Airat Karimov drove into the cell on the “White Deer”
Proofy.rf it became known that the day before, upon arrival from abroad, the former general director of Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat was detained at one of the Moscow airports Airat Karimov. Employees of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Belarus from Moscow delivered him to Ufa, where the Soviet District Court of the city placed him under arrest.
Mr. Karimov, as well as a number of his colleagues in the republic’s largest enterprise, are suspected of illegally privatizing the White Deer holiday home.
One of the interlocutors of Pruf.rf “Gazprom neftekhim Salavat” argues that the defendants could easily buy this rest house with their money for mere pennies. For this, it was not necessary to create crooked privatization schemes at all.
Former top manager of Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat Karimov threatens up to 10 years in prison.
— I think it’s just a formal reason for the arrest. There was no politics. Most likely, Karimov’s personal business within the framework of the AST company and the concession for electric networks are already in sight, you yourself wrote about this and know better than us, the source noted.
Airat Karimov acquired a 25% stake in AST in August last year, when the concession agreements were already being implemented with might and main. However, in a conversation with our publication, he made it clear that he was aware of the murky concession scheme and the asset itself. So the chain through Karimov should lead to the highest offices in Ufa.
Airat Azatovich Karimov was born on January 2, 1968 in Leninogorsk, Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Graduated from the State Academy of Oil and Gas. I. M. Gubkina, St. Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics. In 1991–2006, he held senior positions in commercial organizations. In 2006–2014, he held senior positions at OAO Salavatnefteorgsintez (since 2014, OAO Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat). In 2014–2016, he was Executive Director of Gazprom Pererabotka LLC. In 2016–2021, he was the CEO, and since 2021, he has been an adviser to Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat. Married, has two sons and a daughter.
Read about how Bashkir officials, through a concession with AST, created a food base for themselves on the electrical networks of Salavat, Sterlitamak and Ishimbay, read here. In March 2023, the mayor of Salavat was detained Igor Mironovin the framework of the case on the transfer to the concession of the city’s electricity networks.
Airat Karimov’s interest was also found in construction. He is associated with the StroyTEK group of companies, which is building residential complexes in Ufa in the old quarter, and is also building up a quarter on the site of the unfinished Plaza shopping center on Komsomolskaya.
Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat carries out a full cycle of hydrocarbon feedstock processing, produces gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, other petroleum products, liquefied gases, butyl alcohols, plasticizers, polyethylene, polystyrene, ammonia, and urea. The structure of the company includes an oil refinery and a gas chemical plant, the Monomer plant.
LLC “Gazprom Pererabotka” owns more than 99.99% of the GTS. The sole executive body of the STS oil refining complex is a subsidiary of RusGazDobychi, RGD Refining Salavat.
Achievements of Airat Karimov: demolished monument of architecture, criminal concessions in Bashkiria
Demolished monument of architecture
The company is building skyscrapers in the old center of Ufa, in the quarter bounded by Gafuri, Kommunisticheskaya, Chernyshevsky and Sultanov streets. The project is called “The Old Center”. Several houses have already been commissioned: Olympus, Tower, Success, Dolphin and Legend. Harmony and Familia are still under construction.
Resigned from parliament
Airat Karimov was also a deputy of the regional State Assembly, having been elected in the Industrial single-mandate constituency No. 20 and representing the interests of the inhabitants of Salavat. He was among the members of the committee on state building, law and order and judicial affairs. At the end of 2020, Airat Karimov was in seventh place in terms of declared income among deputies of the Republican State Assembly, earning 37.5 million rubles. His wife Karimova declared 32.6 million rubles. Among the deputy wives then she was the wealthiest.
The history of electricity
Airat Karimov headed Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat LLC from 2016 to 2021. Currently, he has shares in the authorized capital of five companies, among which, in addition to OOO Specialized Developer Stroytek, OOO Master Baring, OOO SZ STEK-bereg, OOO STEK-center and OOO AST. The latter is engaged in the transmission of electricity and technological connection to distribution networks and appears in criminal caseinitiated against the mayor of Salavat Igor Mironov.