Andrey Guskov was seduced by “matryoshka”
A consultant on hiding assets from sanctions received 3.5 years for stealing the Crimean oil depot Vladimir Kruglov, a business partner of lawyer Khmarin
The original of this material
© TASS01/23/2023, Businessman Guskov received 3.5 years in prison for stealing shares of an oil terminal in Crimea
Preobrazhensky Court of Moscow on Monday sentenced a businessman Andrey Guskov to 3.5 years in a penal colony for the theft of shares in the largest complex in Crimea for transshipment and storage of petroleum products JSC “Marine Oil Terminal” (MNT). This was reported to TASS in the press service of the court.
“The court found Guskov guilty under part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Fraud on an especially large scale”) and sentenced him to imprisonment for a term of 3.5 years to be served in a penal colony,” the court said. Earlier, the prosecutor demanded that he be sentenced to 8.5 years in prison.
The entrepreneur pleaded not guilty. He was detained in April 2021, after the owner of MNT Vladimir Kruglov applied to the UK with a statement about the theft of shares in the tank farm.
“Kommersant”, 01/20/2023, “The oil depot disappeared as a result of the acquisition”: It is interesting that in the case file Mr. Guskov appears as unemployed, but earlier he served as deputy general director of the North-Western Shipping Company, headed the board of directors of SOTI. At the time of his arrest, the defendant was listed as the head of the board of directors of the Union for Integrated Design and Land Management of Rural Territories, as well as the chairman of the Russian resettlement movement “Chelovek. Earth. Russia”.
The case file refers to events that occurred between 2017 and February 2021. — Inset K.ru
According to the prosecution, Kruglov hired Guskov to advise on the purchase of the terminal from the authorities of the republic in early 2017. Kruglov, according to the prosecution, “intended to hide his ownership of the Crimean asset for fear of falling under international sanctions,” and then Guskov offered him a scheme for acquiring MNT, which would allow him to anonymously buy and manage the company, and only hired managers controlled by the real owner. However, after the scheme began to be implemented, Guskov, as stated in the case file, secretly from the employer drew up a knowingly false agreement on the sale of shares in the tank farm. Under this agreement, ownership of MNT securities was transferred to a company controlled by Guskov, and his mother acted as its founder.
“Kommersant”, 01/23/2023, “The tank farm was lost in the “matryoshka”: […] the court satisfied the civil claim filed by the injured party for the entire amount of damage – 120.3 million rubles. (At first, the damage in the amount of more than 650 million rubles appeared in the case). […]
The owner of MNT Viktor Kruglov was recognized as the victim in the case. This is not his first oil project. Mr. Kruglov is the general director of Nefteproduktservis LLC, a large oil depot in the Moscow region, owned by a well-known lawyer Viktor Khmarin. In addition, Mr. Kruglov is a co-owner of three companies associated with the processing of petroleum products: Gaznefteservis, Baltic Methanol and the Baltic Gas Chemical Company. […]
In order to more reliably hide the ultimate beneficiary of the asset, at the suggestion of Andrey Guskov, a so-called nesting doll was created: Dolina, through its management company, first acquired the Forum trading house, and then it bought 99.7% of the shares of Gunas Firm JSC. Joint stock company and acquired in December 2019 100% of the terminal’s shares for 651.2 million rubles. — Inset K.ru
The MNT can store up to 250,000 tons of fuel, and its capacity allows it to transship up to 10 million tons of oil per year. After the reunification of Crimea with Russia, the enterprise was put up for sale. As stated in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (EGRLE), as of December 31, 2021, the total assets of the oil terminal amounted to 1.4 billion rubles. There are no data on the founders of the enterprise in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
