Are the patrons of the owner of RATM Holding “seen up” in the case of the Trunovskaya organized crime group?
The investigation into the criminal case of fraud with the Novosibirsk water park “Aquamir” continues, one of the defendants in which was the notorious owner of “RATM Holding” Eduard Taran: he is called the author of the criminal scheme, the damage from the implementation of which is estimated by the investigation at 200 million rubles. Taran can count on a favorable outcome of the investigation only in the event of the intervention of influential friends from among the former high-ranking officials who at one time contributed to the formation of RATM Holding. These include, in particular, Viktor Tolokonsky, the former mayor of Novosibirsk and ex-governor of the Novosibirsk region, who in 2019 became an official adviser to Taran. In March last year, Tolokonsky headed the board of directors of the multimillion-dollar Novosibirsk Expocenter, which hosts major regional exhibitions. While being a governor, the official was involved in a criminal scandal related to the investigation into the activities of the Trunovskaya criminal group known in Novosibirsk. In particular, Tolokonsky’s longtime friend, who served as the governor’s adviser on sports, Alexander Solodkin, and his son, Novosibirsk vice-mayor Alexander Solodkin Jr. turned out to be members of the Trunovskaya organized crime group and were sentenced to 6 and 8.5 years in prison, respectively. Among other things, they were charged with attempted murder of businessman Frunzik Khachatryan. The leader of the group, Alexander Trunov, was sentenced to 22 years in a maximum security colony in December 2012. Another member of Tolokonsky’s team, the former mayor of Novosibirsk and ex-head of the region Vladimir Gorodetsky, who today represents the Novosibirsk region in the Federation Council, was also associated with the Trunovskys. With the support of high-ranking patrons, Taran not only created RATM Holding, but gained control over a number of large enterprises, such as Iskitimcement. Later, his activities expanded beyond the region, and the businessman himself became known as the “Novosibirsk raider.”
Eduard Taran: a month under arrest
A month ago, the Lefortovo court in Moscow placed the president and general director under house arrest “RATM Holding” Eduard Taran. The notorious businessman became a defendant in a criminal case of particularly large-scale fraud related to fraud with the Novosibirsk water park “Aquamir”who were pledged to Mezhtopenergobankdeclared bankrupt.
Let us recall that charges of fraud have been brought against a number of persons, including the deputy head of “Deposit Insurance Agencies”former deputy prosecutor of the Novosibirsk region Alexandru Popeliukharbitration manager Dmitry Voroninex-head of the Siberian branch FSUE “FT-Center” Evgeniy Bogorad and others. As the RBC portal reported, the scheme consisted of understating rent and concealing real income, as a result of which the funds did not go to the bankruptcy estate, but to the participants in the scam.
The investigation considers Yevgeny Bogorad, who is in custody, to be its organizer, and the customer, according to Kommersant, was Eduard Taran, who had been planning to establish control over Akvamir for several years. After an unsuccessful attempt to acquire the asset at a reduced price, he entered into a conspiracy with other defendants. The damage caused by fraudsters is estimated at 200 million rublesbut given the scale of the investigation, the initially announced amount may well change upward.
However, this is not the first time the word “arrest”, in this case domestic, has been heard in relation to the president of RATM Holding: back in 2010, he was accused of giving a bribe in the amount of 100 thousand dollars to an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for refusing to check information about tax and economic crimes that took place at controlled enterprises. And although the criminal case was later closed, the court initially refused to release the businessman on bail, as a result of which Taran had to spend several months in a pre-trial detention center.
President of RATM Holding and ex-governor Tolokonsky
In the context of a recently initiated criminal case, we recall Taran’s close cooperation with the former governor of the Novosibirsk region and Krasnoyarsk Territory, ex-presidential envoy to the Siberian Federal District Viktor Tolokonskyin the fall of 2019, he became an official adviser to the founder of RATM Holding, whom, in his own words, he was supposed to help “in implementationa number of large strategic projects”.
Since then, the name of the former high-ranking official appears in the media, as they say, rarely, but aptly. For example, in January 2021, a journalist from the Tsargrad portal noticed Tolokonsky among the participants in an unauthorized mass rally that took place in Novosibirsk, organized by supporters of the now deceased Alexei Navalny(included in the list of terrorists and extremists of Rosfinmonitoring). The ex-governor himself later explained his presence as a habit “to be where my fellow countrymen are, where the townspeople are, where there are a lot of people”.
In March 2023, the online publication “NGS.Ru. Novosibirsk online” wrote that Tolokonsky headed the board of directors of the multimillion-dollar Novosibirsk “Expocentre”which hosts such major regional exhibitions as StroySib, Siberian House, Technoprom, HOREX SIBERIA. Entertainment industry”, etc.
As we can see, Tolokonsky was not left without a warm place, but he stays out of politics. I wonder if the investigators, after the detention and arrest of Taran, will have questions for his adviser? They will really have something to talk about. The fact is that in 1996-2000. Mr. Tolokonsky served as mayor of Novosibirsk, and then for ten years led the Novosibirsk region, where events worthy of a crime series took place.
Criminal Novosibirsk and the Solodkin family
Let’s start with the fact that in 2015, the Novosibirsk Regional Court sentenced the former vice-mayor of Novosibirsk to 8.5 years in prison with a fine of 505 thousand rubles Alexander Alexandrovich Solodkin. His father Alexander Naumovich Solodkin received six years in prison with a fine of 1.2 million rubles; ex-deputy head of the Federal Drug Control Service for the region, who was involved in the same case with them Andrey Andreev– 11 years in prison and a fine of 805 thousand rubles. We especially note: at the time the criminal investigation began in 2009, Solodkin Sr. held the post of adviser to Governor Tolokonsky on sports. Moreover, according to media reports, the official Tolokonsky and the professional athlete Solodkin Sr. were not only well acquainted: their fathers were allegedly friends.
