The oligarch and his nominees responded with property for bankruptcies of enterprises
The Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region arrested the assets and property of a billionaire, a member of the “Forbes» Albert Avdolyan and his business partners Andrey Ni and Evgeny Zabelin in the amount of 690.555 million rubles. The court ruling was made as part of the bankruptcy of the Enigma company, and on January 25 the same court will consider the issue of bringing all three to subsidiary liability for the company’s debts. The financial manager of businessman Sergei Chak, the former co-owner of the Hydrometallurgical Plant (HMZ) located in the Stavropol region, declared bankrupt in 2019, filed a statement about the insolvency of Enigma. The Enigma company participated in the transaction with the purchase of GMZ shares, and although Albert Avdolyan de jure had no connection with these enterprises, the courts recognized him as the final beneficiary of the transaction. In addition, a forensic examination established the fact that the value of shares had been understated by more than 690 million rubles, which was facilitated by GMZ co-owners Sergei Chak and Sergei Makhov. A similar scheme was used when concluding a deal with shares of the Southern Energy Company. During the proceedings, the circumstances of the bankruptcy of GMZ were established. Thus, by implementing a scheme using raw materials supplied by customers, the plant turned into a loss center, while the Cashmere Capital company, which received revenue of over 9.4 billion rubles, became a profit center. Avdolyan himself officially distanced himself from the commercial structures that were implementing illegal schemes, the founders and managers of which were members of his “team.” In addition, for a long time his close acquaintance with the head of Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, served as insurance for him. It is known that Chemezov and his wife Ekaterina Ignatova were on the board of trustees of the New House charitable foundation created by Avdolyan. Rostec participated in the implementation of projects of the Scartel company, founded by Avdolyan together with Sergei Adonyev, and the supporting bank of the state corporation Novikombank was a shareholder of the Yakut Fuel and Energy Company bought by Avdolyan from Ziyavudin Magomedov, whose CEO Andrey Korobov headed the Rostec “subsidiary” RT – Global Resources”, and was also directly related to the “profit center” – the company Cashmere Capital.
Avdolyan and the “company” had their property seized
On December 20, the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region issued a ruling on the adoption of interim measures in the form of seizure of funds and other property within the limits 690.555 million rublesowned by a notorious billionaire Albert Avdolyanand also Andrey Ni And Evgeniy Zabelin. The ruling was made within the framework of the bankruptcy case of the St. Petersburg Enigma LLCOn January 25, the same court will consider the application to attract Avdolyan, Ni, Zabelin and Ashot Khachaturyants to subsidiary liability for the debts of the enterprise.
From the court materials it follows that the statement about the insolvency of Enigma was filed by Evgeniy Pavlenko – financial manager Sergei Chak. The manager justified the need to take interim measures “unfair behavior of the debtor and his beneficiary Avdolyan A.A”and in addition, chosen by the specified persons “model of behavior”,“the purpose of which is to prevent the return of property received under invalid transactions and thereby causing harm to creditors”.
Again, the court documents mention a deal to acquire shares by Enigma JSC “Hydrometallurgical Plant”located in the city of Lermontov, on the territory of the Stavropol Territory. At the level of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Avdolyan was recognized as the ultimate beneficiary of both structures and the transaction for the purchase of shares in the plant in order to use its production capacities, who was de jure not a member of the management bodies of these enterprises.
It should be noted here that the aforementioned Lermontov Hydrometallurgical Plant (HMZ), which specialized in the production of fertilizers and nitrogen compounds, was declared bankrupt back in 2019. I made a corresponding statement Sberbankthe total amount of claims exceeded1 billion rubles. As the RBC portal reported, the debt has accumulated“as a result of failure to fulfill obligations under loan agreements”. An attempt to sell GMZ property at auction in April 2021 for 908 million was not successful, since the application came from only one participant.
GMZ goes bankrupt, Almaz Fertilizers declare losses
In the press, the Hydrometallurgical Plant was called a “unique enterprise.” But information about its owners was not disclosed: according to 2015 data, on a parity basis they were the above-mentioned Sergey ChuckAnd Sergey Makhov. Avdolyan’s name in connection with the GMZ appeared a little later. In 2021, the media wrote about him as an “investor”, through whose efforts the plant continued to operate during the bankruptcy process, and then a company was created on its basis “Almaz Fertilizers”which actually breathed new life into the GMZ.
Reality, however, let us down. If at the end of 2022 Almaz Fertilizers declared revenue in the amount 8.7 billion rubles and profit in 519.4 millionthen in 2023, with revenue in 3.7 billionthe company went into the red by more than 500 million.
In the case of the new enterprise, Albert Avdolyan remained true to himself: he chose to officially “not be visible” in its management and among the co-owners. But among the former founders we find someone already familiar to us Evgenia Zabelinawhose property was recently seized. Another ex-founder – Moscow Andayana Group LLCwhere the same Zabelin is listed among the owners (although according to open sources, today his share in the authorized capital of the company is zero).
