The Prosecutor General’s Office has withdrawn the lawsuit against Kuzbassenergo over a dispute over Sibeko shares.

JSC Kuzbassenergo and the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation entered into an agreement on the dispute over Sibeko shares, should from a company press release.

“As a result, the parties refused to further consider the case in court. The financial resources of JSC Kuzbassenergo determined within the framework of the agreement are aimed at social charity in the field of education and enlightenment of children,” the statement says.

In the case file in court indicatedthat the case was dismissed. It is clarified that “there is a court decision that has entered into legal force.”

August 17 General Prosecutor’s Office filed a lawsuit in the Sverdlovsk District Court of the city of Krasnoyarsk against billionaire Andrei Melnichenko and Kuzbassenergo and JSC Khakass Service and Repair Company (KhSRK). The Siberian Generating Company was involved as a third party. The lawsuit was about the recovery from Melnichenko in favor of the state of shares of the Sibeko company, acquired for 32.51 billion rubles. from the structures of ex-Minister of Open Government Mikhail Abyzov. The transactions were carried out through Kuzbassenergo and KhSRK, controlled by Melnichenko. The Deputy Prosecutor General demanded that 3.9 billion ordinary uncertificated registered shares of Sibeko registered at Kuzbassenergo be recovered from the Russian Federation.

Kuzbassenergo acquired a 78% stake in Sibeko in February 2018. The transaction amount was not disclosed. The company’s assets were located in the Novosibirsk region and Altai region. It owned six thermal power plants.

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 proceeds from crime (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 the Altai Territory. They were misled, as a result, shares of structures controlled by Abyzov were purchased at an inflated price, and the money was transferred abroad (to Cyprus) and stolen.