The President sent the employees of his control department to check the state of affairs in three regions of the country - KhMAO, Orel and Samara region. Our newspaper also decided to assess the situation. Today we go to the banks of the Volga, to Samara, where Nikolai Merkushkin is governor.

Nikolai Merkushkin - one of the most odious heads of regions And one of the most unpopular. It is no mere chance that on the direct line of Vladimir Putin the Samarans simply threw complaints at the president in various ways. About Merkushkina has long been told that it is time for him at least to resign. After all, the area with him was in such a state that it came to street protests. And this is not the only thing that is bubbling in Moscow, but in a calm and even peaceful Samara region.

So in February this year, a mass meeting of Samara beneficiaries took place. They were led out to the street by the decision of the regional authorities to note all the benefits of travel on public transport. Usually, about half a billion rubles a year were allocated to the privileged categories of the population from the regional budget to compensate for travel. Nikolay Merkushkin decided to stop this practice. The reason for his decision, he deafened everyone. It turns out that the allocated money ... is stolen. If so, who does it, if not local officials under the strict guidance of the governor!

Even those who tried to do this did not go to the rally together-local activists of KPF and LDPR. The main demand of the protesters in fact was not the return of transport benefits, but the early resignation of Merkushkin. Apparently, tired. But with Merkushkin everything is like water from a duck's back. In general, residents of the region have long noticed that their head of the region believes for people of the second grade. The last example is a petition of AvtoVAZ employees. They asked the region to intervene and help them to get back their debts on wages for two whole years!

Do you know what Merkushkin told the people at the meeting? At first he advised the workers to apply with the same request to the US ambassador, and then stated that if they talked to him in that tone, they would not see a salary at all. But for others the governor does everything possible and impossible. So, he transported all his relatives to the city on the Volga from Mordavia. And he did not just transport, but along with all their Mordovian assets.

So, in 2015 "considered to be affiliated with the head of the Samara region Nikolai Merkushkin" Mordovcement "moves closer to the indifferent governor." In Kuibyshevsky district, the capital of the region, close to PJSC "Mordovcement" (affiliated with Merkushkin's relatives), was able to obtain a tender for the construction of a residential microdistrict (425,000 sq. M.).

Moreover, Mordovcement is already working as a supplier in the construction of the stadium for the World Cup in 2018! But it belongs to the family of the Merkushkins. Moreover, it is registered in an offshore zone in Cyprus. To actively drive business relatives, Merkushkin said that Samara companies "throw people", and entrepreneurs should take an example from Mordovia (Merkushkin led the republic from 1995 to 2012)!

At the same time, the governor had the audacity to tell the Samara businessmen that they work badly, and advised to take an example just from Mordovcement. Even the deputies of the Legislative Assembly of the Samara Region drew attention to the boorish behavior of the Governor Merkushkin. And the relatives of Nikolai Merkushkin are really numerous and, apparently, have an incredible gubernatorial vein.

The oldest son, Alexander Merkushkin, is the general director of OAO Saranskiy Canning Plant (the plant owns a stake in AKB Active Bank) and owns it through the controlling stake (51%) of OOO Masloprodukt (which, in turn, owns 71, 8% of the voting shares of JSC "Cannery" Saranskiy "). And the elder brother of the head Alexander Ivanovich Merkushkin owns almost 30 percent of AKB Active Bank, mainly as a private person and through OOO Cement, in which he has 50%.

He is the chairman of the board of directors of this bank. And in fact, the owner of a controlling stake and the head of JSC "Design and Construction Holding Company" Saranskstroyzakazchik ", which unites a dozen companies.

Corrupt officials?

As people who know the situation say, corruption has blossomed under Governor Merkushkin. A notorious case is well known, when more than 3 billion rubles disappeared without leaving a trace in the Samara Region Development Corporation, allocated, by the way, from the regional budget for the construction of a poultry farm. As a result, neither money, nor agricultural enterprise, which still exists only on paper.

Apparently, the Samara officials are manipulating and with a huge flow of federal money allocated for the preparation for the World Cup, which will take place in Samara next year. First, Merkushkin received from the government 10 billion rubles, and soon asked for another 11 billion. Where the state's money is spent is unclear. To FM-18 for less than a year, and in Semar still do and do. There, even the stadium is not completed.

Not surprisingly, the Samara region is in a real debt hole. The budget deficit is 14 billion rubles, and the public debt has approached 60 (!) Billions.
So, the auditors from the presidential control department will have something to do. And, first of all, Governor Merkushkin. Maybe it's already been too long?