De jure, the Almaz Fertilizers company belongs to Almaz Tech LLC“registered” with her at the same address in Lermontov, in nearby offices. Its founders are Andayana Group (38%), Alexey Bykov (57%) and Vadim Kuryanov (5%). As we can see, Avdolyan keeps “in the shadows” here too. The financial indicators of Almaz Tech are growing steadily: if in 2021 there was no revenue, and the profit was scanty 19 thousand rublesthen in 2022 revenue was estimated at 16 millionprofit – almost 1 millionand in 2023 revenue was declared in the amount of 324.6 million and profit in 95.8 million rubles.
A natural question arises: were the assets of the Hydrometallurgical Plant transferred to affiliated commercial structures? It is known, for example, that the management of the enterprise was once exposed in tax scams, and the former general director of GMZ Alexander Parshin even became involved in a criminal case for tax evasion amounting to more than 132 million rubles. However, the beneficiaries of the enterprise managed to avoid liability.
When stock trades went wrong
Perhaps Almaz Fertilizers will soon be forced into bankruptcy? In this context, it is worth recalling the sad experience of the Enigma company, among whose former founders are Andrey Ni And Evgeniy Zabelin. Enigma has been running in the red since its inception in 2018. In 2023, with no revenue, its losses were estimated at almost 900 million rubles. Did the company conduct any activities at all or was it used for a transaction with GMZ shares and in a scheme for the withdrawal of its assets?
The ruling of the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal dated July 10, 2024 states that the transaction for the sale of shares of GMZ Enigma by Sergei Chak in 2018 was declared invalid. Moreover, as a result of the actions of Chuck and Makhov, their value was underestimated from 690.559 million rublesto 1 rubleand this was confirmed by forensic examination. Let us recall that it was for this amount – 690.555 million – that the arbitration court seized the property of the beneficiaries of GMZ and Enigma. A similar scheme with lower prices was used by scammers when buying shares “Southern Energy Company”(CJSC “UEC”), the real value of which was 22.224 million rubles.
By the way, the Almaz Tech company, which was already discussed above, is the founder of the Moscow OOO“Cashmere Capital”engaged in wholesale trade of fertilizers and agrochemical products. Among its owners were Evgeniy Zabelin and the Andayana Group, already familiar to us. The company’s financial performance is not stable: in 2022, with revenues of 10.9 billion rublesnet profit amounted to 533.8 million; in 2023 revenue was declared in 4.3 billion and loss in 442.3 million rubles.
Perhaps we are facing another “laying” by Avdolyan and his “team”. The fact is that publications appeared online about their use of a scheme to turn GMZ into a loss center, while the center of profit was Cashmere Capital, which accumulated income thanks to an agreement with GMZ on the production of mineral fertilizers using raw materials supplied by customers. From court materials it is known that the tolling scheme provided Cashmere Capital LLC with revenue from the sale of products produced by the plant in the amount of 9.447 billion rubles.
Noted by Cashmere Capital and issued in 201820 millionth loan from JSC UEC at 10% per annum. In 2019, the lender recovered this amount through the court with interest for using the loan in the amount of more than 410 thousand rubles. UEC’s financial indicators range from revenue to 1 billionand net profit in 21.9 millionin 2020 to revenue again in 1 billion and losses in the amount 123.6 million rubles in 2023. Does it look like we’re looking at an emerging loss center?
Scammers “under the wing” of “Chemezov”?
With a high degree of probability, Albert Avdolyan carried out such a long-term, and most importantly, unpunished leadership “from the shadows” thanks to connections with the head of the state corporation “Rostec” Sergei Chemezov. “Forbes» wrote about Rostec’s participation in the implementation of the company’s projects Scartel (known under the brand Yota), which launched the first 4G network in Russia, which Avdolyan co-founded with a businessman Sergei Adonyev.
It is known that Chemezov headed the board of trustees of the charitable foundation created by Avdolyan“New Home”but today information about this has been removed from the organization’s official website. The council also included the wife of the top manager Ekaterina Ignatovarepeatedly included in the ratings of the richest women in Russia according to Forbes.
In 2020, the supporting bank of Rostec Novikombank opened a credit line with a limit 6.3 billion rubles at 10% per annum “Yakut Fuel and Energy Company” (PJSC “YATEK”), which Avdolyan bought from the owner a year earlier for debts Groups “Amount”Ziyavudina Magomedovain December 2022, sentenced to 19 years in prison for embezzlement, especially large-scale fraud and the creation of an organized crime group. And in 2021, Novikombank through a repo transaction with the Avdolyan group “A-Property”became the owner of 21% in the authorized capital of YATEK. Later the bank withdrew from the shareholders.
Perhaps these examples will be enough to understand the close cooperation of the state corporation with an odious businessman, whose company happily employs people from Rostec structures. For example, in 2019, the post of General Director of YATEK was taken by Andrey Korobovwho previously headed the Rostec subsidiary “RT – Global Resources”. Today, Korobov is one of the founders of the above-mentioned Andayana Group company, and in 2018-2019. he was the general director and co-owner of the “profit center” – Cashmere Capital LLC.
But, apparently, the “roof” provided by Chemezov for a long time “gave a leak.” So the bankruptcies of business partners, the cancellation of transactions and the seizure of assets may be only the beginning of big problems for the still “unsinkable” “Avdolyan team”. And who knows whether the story with the GMZ will become the reason for initiating a criminal case?
