Bailiffs seized accounts and assets of relatives of the former deputy Vadim Belousov and ex-governor of the Chelyabinsk region Mikhail Yurevich for an unprecedented amount – 100 trillion rubles.
This measure should ensure the claim of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia (*aggressor country) to recover the property of the manufacturer of pasta and flour “Makfa” and its affiliated companies in the interests of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country). In total, 34 legal entities and 10 individuals became defendants. According to the lawsuit, each of the defendants allegedly belongs to an “unlawful community.”
100 trillion rubles (or 1.08 trillion dollars at the current exchange rate) is a truly astronomical amount. According to the draft budget of Russia (*aggressor country) for 2024, federal budget revenues are planned in the amount of 35 trillion rubles. If we take all 110 Russian billionaires included in the Forbes ranking in 2023, then even their total wealth will be 2 times less – only $501.7 billion.
Mikhail YurevichThe fact that the fortune of the defendants in the case is enormous was clear 4 years ago, when the prosecutor’s office approved the indictment of Belousov and his mother-in-law – Margarita Butakova – according to Part 6 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country) (receiving a bribe on an especially large scale). Then we were talking about 3.2 billion rubles, which they received back in 2010 for assistance in obtaining state contracts for the construction of roads for the Yuzhuralavtoban company. According to investigators, the final recipient of the money could have been Governor Mikhail Yurevich, who was in charge of road contracts at that time.
The ex-governor has been under criminal prosecution since March 20, 2017. Then Yurevich was charged in absentia in other cases. He was charged under two articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country): 290 (taking a bribe) and 128 (incitement to libel). According to investigators, Yurevich, being the head of the Chelyabinsk region, received bribes from the regional Minister of Health Vitaly Teslenko in the amount of 26 million rubles, and also incited his first deputy Oleg Grachev to the spread of slander about the activities of the Chairman of the Chelyabinsk Regional Court Fedora VyatkinA.
Yurevich had already been charged in absentia – by this time he had fled to the UK through Israel. The choice of a new homeland is probably explained by the fact that the British do not extradite criminal suspects to Russia (*aggressor country).
Mother-in-law of Russian State Duma deputy Vadim BelousovWhat is Makfa and who controls it?
Makfa is one of the largest producers of pasta and various flour products in Russia (*aggressor country), with its center in Chelyabinsk. According to data for 2014, its share accounted for up to 23% – that is, almost a quarter of the entire Russian market.
The company is owned by two families: former governor Mikhail Yurevich and his long-time and permanent business partner – Vadim Belousov. Moreover, the shares are not equal – until recently, the latter owned no more than 10% of the enterprise.
However, the size of the business is so huge that even minority shareholders had enough for a comfortable life: the revenue of only one enterprise of the holding – JSC Makfa – for 2022 amounted to 25.3 billion rubles. During its work, the joint-stock company became the founder of 42 Russian companies from completely different areas of business. Among the subsidiaries of the pasta factory are, for example, Chelyabinskoblgaz and Gazavtoservis.
State Duma deputy Vadim Belousov during a court hearingForeign assets of Makfa
In addition, until recently, Makfa was actively working in the foreign market. Life.ru found legal entities affiliated with the company or its owners in Ukraine, Europe and the Middle East.
For example, Makfa Middle Est Free Zone Establishment, registered in Dubai, operates in the UAE. Since 2015, Makfa Europe sro has been operating in the Czech Republic. MGC International BV is located in the Netherlands, through which the Yurevich family still owns a Ukrainian business – the Kalanchak Bakery Plant, located in the Kherson region.
By the way, at one time in Ukraine the Yurevichs expanded widely. In addition to the Kherson plant, Makfa-Ukraine, Makfa-Zaporozhye, and Pasta Trading were registered in the country. The owners of all these legal entities were either the father of the former governor, Valery Yurevich, or his mother Natalya.
