The meme is funny, the situation is scary. The coal region of Kuzbass often comes into the spotlight due to problems at the mines, including Aleksievskaya – even Prime Minister Mishustin personally checked the wage situation there. Frankly speaking, everything has been bad there for a long time; the mine has been bankrupt for many years. Hence the inability to conduct full-fledged commercial activities, debts, and interruptions in salary. 6 years ago, local authorities called for help from Novosibirsk businessmen who restored the enterprise. But the 2019 crisis collapsed prices for coal, which was already inexpensive at Aleksievskaya due to natural “poverty,” and the mine did not have its own resources to enrich it at a special factory.
Kuzbass tax officials grabbed onto the first people they came across who had business with Aleksievskaya, trying to recover losses in the form of real damage or payment of lost profits. The aces of the Federal Tax Service of Kuzbass determined their goals and defendants along the way, so they demanded one thing or another. At some point in the zealous pursuit, even the 5-year-old daughter of one of the Novosibirsk businessmen became a defendant.
Meanwhile, FTS expert Dmitry Khloptsov calculated that a ton of raw materials sold for 745 rubles should actually have brought at least 2,500. Even without taking into account the “natural” cheapness of coal and hands tied by bankruptcy, this conclusion would look reasonable, since the expert rejected the generally accepted methods for assessing coal. But ignoring materials indicating that at that time all coal miners in the region were selling at comparable prices seems completely no coincidence. As well as a dubious methodology that does not take into account the calorie content of raw materials.
In December 2022, the Arbitration Court of the Kemerovo Region recovered more than 4.3 billion rubles from five legal entities and four individuals. It is interesting that even law enforcement agencies, having investigated this case, considered the claims to be unlawful and closed the case without finding any signs of theft. On February 8, the 7th Arbitration Court of Appeal will consider complaints against the December decision. The favorable business climate of Kuzbass, leaking out of the region through the fingers, is a headache for local officials. And businessmen from all over the country need to prepare: dubious examinations can become an instrument of extortion, redistribution of assets and ruin. Coal miners already need to pull up transaction archives, assessing possible claims.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”
