“On the road” with Usmanov
Previously convicted of tax fraud, Grigory Fedyukov could withdraw money from the Volkovsky Distillery not without Alisher’s knowledge Usmanova. The Federal Tax Service of Russia (FTS) filed an application with the Arbitration Court of the Tambov Region to declare the Volkovsky Distillery CJSC bankrupt. The amount of claims is over 214 million rubles. The sole owner of the enterprise is the now liquidated Belstarinvest LLC, a businessman from Voronezh, Grigory Fedyakov.
In the past, Mr. Fedyukov already had problems with the tax authorities with criminal overtones, so the money could simply be withdrawn from the enterprise.
Meanwhile, Fedyukov has an interesting partner in the past, Alisher Usmanov, with whom Fedyukov worked back in the 2000s.
“Volkovsky distillery” could have been recognized as insolvent for a long time. Claims were made against him back in 2021, but in 2022 he managed to swim out: suddenly, part of his debts to Fresh LLC (11.5 million), Expobank (32.9 million) and the Federal Tax Service (144 million rubles) were bought by a construction company company “Tavbostarstroy”
The reason was the promises of the management of the Volkovsky distillery (read – Fedyakov himself) that a new, extremely profitable production will be launched on the developer’s premises – pure water and antiseptics, and they will also re-launch a line for the production of alcoholic beverages, the most famous of which is Tambovsky brand vodka wolf”.
However, a year has passed, and, apparently, things did not work out – the rest of the money could simply be withdrawn from the enterprise. There is still no financial information on the results of 2022, but in 2021 the profit of the plant, which was already balancing on the verge of profitability, fell sharply – by 6 million percent, from 2 thousand rubles to a loss of 125 million rubles. The value of assets decreased immediately by 30%.
It seems that, having received a deferment from the Federal Tax Service and promising mountains of gold to Tavbovstarstroy, the company’s management won time, during which it could sell all the liquid assets of the plant.
Taxes are not for everyone
This story breathes a criminal smell, especially if you take into account the past “exploits” of Grigory Fedyakov. Earlier, during his leadership of the Belstar-agro agricultural holding in the Voronezh region, he was found guilty of tax fraud.
Frauds were committed during the purchase of agricultural products at the Kalacheevsky Bakery Combine (KHK, part of Belstar-agro). One-day companies AgroTrade LLC, Agroimpulse LLC, VAPK Dart LLC, Flora LLC and TK Zlata LLC acted as suppliers.
However, true purchases were made from companies that are on a simplified taxation system and are exempt from VAT. With the help of false declarations in 2015-2016, Grigory Fedyakov and his accomplices managed to illegally reimburse 26.4 million rubles.
Perhaps Fedyakov would have managed to evade responsibility if not for one of the participants in the scheme – the general director of the KHC Pavel Tafintsev, who was caught by the hand and made a deal with the investigation. As a result, Fedyakov also admitted his guilt, and at the same time he received an extremely mild sentence – only three years of suspended imprisonment.
Grigory Fedyakov.
But earlier Fedyakov was a respected member of society. Grigory Fedyakov’s problems began in 2012, when all the holding’s large enterprises went bankrupt one after another due to debts to banks. Where the money went is still unclear, but in the end Fedyakov himself was declared bankrupt.
At the same time, a businessman, even during the period of bankruptcy of the main legal entities of the holding, could try to “cheat”. According to Four Pens, the property of the main legal entities of the holding was transferred to the LLC of the same name, affiliated with Fedyakov himself. In some cases, it could be sold at a greatly reduced price, while the total debt amounted to more than 11 billion rubles. Including the budget.
At the same time, the activities of Belstar-agro subsequently turned into the initiation of several more criminal cases, primarily related to illegal obtaining of loans. Therefore, we can assume that Mr. Fedyakov still got off very lightly.
Today, he is still listed as the founder of 18 organizations at once, among which the public organization VRPO GS Leader and the companies Belstar-Pharm JSC, Investregion-v CJSC and the aforementioned Volkovsky Distillery remain “alive”.
Of these, CJSC “Investregion-v”, which is engaged in the processing of meat and canned food, attracts special attention. Actually, this company may be a dummy, where hypothetically the distillery’s money could also be.
The latest financial information for the company is available for 2015. With zero revenue and profit (that is, it does not conduct financial activities), the structure found assets totaling 300 million rubles. Why, in this case, Fedyakov will not pay off the debts of the Volkovsky distillery with these assets?
It is quite possible that this enterprise, like the Volkovsky distillery, belongs to Grigory Fedyakov only partially. Delov is that earlier Fedyakov worked in a team, Alisher Usmanova just at the time when there was a scandal with an unfriendly takeover of “Tyazhmekhpress”. This company produces heavy presses.
under pressure Usmanova
In 2003, a scandal erupted. Several shareholders representing 13% of the capital structure of “Tyazhmekhpress” stated that, in their opinion, “Metalloinvest” received the company illegally – since the right of pre-emptive sale of shares to the shareholders of the company was not observed.
In fact, the representatives of Metalloinvest and the top management of the CJSC were accused of theft and banditry. Minority shareholders demanded that they report to them who and how much of the top managers earned on the sale of their plant to Metalloinvest, Kommersant wrote.
The story was typical of the 90s. And one of the top managers of the company, who acted on the side of Alisher Usmanova, in those years there was just Grigory Fedyakov, the general director of ZAO Tyazhmekhpress.
As a result, the representatives of Metalloinvest decided to take into account the wishes of only the largest minority shareholder – CJSC Trade House Tyazhmekhpress. The representatives of the company were assured that the Trade House would participate in the sale of the plant’s products on exclusive terms. The rest of the minority shareholders, in fact, were left with a nose, not allowed into the Board of Directors.
At the same time, it was Grigory Fedyakov who tried with all his might to convince minority shareholders that the plant was acquired by Metalloinvest on legal grounds. One gets the impression that he could be Alisher’s “mishandled Cossack” Usmanova, as a result of which he gained control of another large enterprise.
Alisher’s interests may lie behind the situation with the Volkovsky distillery Usmanova?
Considering past merits and connection with Metalloinvest Usmanova, it is easy to assume that in the situation with the “Volkovsky distillery” it is not surprising to assume the presence of a trace of the latter. Moreover, he himself now prefers not to shine because of a whole series of cross-sanctions imposed on him.
If this assumption is true, then traces of the distillery, as well as the alcohol itself, will be difficult to find.
