Source: Continent Siberia
Author: Elena Zhdanova
On March 26, it became known that the former Minister for the Open Government of the Russian Federation, businessman Mikhail Abyzov, was detained in Moscow. He is suspected of participating in and creating an organized criminal community using his official position under Part 3 of Art. 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and on fraud on an especially large scale in Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. "Continent Siberia" understood what was the key reason for the arrest of a person significant for the business environment of the region, and what does the Novosibirsk energy system have to do with it.
The ex-minister was detained in Moscow by the FSB on March 26. As noted by the politician, former vice-mayor of Novosibirsk Ivan Starikov, Mikhail Abyzov recently lived with his family in Italy, and not so long ago his son was born. First, there was information that the ex-minister flew to Russia to celebrate the birthday of the former Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Arkady Dvorkovich. However, the brother of the birthday man, Mikhail Dvorkovich, claims that Arkady has not been in Moscow for several days, so he does not know whose birthday Abyzov flew to. And a little later, Abyzov's lawyer Alexander Asnis stated in various sources that the former official was not detained at the airport, but at home, in the Moscow region, where he permanently lives with his family. Everything else, according to Asnis, is fake.
How did Abyzov appear in Novosibirsk?
Mikhail Abyzov, a significant person for the business environment of the region, first appeared in Novosibirsk in 1994. As the general director of the Siberian Law Company, Sergei Karpekin, who was Ivan Starikov’s assistant at that time, recalls, Abyzov arrived in Novosibirsk as an established businessman. He had a fairly decent capital, which he invested in the regional economy, which earned him the trust of the regional authorities.
According to Ivan Starikov himself, the 22-year-old guy helped him during the 1995 elections (the next State Duma was elected and at the same time the governor of the Novosibirsk region). A young and very enterprising person who has already managed to earn quite a decent capital (he managed to work as a broker on the Russian commodity exchange, lease retail space and sell office equipment) was noticed by Vitaly Mukha, who returned to the governor's chair following the results of voting. Starikov assures that Abyzov is a nugget of Russian business, who already at such a young age knew how to negotiate and succeeded in various barter schemes, so after some time Mukha offered him to provide fuel for the harvesting campaign in the region on the terms of mutual offset with Novosibirskenergo shares. Abyzov supplied the fuel, but the region never settled with him, and therefore, as a result, the shares belonging to the region fell into the hands of an enterprising young man under the terms of the deal. Old-timers of the Novosibirsk business recall that at that time there were rumors: Abyzov should not be perceived otherwise than a figurehead, and the deal had aspects that remained behind the scenes. The information came from people who were in the inner circle of the governor. It should be noted that by that time, as of 1997, Vitaly Mukha, not only the head of the region, but the leader of the influential Siberian Agreement governor association, began to develop and strengthen partnerships with Anatoly Chubais, then First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government . Ivan Starikov, who actively participated in the work of the Gaidar-Chubais "Democratic Choice of Russia" party, also had access to Chubais, which Novosibirsk business began to use.
Around the same time, Abyzov met with the head of Novosibirskenergo, Vitaly Tomilov. In one of his conversations with a correspondent from Continent Siberia, Tomilov admitted that Abyzov was recommended to him by the regional administration and brought to the company as its representative. (Tomilov gave additional details in an interview with Continent Siberia in 2017) At first, he seemed to be one of the most promising managers - first of all, with his approach to doing business, and this was very captivating. Tomilov also stressed that Abyzov knew "perfectly" different offsetting schemes, which at that time was a very valuable quality for any manager. The charm of the young man ended when, having taken over the company, he became one of the initiators of Tomilov's removal from office.
Ivan Starikov claims that Abyzov's acquaintance with Anatoly Chubais happened already in the late 1990s. Sergey Karpekin adheres to the same version. Chubais asked Starikov, who at that time was in charge of the country's energy security, to find managers who were well versed in barter schemes - in RAO UES, most of the calculations were carried out according to this principle. Starikov introduced Abyzov to Chubais, who, in turn, brought in Leonid Melamed, the owner of the Novosibirsk bank Alemar. From that moment on, Abyzov moved from a Novosibirsk businessman with Moscow roots to the federal level.
After the power industry, Abyzov also had projects in agriculture - we are talking about the acquisition of the Kudryashovsky Pig Farm and the Albumin plant. Abyzov also became a significant player in the construction market - the Stroitel group of companies commissioned several residential complexes that are notable for Novosibirsk, including Constellation, Astra, Status, Etalon. Abyzov's business interests included assets in other industries. In particular, unverified information was circulating in business circles that he allegedly owns the largest road contractor in the region, Novosibirskavtodor.
