In March last year, Iskandar Makhmudov and Andrei Bokarev officially withdrew from the capital of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company. And in April, three people died at one of its enterprises. Against this background, experts suggest that the billionaires could maintain an informal influence on the largest copper producer. Tragic incidents happen there with frightening regularity, and lower-level managers have to answer for them.

In Orenburg, the court begins consideration of a criminal case on the death of three workers of PJSC Gaisky Mining and Processing Plant, which occurred on April 23, 2022. After the tragedy, all work at the mine was suspended, and the staff was evacuated. On the same day, a version was put forward that the workers (a 24-year-old mining foreman and two explosives aged 35 and 39) died as a result of methane poisoning after the explosion. Who will be punished for this?

The price of the violation is 3 thousand rubles

The charge was brought against the head of the underground blasting section and his assistant from the explosives warehouse. The original version of the tragedy was confirmed. It turned out that after the explosion, ammonia accumulated in the mine. It did not weather for the simple reason that there was no equipment for rapid ventilation, three workers were poisoned by gas.

The head of the section and his assistant were charged under Part 3 of Art. 217 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of the industrial safety requirements of a hazardous production facility, negligently resulting in the death of two or more persons). Law enforcement authorities believe that the defendants failed to ensure safe work in the mine and, in the absence of the necessary equipment, did not impose a ban on their implementation.

Accidents occur in the Gaisky mines regularly. In the same April 2022, three more incidents happened: on the 3rd, after a part of the rock fell, one miner was injured in the cervical vertebrae, and on the 15th, a load-and-dump vehicle caught fire. Maybe after the change of shareholders, the UMMC enterprises went into disarray? No, workers have died there before.

In August 2020, a 27-year-old worker was seriously injured at Gaisky GOK. The reason is a broken dust suppression system. The person received the 3rd group of disability. In September of the same year, a 39-year-old machinist died due to a malfunction of the vibroconveyor at a depth of 1230 meters. Prior to this, the prosecutor’s office of the Orenburg region revealed a number of violations of labor protection rules and industrial safety requirements at the plant. And after an inspection conducted by the state labor inspectorate of the region, the officials guilty of violations were fined in the amount of … 3 thousand rubles.

And so, in April last year, people died again at the enterprise, but none of the top managers are in the dock.

GOK owners

PJSC “Gaisky GOK” is one of the main assets of the UMMC, which unites more than 40 enterprises in a dozen regions of the country. It is one of the largest metallurgical companies – the first place in Russia and the ninth in the world in terms of copper production.

As of the end of 2021, the main owners of the company were Iskandar Makhmudov (50%), Andrey Kozitsyn (34.99%) and Andrey Bokarev (10%). In March last year, Makhmudov and Bokarev withdrew from the capital of the holding and the board of directors. In July, Kozitsyn resigned from the post of general director. Experts suggest that businessmen made such a decision, fearing Western sanctions. There were grounds for this: on March 8, the London Association of Precious Metals Market Participants suspended the status of a reliable supplier (LBMA) for the head enterprise of UMMC – Uralelectromed JSC. In April, Bokarev fell under British sanctions, and in September, Makhmudov.

Forbes estimates the fortune of Iskandar Makhmudov at $3.6 billion, Andrey Kozitsyn at $1.9 billion, Andrey Bokarev at $1.2 billion.

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Gaisky GOK PJSC is directly managed by UMMC OJSC, which, after Kozitsyn’s departure, is headed by Elfat Ismagilov. In addition to the head of the section and his assistant, it seems that there is no one to be responsible for the death of three people in April last year.