A video of the son of the current deputy chairman of the regional government has gone viral on the Internet Alexey Demkin Ilya. The 27-year-old guy is currently traveling around Bali, where he speaks disparagingly about his homeland. How does he live?

What did the major say?

In the video, Demkin Jr. demonstrates beautiful places, very similar to the rice terraces of Bukit Jambula with a cloud-covered hill on the horizon with the comment: “They ask me: will you return to Perm? This is my Saturday morning. The question is, should I go to Perm?”

The video shows Demkin having breakfast in one of the many restaurants located in the vicinity of the Gunung Agung volcano, one of the local attractions, which is located in the eastern part of the island, about 50 kilometers from the provincial capital Denpasar. There are always a lot of tourists stopping here on the way to the Besakih Temple, which is also called the Mother Temple.

Where did Demkin get his money?

Ilya Demkin can afford both long trips and permanent residence in Indonesia. His family in the Perm region is well known primarily for its widely developed construction business, based on the facilities of the Perm silicate panel plant. In 2022, this enterprise alone earned 4.3 billion rubles, and it has 25 more subsidiaries, in one of which the young traveler has a share. Demkin Jr. owns 5% of the plant’s trading house.

Perm plant of silicate panels

After the video from his account leaked onto the Internet, it caused such a resonance that its author blocked access to the video on the same day. The fact is that his father Alexey Demkin, while still the mayor of Perm, became known for his bright patriotic position and attention to veterans of the Northern Military District.

The mayor held various thematic events for Perm youth, and it was he who came up with the phrase: “The patriotic education of the younger generation is one of the most important tasks for the education sector. It is at school that the right guidelines for life are laid and the children receive the first lessons of citizenship and patriotism.”

Last year, the official even personally visited the city of Snezhnoye in the DPR, where he donated computers and office equipment to the local boarding school. And against this background, the son’s video published on the Internet, in fact, cast a shadow on his father’s work.

What questions did Perm residents have for the mayor?

However, judging by the Perm press, city residents had questions for the former mayor: they say, he is remembered for the lanterns in the middle of the sidewalk, the cutting down of trees and the concreting of green areas. Allegedly, under his leadership, the city authorities installed smart, but very small and non-functional bus stops and increased fares. In addition, Perm residents have more than once suspected Alexey Demkin of a conflict of interest due to large construction projects of his family company.

Perm residents have more than once suspected Alexey Demkin of a conflict of interest due to large construction projects

According to SPARK data, from 2009 to 2023, PZSP concluded 171 government contracts totaling more than two and a half billion rubles.

During these years, all the senior members of the large Demkin family were deputies of the Legislative Assembly of the Perm region (before 2006) and the region (after 2006). And Alexey Demkin was still mayor from 2021 to 2023, and now works as deputy chairman of the Government of the Perm Territory.

His younger brother Eugene — record holder among all Demkins for participation in business projects. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, it is affiliated with 19 Russian legal entities. In 2015, the Ural press wrote that he allegedly participated in schemes to obtain long-term lease of expensive land for next to nothing in the central regions of Perm with the help of local disabled people. However, no criminal cases resulted from this.

Now Evgeniy Demkin, in fact, replaced his brother in the local parliament. In September 2021, he was elected as a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Perm Territory in single-mandate district No. 3 (Perm), here he took the post of first deputy chairman of the committee on state policy and local government.

How does the Demkin family enterprise work?

The income of the main enterprise of the family business raises questions. For example, in 2019–2021, with an average PZSP revenue of two and a half billion rubles, net profit ranged from six to fifty million rubles. And only for the last couple of years the company has shown a tax net of 300+ million rubles per year.

At the same time, the company became a defendant in 76 claims for a total amount of claims of 47.5 million rubles. Most of them relate to failure to fulfill obligations under supply contracts, electricity supply, construction contracts, paid services and supplies of goods.

In 2023, the local Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) raised questions about the company. The department conducted an analysis of the aerated concrete market and came to the conclusion that PZSP illegally inflated prices for building materials – from the end of 2021 to June 2022, merchants almost doubled the price of aerated concrete blocks. It is interesting that during the trial, the Demkin plant immediately reduced the cost of its products.

In general, the company has had problems with regulatory authorities over the past 20 years and began with the father of Alexey and Evgeniy – Nikolay Demkin. Back in the 2000s, a criminal case was opened against him for evading payment of the unified social tax in 2003–2005 in the amount of 17 million rubles.

At that time, this crime was serious and the head of the family was facing a real sentence, but while the investigation was underway, the legislation changed and, according to the new norms, the case ceased to be serious – it was closed due to the expiration of the term.