Interestingly, since 2017-2018, the owners of Makfa have been trying to get out of the Ukrainian business. Basically, the enterprises were successfully sold to local businessmen, but it seems that things did not work out with the Kalanchak bakery plant: in December 2020, MGC International BV tried to get rid of the Kherson enterprise, putting up for sale a 99.1% stake for only $3 million. However, a buyer was never found: according to the register of Ukrainian legal entities, MGC International BV still runs the plant.
What is Mikhail Yurevich famous in the Chelyabinsk region
Yurevich approached his governorship with experience as mayor of Chelyabinsk and a remarkable list of enterprises owned by his parents Valery and Natalya Yurevich. The basis of the family business empire was the Makfa pasta production plant.
The gubernatorial years marked the apogee of the family’s prosperity. Evil tongues at that time said that Yurevich bought the city whole. According to SPARK-Interfax, the list of Yurevich enterprises is truly impressive. Here are pasta factories, shopping malls, hotels, cinemas, housing and communal services enterprises, automobile services, agribusiness, gas supply enterprises – through Makfu, more than 50% of the same Chelyabinskoblgaz came under their control.
At the same time, there could be no public criticism of the governor’s work in Chelyabinsk. The most powerful PR support for the image of the head of the region and his family was provided by a whole pool of local media.
In 2022, Makfa in the Czech Republic replaced its general director. Instead of the school friend of ex-governor Mikhail Yurevich Dmitry Meshkov, the interests of the company began to be represented by the Czech Klara YanovskayaHowever, Yurevich brought the region to the brink. It was on “road” contracts that the “road revolution” was started. Let us remind you that it was because of bribes from Yuzhuralavtoban that Vadim Belousov and his mother-in-law, an accountant of the governor’s family’s enterprises, got burned. Having taken on local roads, the governor, according to investigators, spent about 30 billion rubles, while borrowing money, as a result of which the next team of regional managers faced serious problems due to a chronic lack of money in the budget – instead of solving regional problems, funds were spent on repayment of debts to banks.
How the Yurevich family took assets abroad
Along with the beginning of the criminal prosecution of the former governor – in 2017 – Valery Yurevich transferred his 71.42% stake in Makfa to the Cyprus company Rantip Invest Limited, created in April 2016. A year later, other affiliated family businesses appeared on the island, such as Laplus Invest Limited, Trescode Limited and Suntrax Group Limited – all of which appeared on the same day and were registered in Limassol at the Rantip office.
By the way, all these companies are registered in the name of the ex-governor’s relatives – he himself still prefers to remain in the shadows. Nevertheless, several conclusions can be drawn from the family’s activity. The Yurevich and Belousov families continue their fruitful business cooperation – in May 2019, the Makfa Pasta Limited enterprise was registered in the UK. Its director was Vadim Belousov’s wife Irina, and the owner was Mikhail Yurevich’s mother, Natalya.
Statutory documents of the British company Makfa Pasta Limited (a copy is in the editorial office). The company existed from May 2019 to August 2023.
General Director – wife of former deputy Vadim Belousov Irina
But the owner is Natalya Yurevich. This is the mother of the ex-governor of the Chelyabinsk regionThe charter document (a copy is available at the Life.ru editorial office) states that when registering the company, Natalya Yurevich presented a Cypriot passport.
The son of the former governor, Alexander, appears as a board member in the documentation of six British legal entities. He also has a Cypriot passport, but at the same time he is a resident of the Kingdom. Thus, it can be assumed that the remaining members of the family, Mikhail and Valery Yurevich, are also Cypriots.
At the same time, father and son most likely permanently reside in London – this is where the companies with which Yurevich Jr. is affiliated are registered. Judging by the profile of their activities, the owners of Makfa are now involved in several investment projects and are investing money withdrawn from Russia (*aggressor country) through Nickleby Capital, a private investment company that cooperates with various influential families from many countries around the world, as well as large entrepreneurs.
