On March 3, 2006, Deputy Head of State Environmental Inspection (Rosprirodnadzor) Oleg Mitvol ordered to look into the circumstances of Sverdlovsk Regional Department of Rosprirodnadzor entering into a contract with the administration of Park-House Trade Center in Yekaterinburg.

Acting under the contract, Sverdlovsk Regional Department of Rosprirodnadzor estimated the total ecological damage caused by the building of the trade center at 10 million RUR.

During the estimation, Rosprirodnadzor had found that the building of the trade center entailed some violations of environmental regulations. The builder company had felled about 2,500 trees in Osnovinsky Park of Yekaterinburg without any legal grounds. According to the preliminary expert estimations, the ecological damage of building the trade center exceeded 270 million RUR.

According to Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, Mr Mitvol had also solicited Russian General Public Prosecutor’s Office to institute legal proceedings against the top-management of Park-House based on the illegal felling of the trees.

Now a committee of Russian Ministry of Natural Resources is auditing the operations of Sverdlovsk Regional Department of Rosprirodnadzor. The results of the audit are forthcoming.