However, it cannot be said that the Moscow businessman took root in Novosibirsk - in the business community, his fate was carefully monitored, but at the same time they disliked and were afraid. In the second half of the 2000s, it became known that Abyzov had merged most of the energy assets into the E4 group. However, SIBECO, as well as the ELSIB plant, were not officially included in the holding. The engineering companies included in the group, among other things, were supposed to support technical equipment at facilities close to E4 - in Novosibirsk, Barabinsk and at the CHPP in Biysk, Altai Territory. By the way, the latter gave SIBECO a number of leading personnel - first of all, one of the subsequent general directors, Ruslan Vlasov, who now heads Novosibirskavtodor.
Quite a lot of managers are connected with the activities of Mikhail Abyzov, both from Novosibirsk politics and business. There is an opinion that thanks to these extensive connections, the region (if Abyzov is verbose with investigators, another question is why he needs it - “KS”) may lose many influential characters today. However, there is another and at the same time no less significant part of the community, whose representatives also do not want to talk about the work of the former federal official and big businessman in Novosibirsk. “Mikhail Abyzov will not be remembered in Novosibirsk for a long time - under him, the city was torn apart by energy wars among developers, and a repair collapse occurred, which resulted in a serious deterioration of networks,” one of the interlocutors of Continent Siberia notes on condition of anonymity.
Another representative of the business community recalled that Abyzov, through his companies, participated in the project for the construction of a thermal power plant in the village of Listvyanka, Iskitimsky district. This long-term and fairly large-scale project was considered in different years - both when Viktor Tolokonsky held the post of governor, and when Vasily Yurchenko replaced him. Both refused to comment on this issue to Continent Siberia. Please note that the project was never completed. Vitaly Tomilov is still lamenting about another unfinished project - CHP-6 in Novosibirsk. In his opinion, this project was quite possible to implement for the sake of the future of the region, but Abyzov refused it.
What is the investigation interested in?
The accusation against the ex-minister of the open government of the Russian Federation, as noted by a number of federal media, is built around one transaction: allegedly Mr. Abyzov and his associates acquired four companies offshore from SIBECO and RES - ACC, PRIS, PESK, REMIS - for 186 million rubles, and then adding some “empty” assets to them, they sold it again (hypothetically back to either RES or SIBECO) for 4 billion rubles on behalf of the offshore. Thus, a scheme was implemented to withdraw funds from the accounts of energy companies, which, according to the investigation, "endangered energy security and the sustainability of the economic development of the Novosibirsk Region." According to Rusprofile, these organizations do appear on the list of assets owned by the Cypriot company BLACKSIRIS TRADING LIMITED, of which REMIS JSC continues to operate, while others have been liquidated. There are no traces of the alleged transactions in the company data archives.
According to Ivan Starikov, who has not personally communicated with Abyzov for quite a long time, the criminal cases are most likely connected precisely with the work of SIBECO. The speaker believes that the whole point is in the situation that has developed in Novosibirsk due, among other things, to the severe deterioration of networks. Starikov did not directly link the criminal prosecutions with Abyzov's debts under the E4 line (about 30 billion rubles), noting that the business community is well aware of folk wisdom - it is difficult to pay off debts from prison. However, one of the Novosibirsk businessmen who are familiar with Abyzov expressed a different point of view to Continent Siberia. Since Abyzov, having sold assets, went into cash, the return of debts from behind bars does not look like an unsolvable task for him. Quite the opposite: now he “will pay for getting out as soon as possible”, conditionally at the rate of “the amount of debt divided by the maximum term according to the presented articles”, a total of 1.5 billion rubles for the year of reducing the term. The KS commentator refrained from speculating whether this amount includes commissions to the security forces or they go in excess, summing up the conversation with the phrase: “Unfortunately, all attempts by Mikhail Abyzov to become his own for the Ozero cooperative ended unsuccessfully, and he really wanted this.”
At first glance, this opinion looks quite reasonable, given that the investigation is of interest not only to Mikhail Abyzov, but also to a number of his former managers - one of the former heads of the RU-COM business group, president of the Novosibirsk Sambo Federation Nikolai Stepanov, ex-general director of the energy company OAO Siberian Energy Company (SIBEKO) Alexander Pelipasov, former head of Regional Electric Networks (RES) Sergey Ilyichev, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of RES Maxim Rusakov and Deputy General Director for Economics and Finance of the Novosibirsk Hydroelectric Power Plant Galina Fraidenberg. Two of them were detained in Novosibirsk. The investigative committee of Russia assumes that Mikhail Abyzov in the period from April 2011 to November 2014, "being the beneficial owner of a number of offshore commercial organizations, created and led a criminal community."
