MOSCOW, May 18. /Corr. TASS Alexander Beluz/. The Moscow Prosecutor's Office will for the first time conduct a large-scale audit of the funeral services market. Thus, the department reacted to a mass brawl with shooting at the Khovansky cemetery, as a result of which three people died and more than 30 were hospitalized. The incident happened on May 14th.

TASS figured out how this market works in the capital, what caused the fight and why it happened right now.

"Checks are very bad there"

"The funeral industry was corrupt even in the Soviet years and did not cease to be so all subsequent years," says Elena Panfilova, director of the Russian branch of the International Center for Anti-Corruption Research and Initiatives of Transparency International.

The main reasons for high corruption, according to her estimates, are a large number of cash, and historical connection this industry with organized crime. “People die all the time, land is needed, and land is always capital, multiplied by the fact that people are ready to pay any money to see their relatives and friends on their last journey and then maintain the monument,” explains Panfilova. “This is a constant turnover of cash , and with checks there is very bad. "

The provision of funeral services in the capital is carried out by city specialized services for the funeral business of the city of Moscow (on the website of the State Budgetary Institution "Ritual" there are 21 enterprises, including the State Budgetary Institution), as well as private structures.

Head of the Department of Trade and Services of Moscow Alexei Nemeryuk evaluates annual turnover the Moscow market of funeral services in 10 billion rubles.

According to the analytical service of the Union of Funeral Organizations and Crematoriums (SPOK), the market structure in monetary terms is as follows: funeral services and accessories - 59.2%, production and installation of monuments - 27.3%, land plots - 14.9%, care and maintenance of burial sites - 2.1%.

"We have been monitoring the market dynamics since 1993, the figures may change from year to year, but fundamentally remain the same," adds SPOK Vice President Alexei Suloev.

The Department of Trade and Services operates with data on the official turnover of the funeral services market. No one undertakes to calculate the total turnover of the shadow market.

They pay even for information about death

120,000 people die in Moscow every year. According to expert estimates, more than 1.5 billion rubles are paid annually in the form of bribes for information about death alone. "Information about the death of one person costs 15-20 thousand rubles, and this is only part of the black market," says Pavel Ulanov, head of the office of the president of the Union of Funeral Organizations and Crematoria.

Another part of the shadow market is land for burial. By law, it should be provided free of charge. But since there is only one open cemetery in the capital, relatives are offered to buy a place where other family members are already buried or where it is more convenient for them to get to.

The former head of the Khovansky cemetery, Mikhail Chivilev, was accused of fraud in selling places. “He sold places for family (tribal) burials for 475 thousand rubles, managed to take money into his pocket and pay something else to the cashier for the sale of the place, although we are told that places for family (tribal) burials can only be bought at the auction," recalls Suloev.

In Moscow, he notes, this is "not an isolated case, but a mass phenomenon."

Shadow market leader

Khovanskoye is the largest cemetery in Europe (197.2 hectares), it is written on the website of the State Budgetary Institution "Ritual". In addition, it is the undisputed leader in the number of private funeral companies. According to the Moscow Department of Trade and Services, there are about 50 of them.

"That's a lot," says Suloev. "In other large cemeteries, such as Nikolo-Arkhangelsk, there are only two shops, and even then they are not in close proximity, but about a kilometer from the borders of the cemetery."

The largest volume of the shadow market of ritual services in Moscow also falls on the Khovanskoye cemetery. But this is an expert assessment, no one undertakes to name exact numbers. “These are individual entrepreneurs, they work in the black and do not report to anyone,” Suloev explains. At the same time, according to his observations, it is at the Khovansky cemetery that many people from Central Asia historically work. "In Moscow, two cemeteries use migrants - Khovanskoye and Perepechinskoye, to a lesser extent," the expert notes.

A mass brawl at the Khovansky cemetery took place on the eve of the start of active summer jobs for erecting monuments. It is the three summer months that are the most profitable.

"The installation of monuments, where Tajiks work most of all, is in the summer. Monuments cannot be erected in winter, concrete does not set, so no one erects monuments in winter. And even according to the norms, it is forbidden to erect during this period, because in spring they can fall and damage the surrounding space ", - explains the specialist of the funeral business.

Just on the eve of the start of the summer season, "for the right to work in the cemetery, each worker was required to pay 40,000 rubles at a time, and in the future from 50 to 90% of the turnover," Suloev cites the version. "Depending on the alley, some alleys have rich burials, while others have poor ones," the interlocutor clarifies.

