Dispute over a trading base at Komsomolskaya, 73, because of which a notorious businessman is suing Mikhail Klokcurrently charged with murder, and businessman Alexander Gorbunovgot into the federal media after the searches that took place in Gorbunov’s apartments and cottage.
Today, Kommersant writes that the property referred to in the criminal case against Gorbunov was illegally seized by Klok himself, and the businessman only contributed to the return of the object to its rightful owners. In addition, Alexander Gorbunov’s lawyers consider the searches at his place illegal and have already appealed against them.
“One of the living quarters is empty, under renovation,” the lawyer told Kommersant Natalia Gorshenina.- In the other, strangers live who have nothing to do with the situation. However, they took the documents for an apartment and a telephone from a woman living there. They also took away a weapon for which my client has permission and which is not related to the criminal case. When I tried to enter the house to be searched, they did not let me in, they allowed me to enter only 20 minutes after I called 112. By that time, the search had lasted several hours. The officers brought witnesses with them, although people live nearby in the houses.” The lawyer filed a complaint against the decision of the Leninsky District Court of Yekaterinburg, which authorized the search. In it, Ms. Gorshenina pointed out that the decision was illegal, since Alexander Gorbunov did not have any status in the criminal case and the investigation did not provide the court with any data indicating that there were grounds for the search.
As already reported by New Dayson of the former owner of the disputed property, Sergey Butsyrin, claims that it was Klok who illegally took possession of the Komsomolskaya base in 2005. A criminal case was initiated, but it was closed in 2013. “Klok, apparently in order not to add problems to himself at the verdict, voluntarily, in the presence of notaries, rewrote the base on Komsomolskaya, 73 for Yevgeny Butsyrin. Thus, we considered our issue settled,” Sergey Butsyrin told RIA Novy Den. The authorities also put their end to this issue – on October 9, 2015, the Kirov Court of Yekaterinburg recognized the fact of fraud with the base by Klok, and the criminal case was closed due to the statute of limitations.
According to Sergey Butsyrin, what was his surprise when in 2015 it became known that a new criminal case had been opened that the base had been illegally taken away from Klok, but later it was closed due to lack of evidence. Soon the base was put up for auction, when it was bought by Alexander Gorbunov.
As for Mr. Gorbunov, according to Sergei Butsyrin, he came to the rescue of their business immediately after his return. During the time the property was in the use of Mr. Klok, the company owning the complex had debts to the city administration, therefore, during the bankruptcy, the property was put up for auction. It was acquired by a good friend of the family, Alexander Gorbunov, who handed over the complex to Yevgeny Butsyrin for use so that he would continue the business and be able to return the costs to the buyer at the expense of income and re-enter ownership of the property.
In March 2022, when Mikhail Klok was detained in a new criminal case – about murder in 2000 in Yekaterinburg businessman Alexey Zubakin — the base extortion case was reopened.
The first hearing in the case has already been held in arbitration, the second is scheduled for May. Sergei Butsyrin still does not understand what grounds there are for trying to take the base, but the court should still put an end to the matter.
Business jet, a cottage on the territory of a military unit and a house in Montenegro
The security forces came with searches to the apartments and the house of the Ural businessman Alexander Gorbunov. Perhaps his name does not mean anything to you, meanwhile, it is regularly mentioned in scandals related to the forcible seizure of enterprises. Below we explain who he is and what the investigators suspect him of. On March 29, at exactly 06:00, at several points in Yekaterinburg, investigators from the Investigative Committee, reinforced by special forces, entered apartments registered to businessman Alexander Gorbunov.
House in the military unit
The security forces had difficulties with a cottage on Rybovodov Street. It is located on the territory of the military unit. Civilians, in theory, are not allowed to be there at all. Despite this, a businessman with dual citizenship not only built a house there, but also issued passes for himself, security and the immediate environment.
Nevertheless, the investigators entered Gorbunov’s house. Operational activities continued until the evening. According to the interlocutor of 66.RU, the security forces took with them “a lot of documentation, weapons and the contents of several caches.”
Alexander Gorbunov himself was not found. Over the past few years, the security forces have gotten too close to the businessman. Therefore, in 2022, he left the territory of Russia, according to a 66.RU source.
