State Duma deputy from United Russia Artur Taymazov fictitiously divorced his wife so that data on elite real estate would not be included in his declaration, according to an investigation published by the Navalny.Live channel.
During the first year of his deputy, Taymazov earned 5 million rubles, he only owned an apartment of 82 square meters. m, and the wife of Zarina Iluridze has an apartment of 65 sq. m. In 2018, the couple divorced, after which the data on the property of the wife from the declaration of the deputy ceased to appear.
A year after the divorce, Zarina Iluridze acquired two apartments at once, investigators found out. The first one is in the very center of Moscow, not far from the Tretyakov Gallery, 281 sq. m in Lavrushinsky Lane. The cost of one square meter in this house exceeds 1.1 million rubles. Investigators estimated Taymazov's apartment at 310 million rubles.
After some time, the ex-wife of the deputy acquired another apartment with an area of 111 square meters. m in the elite Moscow residential complex "Triumph Palace" in Chapaevsky Lane. Another apartment (217 sqm) is registered to her mother Fatima Plieva. Investigators estimated these apartments at 190 million rubles.
Taymazov's official income would not be enough to buy such real estate, and he (as a deputy) is prohibited by law from doing business. But he registered Trans Rail Com LLC for his ex-wife, which received state contracts from the Moscow Metro State Unitary Enterprise for almost 11.5 billion rubles.
“United Russia company wins tenders for the supply of spare parts for metro cars simply. Purchasing requirements there are so specific that simply no one else can compete with United Russia. The entire competition is imprisoned for his company. As a result, she alone participates in the auction and concludes contracts at the maximum price. Only as dividends, the wife of United Russia personally received 250 million rubles last year, ”the investigation says.
Before taking up the post of deputy, Taymazov worked as an adviser to the general director of Aeroexpress, which was co-owned by Deputy Moscow Mayor Maxim Liksutov, who oversees Moscow transport, including the metro.
In the past, Artur Taymazov is a freestyle wrestler who won the Olympic Games (under the flag of Uzbekistan), he was deprived of his last two gold medals due to doping. As the Navalny.Live investigators point out, although Taymazov himself took medals under the flag of a foreign state, now his party proposes to equate the change of sports citizenship with treason.