“As I see it: there was an attack by a hired detachment of fighters on cemetery workers who provide various services there, in order to impose tribute on them,” says Anton Avdeev, chairman of the Moscow city committee of the trade union of ritual workers. “Very similar to the situation of the 90s, but the difference is that if in the 90s there was, in fact, what to pay, now there is nothing to pay because of what is happening in the economy. And the Tajiks who work there simply cannot afford to give the last."

“You understand, in order to enter the cemetery and erect a monument, you need to agree with the guard. The guard will not let you in, and you will not be able to earn money,” explains the funeral specialist.

"What amounts did they share? According to some information, it was planned to receive several million a month from them (migrant workers)," Suloev said.

The Investigative Committee also adheres to the version of the criminal redistribution of business. This was stated by the official representative of the UK Vladimir Markin. He noted that information about the commission of crimes on ethnic grounds was not confirmed.

"It's not about nationalities, but about the banal redistribution of the criminal business," he wrote in his microblog on Twitter.

The highest markup on food today is at the stage of retail chains. And since in many especially small cities they occupy a practically monopoly position, they can easily dictate their terms, notes the deputy director of the Institute of Actual Economics Ivan Antropov.

Checks by the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the Prosecutor General's Office

After a number of parliamentary inquiries, representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office held a meeting with participants in the food market. As it became known to Kommersant, one of the main topics of this meeting was the problem of relations between suppliers and retailers in the context of infringement of the rights of manufacturers, as well as pricing issues. It is possible that the Prosecutor General's Office will now be connected to those conducted by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS).

"Supplies of goods to large retail chains today are often indeed opaque. It is very convenient for retail chains to work with large suppliers of products that can provide almost complete coverage of the network with their goods; accordingly, various conditions are invented to screen out small suppliers. We are talking about various contractual conditions and retro-bonuses, when part of the funds is returned to suppliers.

This approach is convenient for retail chains from a financial point of view, since it is more convenient for them to calculate their expenses and incomes and it is easier to monitor product quality. Possible inspections by the Prosecutor General's Office may make their business a little more difficult, but they will certainly find other ways to work with their key suppliers on the same terms. Perhaps this will affect prices a little, since any new administrative barriers traditionally lead to higher prices,” comments FBA "Economy Today" economist.

Development of competition

In order for quality products to be presented on the market at adequate prices, Antropov proposes, on the contrary, to simplify the conditions for doing business and relieve entrepreneurs of administrative barriers. He calls putting pressure on retail chains an unpromising way.

“We need new sellers to enter the market, possibly small and medium-sized, who can work with the same small food suppliers, thereby creating competition and driving down prices. At the same time, I would not call the current prices in stores very high. The natural regulator of their growth is the limited purchasing power of the population, so there is no point in raising prices to either suppliers or retail chains, since the goods simply will not be sold.

In the current situation, the highest margin is at the stage of retail chains. And since in many small towns they occupy almost a monopoly position, they can easily dictate their terms and manufacturers and suppliers are already forced to adapt to them,” our interlocutor continues.

Effect of inflation on prices

The pressure of the FAS and the Prosecutor General's Office on retail chains, according to the expert, will not lead to any noticeable change in prices for the end consumer, it will simply become possible to redistribute profits towards producers. AT last time The prosecutor's office entered the food market with checks in 2015, when prices for certain goods in a number of regions increased multiple times with an annual inflation of 15.5%. And while inflation remains at record low levels of around 4% today, the price of certain products still continues to rise.

“To compare general inflation and food inflation directly in Russia is possible only at the end of the year, since food prices are highly dependent on the current season, weather, harvest and jump quite a lot. But at the end of the year, food prices are quite close to the level of inflation in the country, the difference does not exceed 1%, although individual products can become very expensive during the year.

For example, in the first six months, our meat products even became cheaper, and some vegetables became 2.5 times more expensive. For an objective picture of changes in the food market, we need to abandon this comparison and look at the dynamics for each product separately,” summarizes Ivan Antropov.

The Prosecutor General's Office, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will conduct a comprehensive audit of the sphere of funeral services, according to the results of which the departments should draw up a plan for eliminating the shadow market in this industry. The President of Russia Vladimir Putin gave the relevant instructions to the departments. According to experts, today the annual turnover of the market of unrecorded funeral services is 120-150 billion rubles.

The instruction to the Prosecutor General's Office to conduct, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, "a comprehensive audit of compliance with the law when organizing funerals and providing services for the burial of the dead" is contained in the list of instructions signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 9. It was sent to interested departments and regional authorities along with a letter from Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak on ensuring the implementation of instructions (the documents are at the disposal of Izvestia).

The list of presidential instructions states that, based on the results of the audit, the Prosecutor General's Office should "develop and approve an action plan aimed at eliminating the shadow market of services." The report to the head of state must be submitted before December 1 this year.

