Over the past month, three significant events have occurred in Odesa, demonstrating the ongoing redistribution of the funeral services market. For Odesa residents, this apparent "war" can only end with increased fees and service costs.
But first things first.
On November 20, 2014, the mayor appointed Gennady Chastkovsky as the new head of the Specialized Enterprise of Municipal and Household Services (SPKBO), which oversees the city's cemeteries. He replaced Vladimir Achkasov, a protégé of Odessa's "cemetery king," Mykola Pestruyev (who had managed Odessa's cemeteries for 15 years, since 1999).
We made inquiries about this man. As we discovered, several years ago, Chastkovsky, along with other "representatives of the Ukrainian elite," was made a Knight of the International Order of Saint Stanislaus for his services as the head of the public organization "Requiem."
This organization was founded by several Odessans. Besides Gennady Chastkovsky himself, one of the founders is a certain Sergei Dovgan. On the website of the "Requiem Funeral Home," Dovgan is listed as a private entrepreneur who provides funeral services under this brand. Therefore, it is safe to say that Chastkovsky is involved not only with the public organization but also with the funeral business.
At the same time, Chastkovskyi repeatedly criticized the monopoly and corruption in the Odessa funeral services market. In particular, he expressed outrage over the logos and contact information of the Pestruev family's Anubis company, which was plastered on vehicles and in the premises of a municipal enterprise:
"Today, the city of Odessa has probably reached a boiling point in that this structure controls 85% of the funeral services market, from the cemetery, where plots are sold only to one funeral home, to everything related to medical services," Chastkovsky said two years ago at a press conference at the UNIAN news agency.
Unfortunately, the new director was unable to demonopolize the market and eliminate corruption in the area entrusted to him. However, some changes did occur, though not at all what was expected with the arrival of such a principled champion of law and justice as director of the KP. While previously, when an ambulance was called to the scene of a death, Anubis employees were the first to arrive, now they have been supplanted by competitors from… Chastkovsky's Requiem. In other words, the criminal "kingdom" hasn't gone away; the "king" has simply changed.
Of course, an attempt to take control of such a financially sensitive area could not go unanswered, or, as they say in certain circles, “backlash.”
Less than two weeks after the appointment of the new director of the municipal enterprise, on December 2, police officers detained him and two managers of the Tairovskoye (Novogorodskoye) Cemetery while attempting to accept a bribe of $9. Those arrested face up to ten years in prison. The day after the arrest, which was carried out by Kyiv law enforcement, Kyiv Mayor Gennady Trukhanov fired Chastkovsky and appointed Serhiy Stasenko in his place.
Another two weeks passed, and a new move was made in the game. The "Blacks" counterattacked. On the night of December 16th, the "Anubis" memorial hall, located on the ground floor of a residential building, caught fire on Lyustdorfskaya Road. Experts determined the fire was brought in from outside; in other words, the building was simply set ablaze by throwing a Molotov cocktail. Another episode in the "cemetery war," and clearly not the last...
Besides providing funeral services to the public, a lucrative opportunity in this industry is the opportunity to extort bribes for "prestigious" plots and the right to bury in closed cemeteries, including Tairovsky. Those in the know cite varying amounts of bribes, starting at two thousand dollars for a burial in a previously reserved plot. This is apparently how the former boss got caught.
"All the bosses took kickbacks," a middle-aged employee of the Tairovskoye Cemetery shared with us. "They replace one bribe-taker with another. But the most offensive thing is that the employees who worked there for many years were fired. Now there are young guys there who have no experience at all in such matters."
According to Dumskaya's source, eradicating bribery in the funeral services industry is very simple: simply publish a list of businesses and the services they provide, along with prices. This includes the actual prices for special services, such as choosing a burial plot or burials in authorized locations at closed cemeteries. Payments must be officially deposited into the funeral home's cash register.
"There are huge bribes in maternity hospitals, and no less so in cemeteries. That is, we pay for both birth and a dignified death. The situation with replacing awl with soap, that is, Pestruev with Chastkovsky, demonstrates that the city authorities don't benefit from restoring order," the source continues. "They've installed 'overseers,' like in the wild 90s, and they collect tribute. And they quarrel among themselves, using the police and militants with Molotov cocktails to their advantage."
I just want to repeat after Akunin’s hero:
In the end, however, it still turns out according to Nozhkin:
“We have a strange fate in store for us
We worry night and day
And we bite each other at meetings
We are breaking down, the throat is wood.
And it's so peaceful at the cemetery
Neither enemies nor friends are in sight
Everything is civilized, everything is decent
"Exceptional grace…"
Authors: Nikolay Larin and Victor Bosnyak, Dumskaya
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