Prosecutor General demands former Makhachkala mayor and his relatives return over $26 million in assets
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia has filed a lawsuit with the Sovetsky District Court of Makhachkala, the capital of Daghestan, demanding the confiscation of real estate and land plots worth more than ₽2.1 billion ($26 million) registered to 18 relatives and associates of the city’s former mayor Said Amirov.
The claim concerns more than 400 properties, including land plots, shopping and office centres, a cinema hall, and a maternity hospital.
Amirov headed the administration of Makhachkala from 1998 to 2014. According to prosecutors, he used his position for illegal enrichment and for transferring public property into the ownership of his family and associates without tenders. These assets were registered by officials of The Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography (Rosreestr) who were under his control and then legalised through relatives acting only as nominal owners.
Among the disputed properties are the former municipal cinema Rossiya (Russia, later renamed Kinopark Paramax), a 5,300 sq.m. land plot for a covered market, an 82,700 sq.m. plot for development, as well as land for shopping centres, a hotel, and even a maternity hospital, all registered in the names of Amirov’s relatives.
Earlier, in September 2022, the Kirovsky District Court of Saratov, acting on a claim by prosecutors, had already seized Amirov’s assets into state ownership. These included 356 real estate properties worth around ₽5 billion ($62 million). Nevertheless, investigators stated that new supervisory checks had revealed further abuses related to land and property assets.
According to the press service of the courts of Daghestan, the defendants include Amirov’s wife, son, brother, nephews, and other associated entities — a total of 18 people. Prosecutors also emphasised that building on the land and registering property rights through proxies does not legitimise the assets, nor does it release the parties from liability.
The Prosecutor General’s Office also stated that Amirov used mayoral decrees, sometimes falsified, to transfer state property. In one case, a 15,000 sq.m. plot of land was retrospectively registered in the name of a relative. In another, to formalise the transfer of a plot, the document used the number of a decree awarding a state honour of Daghestan. All of this was cited in the lawsuit as evidence of deliberate wrongdoing.
A preliminary court hearing has been scheduled in the case, and prosecutors are demanding the arrest of the assets, bank accounts and other property of the defendants, with subsequent transfer to the state.
Earlier, in August 2015, Amirov was sentenced to life imprisonment by the North Caucasus District Military Court for organising a terrorist act and the murder of an Investigative Committee officer. The verdict was later upheld by the Supreme Court. He is serving his sentence in the ‘Black Dolphin’ special-regime prison in Russia’s Orenburg region.
Elizaveta Chukharova
