Detention of Mikhail Abyzov. Main

Everything that is known about the detention of the former Minister for Open Government Mikhail Abyzov at 9:00 am on March 27.

The Investigative Committee charged Abyzov with creating a criminal community using his official position (part 3 of article 210 of the Criminal Code) and large-scale fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code). They provide for punishment in the form of imprisonment for up to 20 years.

* The essence of the accusation value real * Kommersant learned against Abyzov: Abyzov’s lawyers, quoted by the publication, reported that the version of the investigation is built around one deal: Abyzov’s structures sold the shares of four companies to the state federal state unitary enterprise Almazyuvelirexport for 4 billion rubles, despite the fact that their amounted to 186 million rubles.

• Abyzov and his partners bought a stake in four energy companies - ASS, PRIS, PESK and REMiS, allegedly inflating the value of their assets, and then sold FSUE Almazyuvelirexport for 4 billion rubles at a real value of 186.02 million rubles. The money was transferred to offshore companies for which the assets were registered.
• Abyzov and his partners claim that the deal was a market one, and the conflict around it has been artificially transferred to a criminal plane. Abyzov does not admit his guilt .
• The victims in the case are the heads of FSUE Almazyuvelirexport and the shareholders of OAO Siberian Energy Company and OAO Regional Electric Networks, who participated in the transactions, "but did not know about their illegality."

Circumstances of detention. According to an Interfax source, the former official was detained on Tuesday on his way from the Vnukovo-3 business aviation terminal, where he arrived from Italy. According to another interlocutor, the minister was lured to Russia a week ago for the birthday of a former colleague. The name of this person is not specified. But Vedomosti reminds that on March 26 Arkady Dvorkovich, co-chairman of the board of the Skolkovo Foundation, with whom Abyzov worked in the presidential administration and government, turned 47 years old.

• In the near future, the investigation will choose a measure of restraint for Abyzov.

Reaction. Vladimir Putin was informed in advance about the detention of Abyzov, said the press secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov.

• Dmitry Medvedev has also been informed of the ex-minister's detention, said his spokesman Oleg Osipov . According to him, the case against Abyzov has nothing to do with his work in the government, it is only related to his commercial activities. “It is known that his business partners made claims against him,” Osipov said.

The essence of the matter. The investigation believes that in the period from 2011 to 2014, Abyzov created and headed a criminal community, with the help of which he, by deceiving the shareholders of Siberian Energy Company OJSC and Regional Electric Networks OJSC, took 4 billion rubles abroad.

• Among the accomplices in the case, the Investigative Committee names the former chairman of the board of directors of Abyzov Ru-Com Nikolai Stepanov, as well as Maxim Rusakov, Galina Fraydenberg, Alexander Pelipasov and Sergey Ilyichev. The defendants in the case are charged with creating and participating in a criminal community - parts 2, 3 of article 210 and part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code. They face up to 20 years in prison.

Context. In 2012-2018, Abyzov served as Minister for Open Government. After the presidential elections, this position was abolished, and Abyzov did not enter the new composition of Putin's government. Among the main results of his work in the government, Abyzov called the "reset" of public councils under government bodies, the preparation of more than 1.2 thousand opinions on the socio-economic development of the country and the launch of a discussion of draft regulatory legal acts. Prior to public service, Abyzov held senior positions at Novosibirskenergo, RAO UES, Kuzbassrazrezugol and Ru-Com.

• in the rating of the richest Russians since 2011 Abyzov has been included . He had some of the highest incomes in the government. In 2015, he topped the ranking of the richest ministers with an annual salary of 455.6 million rubles. In 2016, its annual income amounted to 520.9 million rubles, and in 2017 it decreased to 181 million rubles. In 2018, Abyzov took 162nd place in the Forbes ranking of the 200 richest businessmen in Russia, the magazine's experts estimated his fortune at $600 million.