Twenty year old millionaire

As “We Can Explain” learned, the son of the head of the Moscow Construction Department Rafika Zagrutdinova
Murad at different periods he owned companies whose total income amounted to hundreds of millions of rubles. We were able to confirm the relationship between Murad and his father using publicly available people search systems – they showed that both were registered in the same apartment on Michurinsky Avenue.

Rafik Zagrutdinov

Murad’s father Rafik Zagrutdinov is a member of the “construction team” Marat Khusnullina, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism), who ended up in Moscow with the transfer of Khusnullin to the capital post from Tatarstan. It is Khusnullin’s former colleagues who today control almost the entire construction industry in Moscow: according to Novaya Gazeta’s calculations, at least 46 of Khusnullin’s fellow countrymen and partners are today in senior positions in the capital’s construction complex.

Marat Khusnullin

Don’t upset your family!

Murad Zagrutdinov, born in 1999, is not particularly active on social networks and, apart from a few photographs from school, has never posted information about himself publicly. From open sources we managed to find out that already in the third year of university (in my VK page he writes that he studied at Moscow State University) he became a successful businessman: in 2020, Murad took over 23% of the M-Catering company – which, as indicated on its website, supplies food to construction sites in Moscow – and remained the holder of its assets until until July 2023.

Murad Zagrutdinov

During the younger Zagrutdinov’s work at M-Catering, the company earned one and a half billion rubles by supplying food to Moscow construction sites. At the same time, twenty-year-old Murad’s receipt of a share in the company coincided with the appointment of his father to the position of head of the Moscow Construction Department (this happened just in 2020). How things went up for the M-Catering company with the appointment of twenty-year-old Murad can be clearly seen in the graph:

Screenshot from the website “Contour Focus”

We asked Ilya Shumanova, head of Transparency International – Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism), comment on the operating principle of Marat Khusnullin’s business empire. This is what he said: “The peculiarities of the Khusnullin model are that these are not frontal schemes, not two-way schemes, but complex contractions that always lead to family.

In one of the investigations that we did with the team several years ago, we saw how specific development projects pay off Khusnullin’s relatives in order to be able to continue their activities, obtain permits, and so on. These were very complex schemes that few people used at that time.”

Screenshot from the M-Catering company website

The younger Zagrutdinov’s company is a direct beneficiary of his father’s position. The list of M-Catering clients includes Monotek Stroy LLC, the recipient of billions of construction contracts owned by Marat Khafizov, Khusnullin’s closest partner, who was previously involved in a money laundering scandal involving the supply of Chinese drones. The list of Monotek Stroya projects includes St. Vladimir’s Hospital, the construction of which was supervised by Zagrutdinov Sr.

Screenshots from the website of the Information Center of the Moscow Government and the website of the Monotek Stroy company

In April 2023, 75% of the Atlant Engineering trading house, which is engaged in the wholesale trade of construction equipment, also came under the control of Murad Zagrutdinov. On company website it is stated that its goal is “a comprehensive supply of construction materials and equipment to both construction companies and individuals.” For several years before this, TD received government orders totaling 422 million rubles. Most of them were related to the supply of steel pipes to state-owned companies.
In July 2023, the Karat-Development company, engaged in the construction and sale of real estate, also came into the possession of Murad Zagrutdinov.

During this time the company owned the earth has crossed in the industrial zone in Kazan, the homeland of Zagrutdinov Sr. At the same time, the transaction price for the purchase of non-residential buildings – 21.4 million rubles – turned out to be almost equal to the cadastral value of the land plot – 19.8 million.

Judging by the website of Karat-Development and media reportsthe company is preparing for the construction of a residential complex (however, the site has not been updated since July 2023).

Ilya Shumanov commented on the case of Zagrutdinov Jr. as follows:

“This is a fairly common story, especially when we talk about management systems that operate conservative decision-making models based on the family. In these models, decisions are often made based not on professionalism or meritocracy, but on the principles of loyalty, intimacy and trust.
This is a recurring pattern, especially when we talk about Muslim diasporas or North Caucasian groups that work very closely with each other, suggesting that there is tightness in these relationships, there is no potential for exposure at all. These are closed circuits in which there is a circle of trust between people and tolerance for breaking the law.”

Stroiteley Street

It is interesting that the registration address of Atlant Engineering coincides with the address of the Moskapstroy company (on the board of directors of which Murad’s father is a member) and the place of registration of several companies of Khusnullin’s partner Marat Khafizov.

Ilya Shumanov comments:

“The system of Moscow construction projects implies an innovative model for distributing the Russian budget through a system of state and para-state structures: subsidiaries, granddaughters, state-owned enterprises, joint-stock companies, and so on. This is an ecosystem created by Khusnullin and his team, which lives off public money.
That Moscow construction was given to people from Khusnullin’s team is true, and this, in my opinion, is not even significant news. It’s like this understanding has already been dissolved in public consensus.”

“Atlant Engineering” on the map, several companies of Marat Khafizov are registered in the same place

“Family traditions”

In 2023, mother of Rafik Zagrutdinov and grandmother of Murad Daniya Zagrutdinova became a co-owner of Skazka LLC, the main share in which belongs to Lilia Salimshinaa relative of the chairman of the board of directors of the Leader-M group of companies, who participated in the construction of Moscow hospitals.

For the last two years, Skazka LLC, according to the Kontur Focus service for verifying counterparties, has not employed a single person, but the company has 151 million rubles on its balance sheet. This picture resembles a “wallet”, in which it is impossible to find out the origin of the money due to laws restricting the dissemination of information about private companies.

Salimshina herself owns ENSIM LLC, which regularly receives government orders for the supply of medical equipment to Moscow hospitals. One of the latest customers is the Vishnevsky Hospital, which serves the Ministry of Defense.

Venera Zagrutdinova

Rafik Zagrutdinov’s wife, Venus, also has a small company that designs interiors and sews textiles for luxury homes and offices. Their portfolio includes residential complexes “Shuvalovsky” and “Michurinsky”. It is noteworthy that the name of the company is telling – “Family Traditions”.

Examples of work from the portfolio of Venera Zagrutdinova’s company

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