LLC Medved was called by the media a closed hunting club, which could only be entered on the recommendation of its permanent members: timber merchant Vladimir Butorin, co-owners of Alfa Group Petr Aven and German Khan, as well as the founder of UMMC Iskandar Makhmudov. They say that before they saw large federal officials there. Now, apparently, much has changed, but the hunting grounds of millions of square meters still remain untouched.
The Arkhangelsk Region Arbitration Court dismissed the case against Medved LLC and the Committee for Municipal Property Management of the Ustyansky District. The plaintiff was the prosecutor’s office of the region, she suddenly abandoned her claims.
The supervisory authority sent an application to arbitration in November last year. The prosecutor’s office demanded that the contract signed No. 1027 of June 14, 2022, on the lease of several land plots by the company from the municipality, be declared null and void. The largest of them, with cadastral number 29:18:000000:2878, has an area of 3.8 million square meters and is located 4 kilometers southwest of the village of Berezhnaya. The plot is slightly smaller, with cadastral number 29:18:072101:115, is located on 520.7 thousand square meters and is located 90 kilometers east of the village of Bereznik. The last of the locations, with the cadastral number 29:18:072001:234, is 4.7 thousand square meters, 5.5 kilometers from the same Bereznik. In all cases, land is only allowed for agricultural use. The supervisory authority demanded that all these lands be returned to the municipality.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Timber Industry of the Arkhangelsk Region, which is currently headed by Igor Muraev, appeared in the case as a third party that did not file independent claims.
“At the court session, the representative of the prosecutor filed a motion to dismiss the claim, since by the decision of the administration of the municipal formation “Ustyansky Municipal District” dated July 19, 2022, amendments were made to the administration’s decision dated June 6, 2022 No. 1061 regarding the basis and deadline for the submission of land plots. The consequences of abandoning the claim are clear to the prosecutor,” the court decision explains. It seems that they put things in order in the papers, and the “Bear” remained with his own.
Game for the oligarchs
Medved LLC was established in May 2009 and specializes in hunting, trapping and shooting wild animals. Its co-owners today are fairly well-known people – 15% each belongs to billionaires Peter Aven and German Khan, respectively, whose names are firmly associated with Alfa-Bank. The largest share of 60% belongs to Vladimir Butorin, who is also the owner of the Pestovsky and Velsky timber processing complexes, as well as the general director of OOO GK ULC, which is engaged in timber harvesting. Another co-owner is Kingisepp OOO Rosterminalugol, which is managed by the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC). The founder of the UMMC, Iskandar Makhmudov, was one of the founders of the hunting club until 2019.
The activities of Medved LLC have recently been unprofitable. For example, last year the company went negative by 13.1 million rubles, and a year earlier – by 30.7 million.
According to SeldonBasis, Medved LLC is regularly subjected to inspections by regulatory authorities. In 2017, the organization was brought to administrative responsibility for failure to provide a plan for conducting veterinary and preventive measures.
“Bear” also fell into the field of view of law enforcement agencies. For example, in 2019, the Ustyansky District Court found 31-year-old Alexandra Mogutova guilty of fraud at that time – from January 10 to February 21 of that year, she, while holding the position of Deputy General Director for Economics and Finance of this company, used her official position and entered inflated statements in the statements amounts, thus stealing 120 thousand rubles. Six months later, in a similar way, she illegally received another 28 thousand rubles in the same way. Taking into account the admission of guilt and compensation for damages, the court limited her to a fine of 75 thousand rubles.
One leg is here, the other is there
It is worth noting that in relation to another defendant in the current case, the administration of the Ustyansky municipality, the prosecutor’s office of the Arkhangelsk region, led by Nikolai Zlustikov, is acting much more boldly. For example, at the end of last year, this structure fined three officials for late responses to citizens.
Apparently, it turned out to be easier to deal with petty officials than with the rich co-owners of the Bear, who are abroad. The activities of German Khan and Petr Aven, who are respectively 14th and 29th on the list of Russian billionaires according to Forbes for 2022, and who prefer to live in the UK, are much more interested in the courts of foreign states. The latest scandal is related to the claims of Carter Burden III, a descendant of the famous Vanderbilt family and the founder of the American company Logicworks, which supplies cloud solutions. Here, the private investment fund Pamplona Capital Management LLP acquired a stake, the partner of which was LetterOne Holding SA, owned by the shareholders of Alfa Group. Allegedly, when making this transaction, the fund provided false information about its beneficiaries. The owner of an American company claims that because of this, he was initially unable to obtain a loan, and then experienced difficulties in selling the asset. The case is pending in a Manhattan court.
An interesting picture emerges. Pyotr Aven constantly lives abroad, in March last year, in an interview with the Financial Times, he complained that due to sanctions he could not hire a driver and a cleaning lady. At the same time, the co-owner of Alfa-Bank said that he did not intend to leave the UK, because he “would no longer have the opportunity to return.” On the one hand, the billionaire made it clear that he had little in common with Russia, on the other hand, he continues to own a hunting club here with giant land plots, and even the prosecutor’s office did not dare to sue him. We live in amazing times!