In difficult times for the Russian economy, Viktor Rashnikov uses MMK’s profits for himself and his tops, while at the plant there have been and remain difficulties with both safety and environmental friendliness.
According to the correspondent The Moscow Post in the Chelyabinsk region, The Board of Directors of PJSC “Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works” recommended paying dividends to shareholders for the fourth quarter of 2021. The amount of payments can be about 39.67 billion rubles. Simply put, they now want to distribute the colossal profits from the plant among the top managers of the company. For each of the first three quarters of last year, MMK shareholders have already received 88.74 billion rubles, the revenue of the MMK group for 2021 increased to $11.87 billion, writes “Pravda UrFO”.
Of course, the greatest cream will be removed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of MMK, who Viktor Rashnikov.
Rashnikov began his journey at the plant in 1967 as a mechanic, in 1997 he headed the plant and then gained control over its shares, according to former employees of the plant who owned them before Rashnikov, not entirely legally. The bottom line is this: people entrusted the management of their shares to a certain Mecom company, which was created in the building of the MMK plant.
As a result, they no longer saw them, and unauthorized rallies are still taking place in Magnitogorsk, at which former shareholders unambiguously accuse Rashnikov of embezzling their money – wrote Znak.com. According to journalists’ estimates, about 30,000 people may be deceived.
“Abandoned factory
The production itself at the moment, despite loud statements about its official website that it “promotes the social well-being of residents and the preservation of the environment by meeting its economic obligations, social and environmental goals”, and its strategy includes achieving the goal of “zero injuries”, constantly appears in scandals related to the fact that these aspects of its activity are actually “left to their own devices”.
Photo: https://mmk.ru/en/sustainability/
In December 2018, a carbon fiber box collapsed on the MMK building – at that time there were technologists in it, one of whom died – the publication wrote about this “74.ru”. Another worker died due to the fact that under him the cable of the lifting mechanism, on which he was located, burst. “Magnitogorsk news agency” . At the mine “daughter” of MMK “MMK-Coal” in 2020, a miner died – wrote “TVNZ”.
This list can go on and on, but these data are enough to understand that MMK has big problems with the safety and depreciation of equipment.
But in 2020, Rashnikov personally allocated 500 million rubles to Magnitogorsk to fight the coronavirus, he wrote. RBC. I wonder if the money went to its intended purpose or was it safely “sawed” between the administration and the “generous donor”? He also declared his readiness to provide financial assistance in the resettlement of an emergency house in Magnitogorsk – wrote “Interfax”.
Perhaps, at the suggestion of Rashnikov with MMK, a whole galaxy of officials from the administration of Magnitogorsk feeds – then it is clear why they are least concerned about compliance with environmental legislation at the enterprise.
If we talk about the environmental component, the situation is very indicative when, on a direct line, President of Russia Vladimir Putin complained about the difficult environmental situation in Magnitogorsk, which the applicant associated with emissions from MMK.
The President then reacted with surprise, saying that, according to his information, Magnitogorsk has recently been allocating large funds to ensure environmental safety – writes “Interfax”. (The last fine for a ridiculous amount of 120 thousand rubles for violating environmental safety was received by Rashkinsky MMK in 2021.
Moreover, as always, they made the director of the enterprise extreme – writes “Chelyabinsk Echo”. I wonder where the money actually went?
You can’t forbid living beautifully
Perhaps to service Rashnikov’s giant yacht Ocean Victory, which, according to the authors of the telegram channel, is now “More than FACT”, allegedly located off the coast of the Maldives, and he himself flew from Riga to Dubai yesterday – it seems that even the sanctions do not affect Mr. Rashnikov. By the way, he flies on a “golden” Gulfstream G650ER business jet worth $62.5 million (excluding interiors), which is registered in Bermuda. As of April 2021, Rashnikov ranked 15th in the Russian Forbes with a fortune of $11.2 billion.
In the light of recent events in connection with the special operation in Ukraine, the yachts of Russian oligarchs began to be requisitioned. Apparently, Rashnikov may be left without his Ocean Victory.
“Schemes” Rashnikov
At the same time, one gets the impression that Mr. Rashnikov does not see state interests behind his own profit. In May 2021, it became known that, against the background of the coronavirus pandemic, metallurgical companies increased prices in the domestic market and thus had about 100 billion rubles in excess of what was supposed to be, wrote RBC.
Moreover, it was not someone there who spoke about this, but Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov. With all this, Rashnikov, do not fail to notice, was among the deputies of the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk Region of the IV convocations (1994-2015) – it seems that he acquired a lot of connections there that still help him run his business.
According to the information system “Rusprofile” Rashnikov is listed as the founder of four operating offices at the moment – these are Altair LLC, which operates holding companies, SSP ChRO, which is a member organization, Magnitogorsk Energy Company LLC (MEK) and Energopark LLC, engaged in real estate.
The revenue of all four is either zero or negative, which does not prevent the same IEC “for breakfast, lunch and dinner to eat government contracts.” In addition to Rashnikov, “eating” is also his daughter, who at one time was also listed as the founder of the structure.
Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru
Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru
Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru
The “icing on the cake” is the fact that about 80% of the shares of the plant are owned by Mintha Holding Limited – “Interfax” directly calls Rashnikov the one whose interests the offshore represents. Do not profits from MMK’s activities go offshore, bypassing Russian tax legislation?
Now, due to the imposed sanctions that prohibit Russian businessmen from keeping assets abroad, Rashnikov will apparently have to transfer them to Russia, at least until the foreign policy situation changes.
Five minutes to a foreign resident
Rashnikov also has other offshore companies – for example, he is the beneficiary of Snapbox Holdings Ltd. Earlier, the founder of the development company “Snegiri” Alexander Chigirinsky intended to arrest the offshore company because the businessman and his partner in Snapbox Holdings LTD Nader Nader, in his opinion, should pay an additional $127 million for a stake in the EvolutionTower project.
In fact, they were charged with allegedly unjustified enrichment when they bought in 2010 from Inteko a 50% stake in the Evolution Tower construction project at the Moscow City International Business Center. Shalva Chigirinsky’s company Hazlewood Investment & Finance Ltd also has monetary claims against Rashnikov and Naderu. They amount to $ 90 million and relate to a deal to sell them a stake in the Rossiya tower, which, according to the plaintiff, also took place at a reduced price, writes “Kommersant”.
All this does not fit into the picture of what is happening at the MMK, but the businessman, apparently, is not going to solve the accumulated problems. And really – why? As long as the enterprise, which he inherited under ambiguously interpreted circumstances, brings in money, and a lot of it, and the authorities and the environmental prosecutor’s office do not particularly touch him, it is not economically profitable for Rashnikov to do at least something to prevent accidents and stop the poisoning of the air in Magnitogorsk.