Arzhanov reached out to Giner from the pre-trial detention center

The former CEO of TNS energo, Dmitry Arzhanov, has been in isolation since November 2020. He and a group of others are accused of particularly large-scale electricity fraud. Currently, the investigation has come to an end, and it became known that the charge against Arzhanov has been toughened and he will also be charged with participation in a criminal community. While in jail, the billionaire was able to recover 52 million rubles from the president of FC CSKA, Evgeny Giner, in court.

In 2014, Forbes estimated the fortune of Dmitry Arzhanov at a billion dollars. Having grown rich, not without the participation of the then governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Boris Nemtsov (at the very beginning of his career, he was even his assistant), Arzhanov smoothly fit into the energy business and became the owner of the Transneftservice sales company, later it became known as TNS Energo Group of Companies, and then PJSC GK TNS energo. Until 2017, he was its CEO.

The future person involved in the criminal case owned the company through the Cypriot offshore company Sunflake Limited. In July 2017, another billionaire, the president of the CSKA football club Evgeny Giner, bought 25% of TNS Energo from Sunflake Limited. Instead of payment, Giner provided a bill of almost 2 billion rubles, which Arzhanov later received. Apparently (at least at the beginning of 2022), this bill was not paid. According to him, Giner still has to pay 9% per annum.

Having sold his stake in the energy company, Dmitry Arzhanov remained in it as an adviser to the general director and continued to be a member of the board of directors.

In 2020, TNS energo was a large energy retail holding and occupied 6% of the Russian electricity market. Arzhanov left Giner a company that was the strongest player in the Volga energy market. And then PJSC Rosseti appeared in this story.

On October 22, 2020, at the request of the network giant, a criminal case was initiated on the fact of theft at TNS Energo. From 2011 to 2020 TNS allegedly misled the electricity supplier (Rosseti) by providing him with documents about huge non-payments from consumers. In fact, according to the investigation, this did not happen, and the funds intended for the state-owned company (a total of 5.5 billion rubles) went into the pockets of the “organizers” of the fraud, including foreign accounts.

In November 2020, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow decided to arrest Dmitry Arzhanov, as well as the new CEO of TNS energo, Sergei Afanasyev, his wife and deputy Sofya Afanasyeva. Also, the executive director of TNS energo Nizhny Novgorod, Boris Shchurov, and the head of the Nizhny Novgorod JSC Interregional Energy Retail Company, Jamil Dashin, were involved in the case. All but the last one ended up in jail. Dashin began to cooperate with the investigation, so he was placed under house arrest.

Being imprisoned, Arzhanov did not waste time in vain. The fact is that Giner owed him not only 2 billion. In 2019, the president of CSKA borrowed 54 million rubles from Arzhanov, an agreement was concluded between them, which expired in February 2021, and Giner did not pay either the principal or interest on it (about 8 million rubles).

Even while in the uncomfortable conditions of the pre-trial detention center, Arzhanov filed a civil lawsuit against Giner and demanded the return of the debt. The defendant’s lawyers did not deny the existence of the debt. By the time of the trial, it turned out that part of it (9.4 million rubles) had already been repaid. Taking into account the accrued interest and the paid part, Giner was left with the amount of 52.1 million rubles. The court ordered him to return the money to Arzhanov, who now faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to 5 million rubles.