September 12, 2013, 11:28 am / Business

Domodedovo has revealed its owner

This is Russian citizen Dmitry Kamenshchik, the company announced; She linked the disclosure of information with the government's plans to invest in the development of the Moscow air hub Ekaterina Sobol Natalya Raibman Sergei Smirnov Anastasia Agamalova Marie Mesropyan

Dmitry Kamenshchik / M. Stulov / Vedomosti

The company named Chairman of the Board of Directors Dmitry Kamenshchik as the ultimate owner of Domodedovo Airport. The company published an official statement on its website on September 12.

Domodedovo connected the disclosure of this information with the fact that the country's leadership is going to make significant investments in the development of the Moscow air hub, setting the condition: all participants in projects for the development of ground infrastructure are under Russian jurisdiction and their ultimate owners are known. “We agree that these terms are fair,” the company said in a statement.

“Enterprises carrying out airport activities at Domodedovo in accordance with national certificates and licenses are located in Russian jurisdiction, and their ultimate owner is citizen of the Russian Federation Dmitry Kamenshchik,” the company states.

The airport's statement was made public shortly after the new bill of the Ministry of Economic Development became known. The agency proposes to oblige owners of more than 1% of shares in strategic transport infrastructure facilities to provide information about themselves quarterly. It is proposed to include airports as such objects. The amendments also propose to introduce the concept of “beneficial owner” - an individual who controls a legal entity. After the amendments come into force, co-owners will have three months to disclose information. After this, operating companies will have another month to transfer this data to the authorized body.

For concealing information about oneself, it is proposed to limit the owner’s voting rights at the general meeting of shareholders. It is proposed that the FSB be given the right to conduct operational search activities to identify the real owners of such objects. One of the authors of the amendments explained that the reason for its development was precisely the situation with Domodedovo. So far, the law obliges companies to disclose transactions involving the “movement” of more than 5% of shares, but not the beneficiary of the legal entity - the shareholder.

After the terrorist attack at the airport in early 2011, then-President Dmitry Medvedev ordered to find the real owners of Domodedovo. According to a Vedomosti source, it was not possible to complete this work: “There was not enough legislation.” Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Buksman said then that it was never possible to find “that very last matryoshka doll” that would help point to the owner of the airport. The Accounts Chamber named the Cypriot offshore Hacienda Investments Limited as the final owner of the airport, ITAR-TASS recalls.

For a long time, the owner of all assets of Domodedovo Airport was DME Ltd, registered on the island. Maine. Shortly after the terrorist attack, DME Ltd. announced an IPO and named Chairman of the Board of Directors Dmitry Kamenshchik as its sole owner. But then the placement was canceled, and the Mason stated that he was a hired manager. Then the assets of Domodedovo were transferred to the Cypriot Verulia, but its beneficiaries still remained unknown.

On March 6, 2013, at a closed meeting with Medvedev - already the Prime Minister - it was decided that owners of strategically important objects registered in foreign jurisdictions would have to re-register them in Russia or disclose the ultimate beneficiary. “This is not about a ban, we want that if foreigners own these objects, then through Russian legal entities, and if ours do not close,” emphasizes one of the drafters of the bill.

On July 3, 2013, at a meeting on the development of the capital's air hub, President Vladimir Putin confirmed that all participants in projects for the development of the air hub must be known: “It is necessary that all participants in the project be in Russian jurisdiction, with known beneficiaries.” As ITAR-TASS recalls, the president explained that it is necessary to clearly understand “who, at whose expense and in what volume will finance the development of airport infrastructure and for what will be ultimately responsible.”