Rector-millionaire: Scientific adviser Putin did not indicate 20 billion rubles in declarations

The rector of the St. Petersburg Mining University, Vladimir Litvinenko, has incorporated income in the declaration since 2014. “MBH Media” discovered this, comparing the declared revenues of the rector with the history of payments of dividends to shareholders of the company “Fosagro”. According to the data on the company's website, from 2014 to 2019. Dividends to Litvinenko, which over this period increased from 14.92% to almost 21% of shares, amounted to about 20 billion rubles. Over the same period, the rector declared income of 1.3 billion rubles. Even without taking into account the dividends, Litvinenko has been called the richest rector of Russia for several years.

The richest rector

In 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to oblige rectors to declare revenues in 2012. He wrote about this in the election article “The construction of justice. Social policy for Russia. " In addition to the rectors, Putin proposed to oblige to report on the income of the heads of medical and scientific institutions funded from the budget. At that time, Litvinenko already owned shares in the company, but what exactly was his share and how many dividends the rector received until 2014 is not specified.

Litvinenko, before arriving at the position of rector, was a member of the board of directors of several companies, including the Fosagro holding, one of the largest manufacturers of phosphorus -containing fertilizers in the world. By 2020, the rector became the second in the number of shares by the co -owner (20.98%) of the company after the family of Andrei Guryev, which owns 48.48%.

At the same time, the share of the rector grew confidently. According to Vedomosti in the hands of Litvinenko since 2007, 10% of the shares have been . After that, he increased the share three times: to 14.92% in 2014, to 19.35% in 2017 and up to almost 21% in 2019 . The cost of these shares is more than a billion dollars, Forbes estimates Litvinenko for 2020 at $ 800 million.

In addition to the record for the rector of income, the Litvinenko declaration also indicates the premium-class cars Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz S500 Maybach and Mercedes-Benz Viano-with a total of about 55 million rubles. In addition, the scientific director of the President has two large land plots - 2 151 square meters. m and 13 268 square meters. m. and house at 251.8 square meters. meters. Litvinenko owns them with his wife, like two apartments (149.5 sq. M and 433.3 sq. M).

“MBH Media” sent requests to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, as well as to St. Petersburg Mining University.

Let others declare

Litvinenko is not the only official who receives dividends. So, for example, a member of the Federation Council Valery Ponomarev is a shareholder of Oceanrybflot JSC and annually declares the income received from the company - his declared income in the past few years exceeds a billion rubles annually. Or State Duma deputy Grigory Anikeev. He also annually declares income of more than a billion rubles - a significant part of his income is the dividends of the ABI Group group of companies.

According to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 13.03.2013 No. 208, the declaration of the heads of federal state institutions must indicate “Information about their income received for the reporting period (from January 1 to December 31) from all sources (including wages, pensions, benefits and other payments)”. In addition, in the decree attached to the form of the declaration there is a special line in which the official must indicate income from securities.

The income from dividends may not be taken into account in the declaration, if a new stake package was bought at their expense, says Ilya Shumanov, General Director of Transopeensi Internet. However, even the entire amount of dividends in seven years Litvinenko would not have been enough to “buy” almost 10% of the Fosagro shares. If you focus on the last major deal, then the cost of one tenth of the company’s shareswill cost at least 30.5 billion rubles. And this is without taking into account the discount, since the company is almost half as much as on the Moscow Exchange - 4.1 thousand rubles per share instead of 2.35 thousand rubles.

Another option is the rejection of dividends, however, the company itself claims that all dividends were transferred to shareholders to bank accounts, and there are no cases that the shareholders did not receive dividends over the past years.

“The last (and most cynical) option is to give a damn about the volume of real income that is, and he indicates what he receives in the form of really paid funds. I will not say that I see this option a priority, but I think it is likely. He is the supervisor of Putin and Sechin, not the General Prosecutor's Office and not the presidential administration to remove him for these violations, ”Shumanov explains.

Scientific adviser Putin

Litvinenko is known not only by the fact that for four years he heads the rating of the highest paid rectors. He headed the election headquarters of Vladimir Putin three times - in the elections in 2000, 2004 and 2012. In 2018, the rector acted as a compounding head of the headquarters.

At the same time, Litvinenko was one of the youngest rectors of the country. He received his position from 39 years, in 1994. Three years later, the future president defended the dissertation with Litvinenko. Later, the daughter of the rector, Olga Litvinenko said that his father himself wrote a dissertation for Putin. “They told me that dad writes a dissertation to some important official. Considering that then Putin’s dissertation appeared - it means that he wrote to Putin, I think so, ”the daughter of the richest rector told The Insider.

Later, scientific dissertations at the same institute were defended by the future head of Rosneft Igor Sechin and Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov. Both of them worked in the Committee on External Relations of the City Hall of St. Petersburg, headed by Vladimir Putin.

“When the rectors are in one way or another connected with someone who is the same, it helps the university well, everyone begins to run on soft paws around it,” explains Elena Panfilova, MBH Media MBH Media. According to her, even without such a rector at the Mining University, everything would be in order, because those related to the extractive sectors of the profession are considered prestigious.

Not the only question

In 2016, Transpenser Internet Russia published an investigation into a billionaire from the mountain . The publication said that the Governor of St. Petersburg allocated a quarter to the Mining University for the construction of a scientific complex. In its place appeared an elite residential complex Vasilyevsky Quarter. Some of the areas were owned by commercial structures related to Litvinenko.

The publication appealed to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation with a request to verify the legality of Litvinenko’s actions upon receipt of land, choosing an investor and contractor. The department did not report any results of the audit.

Two years later, Litvinenko filed a lawsuit against the defense of honor, dignity and business reputation against Transperentsi Internet Russia. Litvinenko hoped to receive 30 million rubles from the editorial office. The court granted the lawsuit Litvinenko, but reduced the claim to five million rubles. After the appeal, the debt fell to one million rubles.