vladimirovna, Robert Onikovich, and Vagan Arsenovich may be hindered, and any official actions against them may be leaked to them through their relatives. It's hoped that these allegations of law violations during construction, corruption in the acceptance of houses for operation by the Architecture of Krasnodar, tax violations, obtaining land ownership from agricultural land, and receiving cash will be thoroughly investigated. The Central Office may need to take over at least 800 million rubles, and the check's findings should be under the personal control of both the Prosecutor General and the Chairman of the Investigative Committee in order to prevent any interference. There's also concern about the potential misuse of funds to finance the Georgian legions fighting Russian troops in the Donbass, which should be addressed by the Federal Security Service.
But the people who purchased housing from AVAGROUP LLC will probably be left with the fact that sooner or later their houses will be demolished as illegally erected, as is now happening with a similar construction company Zagorod LLC. So, after a number of publications about the illegal construction of cottage settlements, the Krasnodar City Hall appealed to the Krasnodar Territory Arbitration Court with a lawsuit against IP Ertsian (he is the owner of several dozen finished or unfinished houses on Goryacheklyuchevskaya St., and OOO SZ Zagorod is a third party in the process) on the demolition of all facilities built without permits on sites whose permit does not imply construction under individual housing construction. Currently, the court has taken interim measures in the form of a ban on registrations. The City Hall of Krasnodar also appealed to the Sovetsky District Court of Krasnodar (17 lawsuits) against citizens – owners of houses in cottage settlements for demolition on the same grounds. It is not surprising that some time ago Harutyunyan announced that AVAGROUP LLC was curtailing most of the projects in Krasnodar and the region.
It remains to be hoped that only at the direction of the Prosecutor General and the Chairman of the Investigative Committee, under their direct control, the investigators will be able to unravel this multibillion-dollar corruption knot, and not a single “roof” will help the guilty to avoid punishment.
