The Prosecutor General’s Office is staring at IES shares

The Prosecutor General’s Office demanded that the assets owned by the defendants in the high-profile criminal case of the former head of the Komi Republic, Vyacheslav Gaizer, be turned into state revenue. As Kommersant learned, the former deputy prime minister of the region, Konstantin Romadanov, who was convicted in a special order and Mikhail Slobodin, Yevgeny Olkhovik, and Boris Vainzikher, who successively led Integrated Energy Systems CJSC (IES), requires supervision to withdraw shares of this company. The latter three gave part of them as a bribe to Konstantin Romadanov for setting the most favorable tariffs for heat and electricity, and the rest were used for illegal enrichment.

The suit of Deputy Prosecutor General Igor Tkachev will be considered on April 27 by the Savelovsky District Court of Moscow. The defendants in this case are former Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Komi Konstantin Romadanov, who has already served a seven-year term for taking bribes (part 6 of article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), as well as three former general directors of CJSC IES: Mikhail Slobodin, who is on the international wanted list, and those who replaced him in office Evgeny Olkhovik and Boris Vainzikher.

Yevgeny Olkhovik and Boris Vainzikher were arrested in 2016 on charges of giving bribes (part 5 of article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In 2018, the Prosecutor General’s Office returned the case against them for additional investigation to the Investigative Committee of Russia, and the measure of restraint for the defendants themselves was changed to a written undertaking not to leave. According to Kommersant, they are now getting acquainted with the materials of the investigation.

The Zamoskvoretsky District Court of the capital in 2018 considered the case of Konstantin Romadanov in a special order. According to investigators, Romadanov played the role of treasurer in a criminal community organized by former Komi leaders Vyacheslav Gaizer and Vladimir Torlopov (sentenced to 11 and 6 years respectively) in order to carry out large-scale fraud with budget funds and republican property. The ex-official was appointed a seven-year term, which, after several appeals, was replaced with corrective work.

In the process of supervising the criminal case against Yevgeny Olkhovik, Boris Vainzikher and Konstantin Romadanov, the prosecutor’s office received evidence that the latter had violated anti-corruption laws.

Konstantin Romadanov has been working in senior positions in Komi since 2004. First, he headed the Regional Tariff Service, from where he moved to the chair of the Deputy Prime Minister in 2009. From September 2014 to mid-October 2015, he was the first deputy chairman of the government of the Komi Republic, where he oversaw the housing and communal services sector. Deputy Prime Minister Romadanov lost his post due to loss of confidence.

The purchase and sale of electricity in the territory of Komi at that time was carried out by OJSC Komi Energy Retail Company through CJSC IES. The latter in the period from 2006 to 2012, replacing each other, was headed by Mikhail Slobodin, Evgeny Olkhovik and Boris Vainzikher.

As established by the supervision, having entered into an agreement with the management of the CJSC, Konstantin Romadanov from 2010 to 2014 approved inflated electricity tariffs. In return, Mikhail Slobodin, Yevgeny Olkhovik and Boris Vainzikher “for their assistance and patronage” transferred 38.28% of the shares of their organization to the official. In order to camouflage the corruption component, Konstantin Romadanov issued securities to a Cypriot offshore controlled by him.

As a result of a series of veiled transactions, Bepperson Associated, Ltd., a firm affiliated with the official, became the owner of more than 1.7 billion ordinary and 91 thousand preferred registered shares of the Russian energy company.

After that, apparently in order to further confuse the traces, Konstantin Romadanov once again redistributed the shares between the companies of which he was the beneficiary.

“Hidden ownership and management of these assets allowed Romadanov not to comply with the requirements of the law obliging him to declare income,” the lawsuit of the supervisory authority says. as a result of their unlawful assistance.”

In this regard, Deputy Prosecutor General Igor Tkachev believes that all shares registered in the Cyprus offshore, as well as those owned by Prom Invest LLC, which is also controlled by Konstantin Romadanov, are subject to conversion to state revenue.

We also note that in January of this year, the Syktyvkar City Court began to hear another case against ex-official Romadanov. This time he is accused of abuse of power (part 2 of article 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to investigators, in 2011-2015 he implemented an illegal enrichment scheme by raising electricity tariffs in the interests of two other LLCs – Regional Grid Company and Energotrade. As a result of his actions, the defendant caused damage in the amount of 168 million rubles. The defendant pleads not guilty to this act.