Immediately after the ex-head of the National Lottery, Mikhail Volkov, headed the JSC Russian Post, rumors spread that his predecessor, Maxim Akimov, immediately left for Israel, and allegedly acquired a passport of this country in advance for this. And no wonder: in the first half of 2022, Russian Post showed a loss of more than 19.5 billion rubles, while a year earlier the loss was about 3.25 billion rubles. In addition, there was a major data breach of 10 million customers. Perhaps this could be the reason for the personnel reshuffle.
Details – in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post.
Russian Post and its near-criminal contractors
Back in October 2021, the Government allowed Russian Post to carry out an additional issue (an additional placement of 300 million shares at a par value of 1,000 rubles per share to replenish the company’s capital) because there were real fears of a default on obligations.
The government is constantly providing Russian Post with all kinds of support measures. In 2022, it was proposed to send 20 billion rubles to the structure until 2024.
Meanwhile, contracts from the structure of the state corporation go, among other things, to companies whose beneficiaries are people with an ambiguous reputation. The company’s second largest supplier is OOO Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Kursk. In 2021, law enforcement officers detained the company’s CEO Alexei Rudnev in a corruption case.
As The Moscow Post wrote earlier, the threads from this top stretch to the predecessor Vladimir Agafon, and from him to the scandalous family of ex-senator Rauf Arashukov and the former head of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Kirill Seleznev.
Both contracts between Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Kursk and the Russian Post are in the execution stage, despite the fact that they should already be completed. As they say, was it a boy?
Not “Gazprom” alone. As The Moscow Post wrote earlier, most of the 400 million rubles of the total investment in the digital platform development project from Russian Post went to reputable businessman Stanislav Nikolaev through Mercator Holding. The Hong Kong offshore “Goldmax Holdings Limited” has wormed its way into the structures of the latter.
Isn’t it where the money of the state corporation can settle? Moreover, Akimov and Nikolaev can be connected by a long acquaintance since the time when the former general director of the Russian Post worked as a vice-governor in the Kaluga region.
PASMI (recognized as a foreign agent on the territory of the Russian Federation) wrote that the unofficial beneficiary of the structure is another reputable businessman, Semyon Mogilevich, who is wanted by the US authorities. At the same time, Mercator was allegedly engaged not only in the supply of equipment, but also in the export of Kaluga officials on foreign tours under the guise of getting acquainted with the products.
old bandages
The contract with Vin Auto for the repair of Russian Post vehicles also raises a question. Again overdue, and again with an organization, by all indications, unreliable. The rating of the company on sites with recall is one. People write about widespread deceit.
On the company’s page in “Rusprofile” – a lot of red marks about the unreliability of information. The general director and co-founder of the company, Olga Zueva, is generally in the register of disqualified persons.
72 contracts worth 154.6 million rubles FSUE Russian Post (predecessor of Russian Post JSC) signed with Garuda Group LLC unknown Dmitry Soludanov, whose company’s revenue after a sharp jump in 2018, when 18 contracts were signed at once , since 2020 has been steadily approaching zero.
In 2020, the newly formed Russian Post JSC signed a contract with it for 1.5 million rubles. Are old connections working? Then it is understandable why the joint-stock company, like its predecessor FGUP, took the path of “winding down”, if it is possible to call the “capital outflow” that occurred within the company over the past year.
Run, Akimov, run
The funds that the government generously allocates to the development of the Russian Post could, among other things, be spent on expensive purchases by Mr. Akimov. Recall at least the story of June 2021, when it was discovered that the state corporation was allegedly leasing a BMW sports car worth more than 15 million rubles. Kaluga News wrote about this with a link to the Mash telegram channel.
It is possible that the investigators became interested in the official’s appetites, and he had to hastily leave the post, hiding behind rumors that he intended to go to work at VTB. Immediately after the appointment of Volkov to the post of head of the Russian Post and the appearance of rumors about Akimov’s emigration. True, State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein published a refutation of this information on his telegram channel, saying that he spoke with him on the phone, and this, they say, is confirmation that the ex-head of the Russian Post has not left anywhere. But it is not clear what prevented Akimov from communicating with the people’s choice by phone from abroad, telling him that he was in Moscow? Such things were done by Danila Bagrov in the legendary film “Brother -2”. Now, if Mr. Khinshtein reported that he talked with him over a cup of tea in a cafe on the Arbat, it would have sounded a little more convincing …
Awl for soap
As for the new head of the Russian Post, Mr. Volkov, he may represent the interests of Umar Kremlev, the owner of the National Lotteries, from which Volkov came. The interest of the merchant in the asset was known even at the time when the Kremlin began to “squeeze out” the Stoloto lottery distributor from the branches of the state-owned company. In their place, the “Sports Lotteries” are now flaunting, by the way, headed by the same Volkov.
The financial performance of the company leaves much to be desired and doubt the effectiveness of the manager. It is not worth expecting that under Volkov the Russian Post will “bloom and smell”. Most likely, Umar Kremlev potentially puts it “in his pocket” not for development. Taking into account the fact that Russian Post is almost a monopolist (in 2021 it was even fined by the FAS), and state subsidies are constantly pouring in, it’s easy to guess how they will be disposed of.