The Prosecutor General’s Office filed a lawsuit against billionaire Andrey Melnichenko

The Prosecutor General’s Office filed a lawsuit with the Sverdlovsky District Court of the city of Krasnoyarsk against billionaire Andrei Melnichenko, should from the base of the court.

The Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation is listed as the plaintiff (name not specified). In addition to the businessman, the defendants in the case are also Kuzbassenergo, which is part of the Siberian Generating Company (SGK), and JSC “Khakass Service and Repair Company” (HSRK). Siberian Generating Company will be involved in the proceedings as a third party, follows from the materials of the court.

The lawsuit was registered on August 17, the case was accepted for proceedings. It will be considered by judge Natalya Eliseeva. A preliminary meeting is scheduled for September 7th.

Melnichenko’s representative confirmed to Vedomosti that the lawsuit had been received and now “lawyers are working with him.” He declined to comment further before the trial began.

The suit of the Prosecutor General’s Office concerns the recovery from Melnichenko in favor of the state of the shares of the Sibeko company, acquired for 32.51 billion rubles. from the convicted ex-Minister of the Open Government Mikhail Abyzov, follows from the materials of the lawsuit published by the SovetBezRynka telegram channel. The transactions were carried out through Kuzbassenergo and KhSRK controlled by Melnichenko, it follows from the materials of the claim. The Deputy Prosecutor General demands to recover 3.9 billion ordinary non-documentary registered shares of SGC, registered at Kuzbassenergo, to the income of the Russian Federation.

Kuzbassenergo acquired a 78% stake in Sibeko in February 2018. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed. The media (in particular, Interfax sources claimed this) called the actual owner of Sibeco the company Ru-Com, which managed Abyzov’s assets. Top managers of the Ru-com group at the time of the transaction occupied seven of the nine seats on the board of directors of Sibeko.

Sibeko’s assets were located in the Novosibirsk Region and Altai Territory. It owned six thermal power plants in Novosibirsk, Kuibyshev and Biysk with a total installed capacity of just over 3 GW. Mikhail Kuznetsov, who at the time of the transaction held the position of General Director of SGC, said that after the purchase of Sibeco, SGC’s business would “increase one and a half times”: the total installed capacity of power facilities would increase by 38%, thermal power – by 53%. Sibeko’s revenue in 2016, according to SPARK-Interfax, amounted to 28.2 billion rubles, net profit – 1 billion rubles. Analysts then told Vedomosti that, together with Sibeko, SGK, owned by a coal company SUEKwill become the largest consumer of coal in Russia (see the issue of January 9, 2018).

Melnichenko in 2023 for the first time took the top line in the ranking of the richest entrepreneurs in Russia according to Forbes with a fortune of $ 25.2 billion. The businessman was ahead of the largest shareholder of Norilsk Nickel Vladimir Potanin ($ 23.7 billion) and the owner NLMK Vladimir Lisin ($22.1 billion). In a year, Melnichenko became twice as rich. In March last year, after the entrepreneur was included in the EU sanctions list, he withdrew from the capital of Eurochem and SUEK, which he owned. Prior to that, he owned 100% of the shares of Eurochem and 92.2% of the coal holding.

Former Minister of Open Government Mikhail Abyzov was detained in the spring of 2019. He is charged with major fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and legalization of funds obtained by criminal means (Article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

According to investigators, in 2012-2014. Abyzov, being the beneficiary of several offshore companies, together with his accomplices, deceived the shareholders of Sibeko and OJSC Regional Electric Networks (RES), which produced and transmitted electricity in the Novosibirsk Region and Altai Territory. They were misled, as a result, shares of structures controlled by Abyzov were purchased at an inflated price, and the money was withdrawn abroad (to Cyprus) and stolen.