According to Mayis Mammadov, the founder of the First Construction Fund, Alexander Pelipasov (currently the chairman of the board of directors of the First Construction Fund) took leave of work on March 25 for family reasons. As of Wednesday, Mammadov was not aware of the detention of the top manager and no changes were expected in the leadership of the PSF. According to Mammadov, the company's employees speak of Pelipasov as a deeply decent professional, so, of course, he would not want to lose such a specialist. There is no word yet on the arrests of other former managers of Abyzov. But in the wording of the official information of the investigative committee, it becomes clear that the list of the alleged criminal community will quite possibly be replenished.
But even this official and rather meager information gave the Novosibirsk business and political community a reason to actively discuss the reasons for Abyzov's arrest. So, according to Boris Brusilovsky, Chairman of the Board of the Union of the Novosibirsk Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the very fact that Abyzov is accused of by the investigation looks very strange: instructing their lawyers and economists to conduct an appropriate analysis, which is a common practice) an asset worth 186 million rubles from an asset worth 4 billion rubles? Either they should be all together in a pre-trial detention center, or this is just an excuse to “run over,” Brusilovsky expressed his opinion on social networks.
Vitaly Vetrov, managing partner of the law firm Vetrov and Partners, admitted to Continent Siberia that from the details of the criminal case presented to the public by the investigators, it is not clear whether there are any claims from the shareholders of the companies affected by the transaction? So far, it turns out that no one disputed the deal and did not collect losses: “If this happened, then why is the partnership conflict considered in the criminal law sphere, and not within the framework of civil law relations? Vetrov asks, emphasizing once again that he used only the conflicting information that was presented in open sources.
Yulia Makarenko, managing partner of Kursiv law firm, in a conversation with KS noted that the essence of the criminal case from the sources that are now presented to the public is not yet entirely clear: “Judging by the information that is presented, the proceedings should be conducted in civil legal, not criminal law. However, I admit that we simply do not know the intricacies of the whole case, ”the expert admits.
What about Chubais?
There is another version about the detention of Mikhail Abyzov, and it is connected precisely with the work of the head of Rosnano, Anatoly Chubais. It looks no less wealthy, considering that in recent years, many Novosibirsk managers, connected in one way or another with Chubais, have visited places not so remote or have been put on the wanted list, but managed to escape. In addition to Abyzov, Leonid Melamed, Ivan Blagodyr, Dmitry Zhurba, Svyatoslav Ponurov are on the list. The founder of the SUN company, Vladislav Mirchev, who collaborated with Chubais, left the business a long time ago and moved to Europe out of harm's way. Unverified information is circulating in business circles that the main owner of the Novosibirsk industrial giant Electron, Viktor Drigenich, who also worked in Chubais's structures, is now permanently residing in Germany.
At the moment, three companies remain in Novosibirsk, one way or another connected with Rosnano, whose management does not yet appear in criminal cases and urgent departures abroad - OcsiAl, NEVZ-Ceramics and Liotech. However, the fate of the latter is already not the most rosy. Of these companies, OcsiAl is especially persistent in promoting mutual understanding with Chubais, who, in turn, does not skimp on generous praises of his Novosibirsk partners, promising them prosperity and success.
"Continent Siberia" will follow the developments.
We will be happy to provide you with legal assistance regarding the minimization of legal risks and available opportunities. We will try to find a solution that is right for you.
Call +7 (383) 310-38-76 or write to info@vitvet.com.
We recommend that you read our blog dedicated to legal and judicial cases (arbitration practice) and read the materials in the "Articles" section.
Our law firm provides various legal services in different cities of Russia (including Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Omsk, Barnaul, Krasnoyarsk, Kemerovo, Novokuznetsk, Irkutsk, Chita, Vladivostok, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Chelyabinsk, Rostov-on-Don, Ufa, Volgograd, Perm, Voronezh, Saratov, Krasnodar, Togliatti, Sochi).
We will be glad to see you among our clients! Call or write right now!
Phone +7 (383) 310-38-76
Email info@vitvet.com
Law firm "Vetrov and partners"
more than just legal services
WhatsApp
Telegram