Ministry of Internal Affairs denied a visa – Kommersant

The Arbitration Court of Bashkiria satisfied the claim of the regional prosecutor’s office against the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Bashkiria, obliging the ministry to vacate the premises of the multifunctional migration center located at the entrance to Ufa. According to the plaintiff, by entering into a lease agreement, the ministry violated the law “On Police” and created an advantage for several commercial firms providing services to migrants. The defendant insisted that he acted within the law. Lawyers believe that there are practically no prospects for appealing the decision.

The Arbitration Court of Bashkiria ordered the republican Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Passport and Visa Service” (PVS) to vacate the premises they have rented since 2019 in the building of a multifunctional migration center with a total area of ​​3 thousand square meters. m on Sarapulskaya street in Ufa. The reason for the lawsuit of the prosecutor’s office of Bashkiria was the sublease and gratuitous use of premises concluded with the Federal State Unitary Enterprise PVS and the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Bashkiria, which, among other things, housed the migration department of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs.

According to the case file, the four-story migration center opened in October 2019. The owner of the building is Diol LLC. In 2019, the company leased the building to the affiliated Center for Labor Migration LLC (CTM), which then entered into a sublease agreement with Passport and Visa Service for 1,000 sq. m. m for 30 thousand rubles. per month. Soon, the Federal State Unitary Enterprise ceded the subleased areas to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Bashkiria to house the migration department.

Diol LLC and CTM LLC are controlled by Dmitry Dontsov. The first was registered in 2015, the second in 2019. For 2022, Diol’s profit amounted to 49.4 million rubles, revenue – 52.86 million rubles. The revenue of TsTM in the same year reached 202.4 million, and net profit – 47 million rubles.

The prosecutor’s office of Bashkiria established that LLC “TsTN-obrazovanie” and “TsTN-medicine” worked in the migration center. The first provided services for guest workers in preparing and passing an exam in the Russian language and history, the second conducted research on the carriage of HIV infection and drug testing. The prosecutor’s office concluded that the Ministry of Internal Affairs patronized private companies providing services to migrants.

At the end of 2022, the prosecutor’s office filed a lawsuit in which it asked to recognize the transactions concluded with the ministry and the federal enterprise on the transfer of premises for use as invalid.

The representative of the passport and visa center in court noted that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is not the founder of the enterprise, therefore there are no restrictions on the conclusion of an agreement between them on the use of premises. According to the Respondent, the location of the Migration Office and the Passport and Visa Center in the same building does not indicate the existence of any anti-competitive agreement, and the use of wall plaques, stands and signs by organizations allows visitors to distinguish between them. Representatives of the enterprise and the owner of the building pointed to the absence of a contractual relationship between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and commercial companies located in the building.

The representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Bashkiria argued that the disputed contracts were concluded lawfully. The department noted that TsTM-medicine, by government decree, is authorized to conduct medical examinations, and TsTM-education is not authorized to conduct a mandatory exam in the Russian language and history of Russia and is organizing it. At the same time, according to the defendant, competition is not limited.

Representatives of Diol and CTM stated that the placement of organizations in the same building does not indicate that they have entered into an anti-competitive agreement.

The court noted that the law “On Police” allows the Ministry of Internal Affairs to provide services for issuing work permits to foreign citizens in buildings that are in federal or municipal ownership under a gratuitous use agreement. The CTM, according to the court, leased the premises to the Federal State Unitary Enterprise PVS in order to be occupied by the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Bashkiria in order to gain an advantage in the provision of services to foreigners. The court concluded that the provision of such services in the premises adjacent to the Migration Office is unacceptable “by any entity on any basis”, since the building is constantly visited by migrants. In addition, the work of entrepreneurs on such sites “is able to give potential consumers of services the illusion of a greater degree of their reliability” compared to other market participants.

An interlocutor in the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Bashkiria told Kommersant that the ministry plans to file an appeal against the court’s decision. The representative of “Diol” and CTM said that the companies have not yet studied the motivational part of the court’s decision.

Artem Denisov, managing partner of Genesis law firm, notes that, according to statistics, almost all decisions made in such cases do not have the prospect of being challenged. “In this case, the court thoroughly examined the arguments of the prosecutor’s office and established the sham transactions. Thus, the prospect of an appeal depends on the defendants’ counterposition, which, judging by the case file, is rather weak. Given the statistics of litigation involving the prosecutor’s office, the appeal will be unpromising,” he notes.

Natalia Balykova, Ufa