The Prosecutor General’s Office filed a lawsuit against billionaire Andrei Melnichenko – Kommersant

The Prosecutor General’s Office filed a lawsuit against businessman Andrei Melnichenko. As reported RBC an acquaintance of Mr. Melnichenko, the suit of the Prosecutor General’s Office concerns energy assets that were bought from the structures of the former Minister of the Open Government, Mikhail Abyzov. The representative of the businessman confirmed Vedomosti receiving a claim.

According to file cabinet Sverdlovsk District Court of Krasnoyarsk, the lawsuit was filed on 17 August. A preliminary hearing on him has been scheduled for September 7. The Deputy Prosecutor General is listed as the plaintiff, but his name is not specified. The defendants are Andrey Melnichenko, Khakass Service and Repair Company and Kuzbass Joint-Stock Company for Energy and Electrification (Kuzbassenergo). In addition, the Prosecutor General’s Office asks to involve Siberian Energy Company JSC (SGK) as a third party.

Telegram-channel “SovietBezRynka” writes that the plaintiff demands to recover JSC “Siberian Energy Company” (SIBEKO) into the ownership of the state. According to the materials of the claim published by the channel, the Prosecutor General’s Office substantiates the claim by the fact that, while supervising the investigation of the case of “Mikhail Abyzov’s accomplices”, it received information “about the violation by citizen Melnichenko and legal entities controlled by him of the anti-corruption legislation when making transactions to acquire SIBEKO shares.”

The Prosecutor General’s Office claims that “in order to implement the plan and conceal his participation in the sale of SIBEKO shares,” Mikhail Abyzov, “maintaining informal friendly relations” with Andrey Melnichenko, offered him to purchase the “named property asset.” It follows from the materials of the claim that the contract for the sale of securities between Mr. Melnichenko and Mr. Abyzov was concluded in Cyprus on February 7, 2018. Andrey Melnichenko acquired shares of SIBEKO from Mikhail Abyzov for 32.51 billion rubles, according to the materials of the lawsuit.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the deal has signs of “taking advantage of dishonest behavior” and therefore there are grounds for recovering “everything received by the parties under anti-social transactions” to the state’s income.

SIBECO is the main supplier of electricity in Siberia. The company specializes in generating heat and electricity. At the beginning of 2018 FAS allowed Kuzbassenergo will acquire SIBECO under a number of conditions, including the refusal to significantly increase prices on the wholesale electricity market for three years.

In October 2020, the court turned 32.54 billion rubles, which belonged to Mikhail Abyzov, into state revenue. According to the Investigative Committee of Russia (TFR), SIBECO was transferred to trust management only nominally. The ICR believes that in 2018, while Mr. Abyzov was a civil servant, the company was sold, and this decision was made personally by him, contrary to the legislation of the Russian Federation.