Translated material
Supermarket scam
The head of the Neftehimprom holding was arrested
The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow yesterday issued a warrant for the arrest of former State Duma deputy, ex-adviser to the governor of the Moscow region, director of the Neftehimprom holding Maxim Vasiliev. He is suspected of attempting to steal more than $30 million from the Marta trading and production holding, which is a partner of the German concern REWE-group.According to preliminary data, Mr. Vasiliev was detained yesterday right in the office of an investigator of the Investigative Committee (IC) under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he was summoned for questioning in a criminal case initiated against the heads of a number of companies included in the Neftehimprom holding, including including against the president of the Dutch company MXM Industrial Investment Fund NV (MXM) Sergei Korotkov. As soon as the former official entered the office, employees of the Economic Security Department (DES) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs handcuffed him, after which the investigator drew up a detention report. Mr. Vasilyev was then provided with a lawyer and taken to court.
As it turned out, the basis for initiating this criminal case was a deputy request. The author asked to look into the actions of the Neftehimprom holding and its subsidiaries, which allegedly tried to embezzle more than $30 million transferred to the accounts of KB Khimeximbank LLC of the Marta holding for the purchase of the Prodmak supermarket chain, and refused to transfer ownership Prodmak assets to the buyer.
During the inspection, it turned out that Neftehimprom had already attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies. As early as June 12, 2005, the State Investigative Directorate at the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate opened a criminal case under Art. 159-4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud).
During this investigation, it was established that in 2004, Marta, on behalf of its subsidiary Elekskor LLC, entered into an agreement with MXM, Gil-Gel LLC, Superlinks LLC and IT-M LLC, controlled by Maxim Vasiliev » agreement on the sale of the Prodmak chain of stores to the Marta company. However, as follows from the case materials, the management of IT-M, after receiving about $2 million into the account of KB Khimeximbank LLC, also part of Neftehimprom, refused to transfer the inventory balances in the acquired retail premises into ownership. Martha." And after transferring the next tranche, they refused to give up the real estate itself, reselling it a second time to Real Estate XXI Century LLC.
Nevertheless, the Prosecutor General’s Office instructed the investigators of the Investigative Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs to conduct a new thorough investigation into the attempted theft of more than $30 million by Neftehimprom. As our source in the Prosecutor General said, “it was not difficult for the investigation to establish that the management of Neftehimprom initially had the intent to theft of about $30 million from Marta. The main suspects in the case were the director of Neftehimprom Maxim Vasiliev, the president of MXM Sergei Korotkov and an employee of the Dolgikh holding. A month later, all of them were charged under Art. 30-3, art. 159-4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (attempted fraud on an especially large scale). But, according to our source, soon, by order of one of the former deputy prosecutor generals, Mr. Vasilyev was transferred from accused to witness, after which he disappeared from the field of view of operatives.
The investigation nevertheless continued. It was established that in October 2003, the management of Neftehimprom, having learned that Marta was looking for new retail space to expand its supermarket chain in Moscow, approached it with an offer to buy the Prodmak supermarket chain from it. Negotiations began, but, as it later turned out, Neftehimprom was simultaneously negotiating the sale of the same Prodmak with another buyer. After signing the preliminary agreement, the seller changed the terms of the deal to less favorable ones; as a result, the second company abandoned the deal, losing the deposit of $5 million. Marta’s management continued the negotiations.
From the case materials it follows that negotiations with “Marta” were conducted by Mr. Vasiliev, his deputy Gennady Salych and Mr. Korotkov. Under the terms of the agreement, Martha was supposed to give the owners of the Prodmak chain - Superlinks, Exploration, Gil-Gal - an advance of several million dollars, and they, in turn, provided documents for the legal ownership of the objects real estate, equipment and trade inventories. According to the agreement, “Marta”, if she agreed to complete this transaction, lost the right to return the deposit if she refused to fulfill other conditions. After the collateral had already been transferred to Neftehimprom’s account in Khimeximbank, Mr. Vasiliev decided to change the agreements reached during the negotiations. Thus, he stated that Martha would receive rights to any property only if MXM received all the money for the transaction into its retail account, despite the fact that the terms of the agreement stipulated partial payment. At the same time, Mr. Vasiliev insisted that all the money be transferred through Neftehimprom’s own banks - Khimeximbank, and if there is no money at the time of signing the agreement, the deal will not take place. In addition, Mr. Vasiliev decided to change the seller of the Prodmak retail inventory from Superlinks to IT-M, promising that by the time the goods were transferred all documents would be provided confirming that IT-M » is a bona fide purchaser of the goods. And in December 2004, the main agreements were signed to complete the transaction to purchase the Prodmak chain.
Also during the investigation, it was established that the seller, represented by Neftehimprom, did not provide bank confirmation of receipt of money, the seal on all documents on the part of the seller did not correspond to the data in the seal register, tax and accounting documentation was transferred in an improper volume and form, and commercial equipment was not transmitted at all. It also became known that the sellers hid the fact of debts of several million dollars from the buyer when transferring the assets of Neftehimprom’s subsidiary, Exploration LLC. In addition, in June 2006, the Arbitration Court of the Kursk Region declared Superlinks and Gil-Gel bankrupt.
The investigation, according to our source in the Prosecutor General's Office, does not rule out that IT-M, Superlinks, Gil-Gal were specially created for the deal with the sale of Prodmak supermarkets, so during the investigation the accused will most likely A second article will also be added - legalization of proceeds from crime.