The editorial board received a statement from the co-owner of the Novosibirsk enterprise “Selvi” Alexey Danilov in the FSB of Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). In a conversation with journalists, he confirmed his words and admitted that he was forced to be involved in the corrupt relationships of his relative due to a corporate conflict in the company. Now the entrepreneur asks law enforcement officers to sort things out and take action. Details in the investigation by Anticorr.media.
Let us recall that the conflict at the enterprise has been developing since 2016, when the owner of the Selvi company suspected his partner and director Alexandra Shcherbakova in embezzlement. The enterprise was missing about 600 million rubles. The director left his post, but remained the actual co-owner – a small share is registered to his daughter Julia Danilova. In 2022 Ruben Manukyan became the owner of Selvi with a 75% share. The new partnership did not suit Shcherbakov, and Manukyan found himself under investigation in a case where there was not even probable damage. And the Arbitration Court of Novosibirsk Oblast is considering a claim by Selvi to recover from Shcherbakov damages caused to the company in the amount of 225 million rubles.
Details here: Business protection in Novosibirsk region: another theft without damage
In an interview with the editorial board, Alexey Danilov said that he worked as Shcherbakov's deputy from 2008 to 2017 and was married to his daughter Yulia, who is also a co-owner of Selvi. During his time at Selvi, Danilov had to witness Shcherbakov's informal connections with law enforcement officers and judges.
Now FSB operatives are checking Danilov's information about Shcherbakov's connections with the former prosecutor of Novosibirsk Denis Ferenc and an investigator for especially important cases of the Second Investigation Department of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) Elena Tenkova. As Danilov points out in the statement, in the spring of 2018, Shcherbakov asked Ferents for help in initiating a criminal case against the head of MegaPlastSibir LLC for a reward of 1 million rubles. Whether this is true or not, the investigation will check. However, in June of the same year, investigator Tenkova began to conduct a criminal case.
As usually happens in raider takeovers: a case is opened against the owner, and the company goes bankrupt. But during the bankruptcy, the plant's property, which was the main value, could be auctioned off. This process cannot always be controlled.
Therefore, during the criminal investigation, the property was seized. The court found the seizure illegal. The investigator had to show miracles of ingenuity. This is rare to see: land plots, a complex of buildings, machines, equipment and machines, products in the warehouse, everything without exception – was recognized as material evidence in the case, seized from the bankruptcy estate and transferred to Shcherbakov for safekeeping. In 2019, Astora LLC, affiliated (established by the court) to Shcherbakov, acquired the property of MegaPlastSibir at a price several times lower than the market price.
An equally interesting situation is developing in court, where Shcherbakov and his daughter Danilova are trying to challenge the gift of a 75 percent share of Selvi to Ruben Manukyan. The fact is that Shcherbakov and Danilova consider the gift of the share to be fictitious and believe that Manukyan actually paid the previous owner money for the share in Selvi, and the deed of gift was signed solely to prevent Danilova from using her preemptive right to purchase. The only argument is that such expensive gifts are not given even to relatives. The issue is, of course, debatable, but within the framework of kitchen conversations, not arbitration proceedings.
In September 2023, the Arbitration Court of Novosibirsk Oblast rejected Danilova's claim. However, the first instance decision describes the course of events in detail.
Excerpt from the court decision in case No. A45-7419/2023 dated 09/18/2023But the decision was appealed. According to Shcherbakov and Danilova, the former owner, having given Manukyan a share, did not receive any benefit from the gift of his share, and entrepreneurs do not act like that. Perhaps Manukyan cannot be forgiven for his management talents, because Danilova objected in court to the termination of Selvi's bankruptcy and insisted on the liquidation of the company.
The Seventh Appellate Arbitration Court in Tomsk has begun to consider the case according to the rules of the first instance. The trial is interesting and has been going on for nine months already. During this time, two of the three judges in the court have changed.
According to the same statement by Danilov to the FSB, since 2019 Shcherbakov has maintained contact with the judge of the Seventh Arbitration Court of Appeal Marina Podtsepilova through the former prosecutor of the Tomsk region Yuri Sukhoplyuev.
Based on the same information, in February Danilov, as a third party in the process, filed a motion to remove Judge Podtsepilova from the court. The motion was not considered, and Podtsepilova simply left the court.
On July 4, the Seventh Arbitration Court of Appeal will hold another hearing, which our film crew will attend. We will follow the developments.
The conflict turns into a takeover
Let us recall that in 2020, Shcherbakov's friend tried to bankrupt Selvi Arthur Lotarev based on loan agreements for 10.5 million rubles, allegedly issued during Shcherbakov's leadership. But nothing came of it, the court declared the agreements invalid, ruling to collect 18 million rubles from Lotarev. At the same time, Ruben Manukyan, a long-time friend of the previous owner and his future son-in-law, became the new owner of a 75 percent share of the company.
In 2021, Lotarev, who had not repaid his debt to Selvi, went bankrupt, and the company sold his liabilities to the director of the Vesta law firm, Andrey Panasenko, for 1 million rubles. Two expert assessments established this value, taking into account Lotarev's financial situation. As soon as the debt passed from Selvi to Panasenko, Lotarev soon paid him 18 million rubles.
After this, Yulia Danilova challenged the assignment agreement on the transfer of Lotarev's debt in court, considering the price of the assignment to be too low. The court satisfied the claim, obliging Panasenko to pay Selvi 17 million rubles. By March 2023, the lawyer had fully complied with the court decision, all payments had been made.
It would seem that all issues have been resolved in the arbitration court.
In the spring of 2023, Danilova filed a complaint with the Oktyabrsky District Investigative Department of Novosibirsk of the Investigative Committee of Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) for the Novosibirsk Region about the theft of 17 million rubles from the company, that is, the money that had already been returned as part of the trial. As a result, a criminal case was opened in December at the request of the Oktyabrsky District Prosecutor's Office.
If we compare the logic of the plaintiff in the civil process and the applicant in the criminal case, we get an interesting picture: Ruben Manukyan acquired a share in the company for approximately 140 million rubles (this figure appears in the appraisal reports submitted by the plaintiff), paid this money secretly, that is, without having the opportunity to get it back if something happened (for example, lawsuits with other owners). And he made this expensive purchase, obviously in order to steal 17 million rubles. Some kind of strange fraud.
At the time of publication, it was not possible to obtain a comment from the Novosibirsk Region UFSB; we are awaiting a response to our request.
