Former member of the board of directors of the Cypriot “granddaughter” “Rosnano” is suspected of stealing $ 50 million from her Luxembourg “daughter”

Oleg Dyachenko is extricated from corporate and family ties

Former member of the board of directors of the Cypriot “granddaughter” “Rosnano” is suspected of stealing $ 50 million from her Luxembourg “daughter”

The original of this material

© “Vedomosti”10/25/2022, A criminal case was opened against the former partner of Rosnano on embezzlement of $ 50 million from the company

Dmitry Grinkevich, Alexander Sokolov, Alexey Nikolsky

On October 18, security forces searched the home of Oleg Dyachenko, a former member of the board of directors of the Cypriot Nanoenergo Fund Limited. Employees of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs took part in operational activities. A source familiar with the case materials told Vedomosti about this. The information was confirmed by an interlocutor close to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as the official representative of Rosnano. A criminal case was initiated against Dyachenko under Part 4 of Art. 160 of the Criminal Code (theft of another’s property entrusted to the guilty, committed by a group of persons by prior agreement, by a person using his official position, on an especially large scale).

What happened

According to the interlocutors, the investigation suspects Dyachenko of stealing $ 50 million from the Luxembourg subsidiary of Rosnano, Fonds Rusnano Capital SA, which was a co-founder of the Nanoenergo fund. Sberezheniya and Investicii Management Limited (a subsidiary of Sberinvest Management Company CJSC), where Dyachenko held the position of director, managed this fund.

In relation to Dyachenko, a measure of restraint was chosen in the form of a written undertaking not to leave, the interlocutors specified.

Nanoenergo’s funds in the amount of $90 million were transferred through accounts opened with JSCB Peresvet and Bank of Cyprus in violation of the fund’s founding documents to the accounts of Composite Pipes OJSC, Rice High Technologies LLC, Sarmat LLC, LLC Hydropower Technologies” and LLC “Coal Innovative Technologies”, said a representative of “Rosnano”.

“The Rosnano team continues to work on the return of investments and compensation for the damage caused to the company during the investment period of 2010-2020. The work is carried out in close cooperation with the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor General’s Office and other relevant ministries and departments,” the company representative specified.

In addition to the situation with Dyachenko, Rosnano is taking active steps to recover funds from the participants in the transaction, including the Bank of Cyprus as part of a civil process on the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, the source added. “Currently, the trial is at the stage of the disclosure procedure (disclosure of evidence. – Vedomosti), which should be completed in October 2022. After that, the court must schedule a meeting in order to determine the timing of the hearing on the merits and other procedural issues,” assured the representative of “Rosnano”.

Vedomosti sent inquiries to representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Security Service, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Investigative Committee, the government (100% shareholder of Rosnano), Peresvet Bank and VEB (oversees development institutions).

This is the second criminal case in recent months against managers affiliated with Rosnano. On September 2, 2022, the Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested Nail Gubaev, former investment director of Rosnano Management Company and member of the board of directors of the ELVIS-NeoTech portfolio company. A case was initiated against him under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud committed by an organized group or on an especially large scale).

What did Nanoenergo do

The Nanoenergo International Fund was created by the Rusnano Capital S.A. Fund. in October 2012, together with CJSC MC Savings and Investments. According to a press release posted on the website of Rosnano (then a state corporation), “the main goal of the fund will be to stimulate the development and implementation of innovative and nanotechnologies in the energy industry of the Russian Federation , including in the electric power industry, as well as ensuring the attraction of funds from Western and Russian investors.” When creating Nanoenergo, it was planned that the target capital of the fund would be $150 million. Rusnano Capital SA and JSCB Peresvet invested $50 million each on a parity basis.

Initially registered in Cyprus, the Nanoenergo fund was part of Rusnano Capital SA along with other projects (I2BF Strategic Resources Fund and Ascension Healthcare). Due to the clarification of the accounting methodology after 2013, each of the projects created under the control of a subsidiary of Rusnano Capital was accounted for as a separate investment.

This is not the largest investment among a dozen other funds of Rosnano (the largest fund – Rosnanominvest – reached 11.4 billion rubles), but not the smallest either.

The Nanoenergo Fund made contributions to the companies Coal Innovative Technologies (UIT), Bioinnovations, Composite Pipes, Sarmat, Energotekh and Rice High Technologies (RVT) for 0.5 billion rubles. into each, follows from the SPARK data. “Sarmat” is currently officially recognized as inactive, and RVT is in the process of liquidation. However, the rest of the companies have not shown any signs of life since 2018, judging by the reports. For the period from 2015 to 2017 the total revenue of the six companies amounted to 42.1 million rubles, Vedomosti calculated, and the total loss was 986 million rubles. That is, with Nanoenergo’s investments in the authorized capital of companies of almost 3 billion rubles. these firms generated only 1 billion rubles during the specified period. net loss. Only UIT can be considered relatively successful, which until 2016 brought in revenue of 2.5 million rubles. and a net profit of 4.7 million rubles. Dyachenko was noted in the management of all these companies at different times.

Nanoenergo itself ceased operations by court decision in November 2018. Its revenue in 2017 amounted to only $0.36 million, or 21 million rubles.

In 2016 RBC reported on the suit of Rosnano against Sberezheniya and Investicii Management Limited. Fonds Rusnano Capital SA then acted as a plaintiff. Peresvet Bank was also a co-defendant in this lawsuit. The reason for the lawsuit was the activity of Nanoenergo. The lawsuit was filed on May 26, 2015, RBC reported, citing a representative of Rosnano. “This is all some kind of nonsense,” Oleg Dyachenko told RBC at the time. “You see, I am free. So the money is gone.” According to him, he has already “provided all the necessary documents to the Cypriot court” and is confident that “the case will be closed.”

Auditor checks

The auditors of the Accounts Chamber, based on the results of an audit in 2012 of the activities of Rosnano, discovered affiliation transactions with the participation of the Rusnano Capital fund and ascertained the misappropriation of funds by it, Forbes wrote. In 2009, the leadership of Rosnanotech (as Rosnano was then called) decided to establish an international fund for nanotechnologies Rusnano-Capital. Its main task was to attract Western investment in advanced Russian developments. Two companies were created for this project: in Zurich – Rusnano Capital AG (consultations on investments in high technologies) and in Luxembourg – Fonds Rusnano Capital SA (holding activities, investments). The last Rosnano allocated $440 million, but only 30% of the funds were transferred to international nanofunds, the auditors reported. The rest are not used for their intended purpose, the joint venture wrote in her report. The money was either placed on deposits in foreign banks, or was used to purchase securities, such as Alrosa, Emirates Air, Evraz Group, and others.

In addition, Rosnano paid three times for consultations. Rusnano Capital AG received about $6.5 million for statutory purposes. Another $1.9 million was paid for the same purposes by Rusnano Capital LLC, and a third-party company, Axioma Wealth Management AG, received about $1.3 million for consultations. “There are signs of $3.2 million in consulting fees being misused,” the auditors said. In addition, these transactions contain elements of affiliation, since the agreements were concluded by the General Director of Rusnano Capital Irina Rapoportbeing also a member of the board of directors of Fonds Rusnano Capital SA Member of the board of directors of the Swiss Rusnano Capital AG was, among other things, the permanent head of Rosnano Anatoly Chubais.