“He has a personal business jet, a house in Montenegro and foreign citizenship. It is strange how, with such initial data, he was able to settle in the territory of a military unit. However, let counterintelligence have a headache about this, ”an interlocutor close to the investigation shared his thoughts.
The attack on Alexander Gorbunov is connected with the investigation into the case of an attempt to take away a warehouse base on Komsomolskaya from an authoritative businessman Mikhail Klok.
What does Mikhail Klok have to do with it
Klok was detained on March 19, 2022 in Moscow. He and two accomplices were charged with organizing and carrying out the December 2000 murder of Yekaterinburg businessman Alexei Zubakin.
The investigation of this crime was repeatedly suspended and again extended. In 2013, Klok was already detained. Then he was charged with robberies and raids as part of an organized criminal group. But the charge of Zubakin’s murder disappeared from the case.
According to investigators, in 2014, Klok was placed in the notorious Yekaterinburg IK-2, where torture flourished at that moment.
Allegedly, under pressure, Klok was forced to negotiate and gave up his trading base on Komsomolskaya. Instead, the murder charge disappeared from the case, and Mikhail Klok’s life in penitentiary institutions became much calmer. The investigation considers Alexander Gorbunov, who has extensive connections among the security forces, to be the beneficiary of that deal.
After his arrest in 2022, Klok made a deal with the investigation and testified about the circumstances of the transfer of Baza on Komsomolskaya LLC to third parties. The security forces opened a criminal case on extortion, in which Gorbunov became a defendant. Another case is dedicated to high-ranking Sverdlovsk security officials. Without their participation, it was impossible to pull off such a deal.
Another person involved in this story is Alexander Bulakov, known in criminal circles as Bulka. Allegedly, while serving another term in IK-2, it was Bulakov who organized the “measures to exert pressure” on Klok.
Gorbunov was defended by a representative of the Butsyrin family of Yekaterinburg businessmen. The interlocutor told 66.RU that in 2014, Klok only returned the Komsomolskaya Base to the Butsyrins, which he had previously illegally taken away.
The investigation thinks otherwise. Moreover, a 66.RU source familiar with the course of the investigation claims that operational information about the extortion of the base was documented back in 2014. “Then the current situation was such that the folder with this information was put on the table. Times changed in the 20s. There was political will and they gave green light to attract Gorbunov, ”he explained.
Who is Alexander Gorbunov
It is believed that Alexander Gorbunov is a member of the circle of “shadow masters” of the Sverdlovsk region. This is indirectly evidenced by the data of the “Kontur.Focus” database.
The most interesting to study, perhaps, is the Verkh-Isetsky Shopping Center – Plus (VITC), better known to Yekaterinburg residents as the Bird Market. 19.8% of this company belongs to Alexander Gorbunov. Another 25% is owned by the European-Asian Company (EAC). The founders of the JAC are the first persons of the legendary OPS “Uralmash”: Sergei Terentiev, Sergei Vorobyov and Igor Mayevsky.
EAK is considered one of the parent companies through which Uralmash veterans manage their empire.
Gorbunov’s connection with representatives of the OPS can also be traced through other enterprises. For example, “Svetloe hunting farm” or the company “Questor”. 100% of the shares in these enterprises passed to Gorbunov from the already mentioned Igor Mayevsky.
Also, Alexander Gorbunov is the owner of 100% in the StroyOptTorg company, through which he controls the Akademichesky shopping mall.
The transfer of ownership of the academic market was accompanied by a forcible takeover. Alexander Gorbunov was also seen in the events accompanied by the seizure of the KOR market, Vegetable market No. 4, the Belka shopping center and other assets.
For such events, the organizers need not only specific connections, but also the involvement of the so-called boevok – groups of athletes who are ready to fight in other people’s conflicts.
Gorbunov’s similar connections can also be traced through “Kontur.Focus”. According to the database, he owns 50% of the Ratiborets fight club. The founder of the club was Hermann Hardt. And his pupils are considered to be one of the fights, through which, among other things, he controlled part of the illegal parking market in Yekaterinburg.