Father and son were in the dock for participation in the Novosibirsk organized crime group of a criminal authority, well known in the 1990s – mid-2000s. Alexandra Trunovain December 2012, sentenced to 22 years in a maximum security colony. During the investigation and trial, Solodkin Sr. was found guilty of attempted murder of a businessman Frunzik Khachatryan and two counts of fraud, including theft of more than 1 million rubles from the budget during a sporting event.
The court found Solodkin Jr. guilty of inciting members of an organized crime group to set fire to two cars that belonged to Khachatryan, as well as of stealing, together with Andreev, 20 thousand dollars for assistance allegedly provided in not initiating a criminal case. However, these charges pale in comparison with those that were brought against the rest of the Trunovskys: they are responsible, in particular, for the murders of the vice-mayors of Novosibirsk Igor Belyakov And Viktor Maryasovhead of the security service of one of the factories Alexey Dabeev and one of the leaders of the competing “Leninist” organized crime group Nikolai Akenshin. Among the articles of the Criminal Code that appeared in the case were banditry, illegal arms trafficking, etc.
Needless to say, Mr. Tolokonsky made friends with a very specific family. We allow ourselves to doubt our ignorance of the criminal side of the life of an old friend and his offspring. By the way, the patrons of the “Trunovo” media were called “regional officials and security officials of the highest rank”. Also linked to organized criminal group Vladimir Gorodetskyin 2000-2014. who served as mayor of Novosibirsk (Solodkin Jr. worked under him), and in 2014-2017. – Governor of the Novosibirsk region.
To be fair, we note: the name of Eduard Taran did not appear in the history of the group. However, there is one “but”. You can read publications online, from which it follows that in the late 90s, Alexander Solodkin Jr. was part of the management of the only cement plant in the Novosibirsk region – the enterprise “Iskitimcement”which in 2001 came under the control of the industrial and commercial group RATM.
After the change of owners, Solodkin allegedly quit. Taran himself categorically denied the fact that Solodkin Jr. was employed at Iskitimcement, while emphasizing that he “was interested in cement and worked with companies around the plant”. According to other information, Solodkin Sr. was one of the co-owners of the enterprise, having received his 43% shares from Tolokonsky – as a sign of gratitude for his active support in the gubernatorial elections. He allegedly sold this package to Taran, although the latter also denied this point.
Will connections help resolve the situation?
Actually, the version of Solodkin Jr.’s work at the enterprise owned by his father does not at all contradict the story about the transfer of shares to Solodkin Sr. and the subsequent transfer of Iskitimcement to the control of Taran, who was repeatedly called on the Internet nothing less than a Novosibirsk raider. In addition, the formation of RATM Holding occurred precisely during the governorship of Viktor Tolokonsky, who, not for the beautiful eyes, became an adviser to its founder, and the same Vladimir Gorodetsky. So he could very well have received Iskitimcement, which he sold in 2014, from the light hand of the head of the region and his friends from the Trunov group.
However, Taran soon “stepped over” the borders of Novosibirsk. In 2006, he appeared in a resonant story with an attempt to seize the plant “Angarskcement”in the Irkutsk region with the help of soldiers from one of the Moscow private security companies. A few years ago, the focus of the raider was Anopinsky glass factory in the Vladimir region, where he tried to enter through local officials, presenting himself as a potential investor ready to invest in the glass industry of the Gus-Khrustalny district 2.5 billion rubles.
In Novosibirsk Taran claimed “Novosibirskenergosbyt” (JSC “NES”) – the main energy sales company in the region, and entered into a conspiracy with the general director of the enterprise Tatyana Podchasovawho lost her position in 2018 and then became involved in a criminal case for fraud. So far, Taran’s attempt to take over the Novosibirsk Khiloksky market, its main competitor, has not been successful. Shopping center “Mandarin”where the owner of RATM Holding has his own interests. In February 2022, the CEO of Mandarin Sergey Belousfound himself involved in a case of giving bribes to a former prosecutor of the Novosibirsk region Vladimir Falileev and his ex-deputy Andrey Turbin.
In general, the appearance of Taran “on the horizon” could become a kind of warning for his potential business partners about the imminent visit of the security forces. Today’s investigation into the water park fraud serves as further confirmation of this. The exception, perhaps, was the businessman’s contacts with the head of Rostec. Sergei Chemezov.
It is known that in 2018 Taran was suspected of tax evasion in an amount exceeding 150 million rublesas part of a deal to sell a 24% stake to the state corporation Lytkarino optical glass plant. The Main Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in Moscow then opened two criminal cases, which were transferred to the Novosibirsk department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, where they were combined into one, which was then successfully terminated due to the absence of a crime. Who would doubt a different outcome if there was such a buyer!
Today, Eduard Taran, who is under house arrest, undoubtedly hopes for his connections, with the help of which he will once again avoid criminal liability. By the way, such patrons may include the aforementioned Vladimir Gorodetsky, who represents the Novosibirsk region in the Federation Council. It is unlikely that Viktor Tolokonsky will remain on the sidelines: the raider from RATM Holding can say too much unnecessary things during interrogations.
