Translated material
Along the oil trail
The Ministry of Internal Affairs lost Mikhail Gutseriev
The Moscow City Court yesterday confirmed the legality of the arrest in absentia of the former head of the RussNeft company, Mikhail Gutseriev, who was put on the international wanted list on charges of illegal business and tax evasion. So far, the investigation has not been able to trace the disgraced oligarch. The Prosecutor General's Office believes that he may be in Turkey. According to other sources, from there he had long since moved to either Azerbaijan or London.No one doubted that the Moscow City Court recognized the legality of Mr. Gutseriev’s arrest. Initially, when submitting a corresponding petition to the district court, the Investigative Committee (IC) under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was investigating this case, used a very convincing argument from the point of view of the law - the accused violated his recognizance not to leave Russia by leaving Russia without permission.
“It has been established that he (Gutseriev. - Ed. ) disappeared from his place of permanent registration and quit his job,” the judge read. - In this regard, on August 6, Gutseriev was put on the federal wanted list, and on August 24 - on the international wanted list. Neither Gutseriev’s housekeeper, nor his former work colleagues, nor his son, nor his common-law wife could say where he is currently. Therefore, on August 28, the Tverskoy District Court issued a warrant for his arrest in absentia. Thus, the judicial panel determined: the decision of the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow on choosing a preventive measure for Mikhail Gutseriev in the form of detention should be left unchanged, and the lawyer’s cassation appeal - without satisfaction.”
The court ignored the arguments of Mr. Gutseriev’s defense that the documents considered in court formally referred to another person. His lawyer insisted that “Mikhail Gutseriev” was put on the wanted list, while her client was Mikail on his passport. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs noted yesterday in this regard that there could be no mistake here - it was Mikail Gutseriev who was put on the wanted list.
After the meeting, a representative of the prosecutor's office, Viktor Gvozdev, said that the investigation had allegedly already picked up the trail of the fugitive. “It was established that Gutseriev had been missing since July 30,” Mr. Gvozdev said. “We established that he first visited Azerbaijan, then moved to Belarus, from where he flew from Minsk International Airport to Antalya.” At the same time, the prosecutor, however, made a reservation that these data “are not accurate, and there is no evidence that the entrepreneur is now in Turkey.”
A little later, news agencies, citing sources in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, reported that Mr. Gutseriev may be hiding in Azerbaijan, in the suburbs of Baku, in the village of Nasosny, where he allegedly recently bought property. “According to operational data, the ex-head of RussNeft lives in a house in the village of Nasosny, which was recently purchased in the name of his son Genghis Khan, who died last month,” said a source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, officials in Turkey and Azerbaijan said yesterday that they have no information about the presence of the businessman in the territory of these countries.
A Vremya Novostey source close to the investigation, in turn, said: “He is not in Turkey or Baku. He lives in his mansion in the suburbs of London. But for official actions this information still needs to be double-checked.”
Yesterday, the Moscow City Court recognized as legal another previously made court decision related to the case of Mr. Gutseriev - on the arrest of 100% of the shares of Russneft. Let us recall that in July, Mr. Gutseriev announced his resignation from this company, and a little later information appeared that it could be bought by Oleg Deripaska’s Basic Element holding. However, the head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia), Igor Artemyev, said then that Basic Element's application did not meet the requirements of the antimonopoly service. Basel took these comments into account and at the end of August again submitted an application to acquire 100% of the shares of RussNeft. But by that time, the Investigative Committee had already gone to court, demanding the seizure of the shares. Yesterday, after the decision of the Moscow City Court, this decision came into force, and transactions with all shares of RussNeft are prohibited. However, according to a representative of Basel, the holding is not concerned about this ban and is currently awaiting a decision from the FAS on its petition.