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The Prosecutor General's Office confirmed to Izvestiya that they had received the order, but refrained from commenting in detail. The Ministry of Internal Affairs did not respond to Izvestia's request.

Vladimir Putin's instructions were given based on the results of an audit of the sphere of funeral services, carried out by the control department of the presidential administration, follows from the document. In particular, it states that in Russia "an unrecorded market of ritual services has formed, the annual turnover of which, according to experts, is 120-150 billion rubles."

The audit showed that organizations and individual entrepreneurs they impose expensive ritual services and funeral accessories on the relatives of the dead - this happens, as a rule, without proper registration (for example, in Moscow).

“The cost of such services significantly exceeds the amount of social benefits (in some cases, more than 10-15 times),” the information note says.

It also notes that citizens are faced with redundant procedures for processing the documents necessary for burial, the low quality of funeral services, and the lack of qualified funeral agents.

The control department proposes to create guaranteed list burial services free of charge on a one-stop basis, which will reduce the level of costs and the corruption factor, follows from the document. It is also recommended to conduct a complete inventory of existing and abandoned cemeteries in the country to eliminate the artificial shortage of burial places. According to the Ministry of Construction, there are more than 80,000 cemeteries in Russia. According to experts, their number, taking into account the abandoned and ownerless, is several times higher than the indicated figure, the information of the control department says.

- At the moment, to conduct a funeral, especially “social”, it is required to independently collect documents in different departments, - Vladimir Gorelov, head of the society for the protection of consumer rights in the field of ritual and funeral services, told Izvestia. - It turns a difficult event into a bureaucratic marathon. The use of a single window system will help to avoid this.

State registration of property rights to burial places, that is, cadastral registration, will help in the fight against the shadow market of ritual services and corruption ties between bodies local government and organizations providing burial services, the expert believes.

As stated in the information note of the control department of the presidential administration, an average of 2 million people die in Russia every year. The state guarantees the provision of basic services for the burial of the dead on a gratuitous basis or the payment of social benefits for burial. About 20 billion rubles a year are spent for these purposes. According to Rosstat, the volume of the market for paid funeral services in 2015 amounted to 60 billion rubles.

The current legislation provides for the provision of services for the burial of the dead by specialized services. Currently, out of 7881 companies providing funeral services, only 2016 companies are specialized services.

The Serpukhov prosecutor's office checked the city's retail markets. Four objects fell into the field of view of the department: shopping complex"Trade pavilions" (former "City Bazaar"), malls"Pipe", covered market"Change" near the shopping center "Summer" and new market in Ivanovsky courtyards on the street. New, 10a. Note that, in accordance with federal law No. 271, uniform requirements apply to all retail markets. Firstly, its area should be at least 750 sq.m., and the number of storeys should not exceed two floors. Secondly, the premises should be equipped centralized system heating, sewerage, water supply and electricity. Moreover, the market should be surrounded by a fence. During the day, the senior assistant of the Serpukhov city prosecutor, Yulia Volkova, together with the Fire Inspectorate, TOU Rospotrebnadzor, the consumer market and business protection department of the Administration and the department for combating economic crimes of the police, on behalf of the Prosecutor's Office of the Moscow Region, checked shopping facilities for their compliance with legal requirements. Everything was checked: from the requirements for sanitary and epidemiological well-being, fire safety and ending with the improvement of the surrounding area. - There are absolutely no comments to the "Pipe", - Yulia Volkova told our editorial office about the results of the audit. - All requirements, including fire safety, are met. But as for the rest of the facilities, violations were recorded everywhere. According to Yulia Valerievna, the prosecutor's office found low information content, that is, the consumer is not informed about the hours of work, about who carries out the activity. As for sanitary rules, there are violations here too. For example, not all trading places there is water, and necessary condition as you need to handle tools and wash your hands. That is, the lack of water supply is a direct path to intestinal diseases. Everyone knows that all products have special storage conditions. However, not in all markets, sellers pay due attention to this. If buyers still may not notice all of the above violations, then cockroaches and a musty smell due to lack of ventilation can be seen with the naked eye. - We do not raise the issue of disbanding the markets, - Yulia Valerievna explained. - But if objects position themselves as markets, then they must know and understand that the law imposes special requirements on market objects. Representatives of all inspected objects were summoned to the Serpukhov city prosecutor's office to give clarifications. All violations will be prosecuted. In conclusion, Yulia Volkova noted that the prosecutor's office would additionally respond to the inaction of the regulatory authorities, which allowed non-compliance with the rules for a long time.