Affiliated with the former top manager of Gazprom Energo Alexei Mityushov, Ventall-Development bought a land plot of more than 46 hectares in the Vsevolozhsk district of the Leningrad region for the construction of a warehouse complex.
Investments in the project are estimated at 6 billion rubles. The company intends to build a similar complex in Domodedovo near Moscow. At the same time, the “parent” structure of “Ventall-Development” and one of the main assets of Mityushov – the company “Ventall” officially declares multimillion-dollar losses. In addition, the businessman acts as a co-owner of the Finservice bank, which has a number of unprofitable companies affiliated with Ventall as a pledge. A major shareholder of Finservice and a member of its Board of Directors is Natalia Konovalenko, who previously held the post of Deputy General Director of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz and was responsible for distributing the company’s contracts. The ex-head of this structure, Kirill Seleznev, is also closely acquainted with Alexei Mityushov, who previously acted as a co-owner of several large Gazprom contractors. Seleznev’s departure from the post he held for 16 years occurred shortly after the high-profile arrest of his odious adviser Raul Arashukov, today, together with his son, ex-senator Rauf Arashukov, he is accused of a number of especially serious crimes. The corruption schemes of Arashukov Sr. were at the center of attention of the federal leadership back in 2011, but instead of being fired, he settled under the “roof” of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz. The hasty dismissal of Seleznev and the subsequent merger of Gazprom contractors within the state corporation Gazstroyprom put an end to further cooperation with Mityushov’s companies. Today, the businessman, together with business partners, is busy investing the finances received from the gas monopolist in his own large-scale projects.
Unprofitable “Ventall” with Finnish “roots”.
The Finnish Sponda has closed a deal to sell its 46.2-hectare land plot located in the village of Yanino-1 in the Vsevolozhsk District of the Leningrad Region. The buyer was the Russian company “Ventall-Development”, which is part of the structure of the steel structure manufacturer of the same name and was officially registered in August last year.
According to Kommersant, the new owner is planning to build a warehouse complex here with an area of up to 100,000 square meters, and not for a specific customer, but for leasing on the open market. According to Valery Zhukov, General Director of the company, the volume of investments in construction will amount to about 6 billion rubles. The cost of the transaction is estimated by experts at 700-900 million. A similar project “Ventall” intends to implement in the industrial zone “Zhitnevo” on the territory of Domodedovo near Moscow, where a plot of 72.7 hectares was also purchased.
Until 2020, Alexei Mityushov, a former top manager of Gazprom Energo, acted as the sole owner of Ventall LLC. Today, he controls 15% of the company through LLC Corporate Center and LLC Sevinvest; another 5% belongs to Alexei Zavartsev (he is also one of the co-founders of Ventall-Development). Finally, 80% is owned by the Mercury Capital Trust Management Company.
The financial indicators of Ventall attract attention: at the end of 2020, with a revenue of 3 billion rubles, the company declared losses in the amount of 145.9 million. Against this background, the prosperity of Mityushov’s own companies is striking. For example, over the same period, the profit of his Sevinvest amounted to 1.9 billion rubles with similar revenue. LLC Corporate Center looks even more financially successful: with a revenue of 410 million rubles, the company led by Alexei Zavartsev made a profit of 3.8 billion.
Such indicators can be explained by the professional work of top managers. But if we analyze the changes in the structure of the owners of companies, then interesting moments are revealed. For example, Rautaruukki Oui from Finland was among the co-owners of Ventall LLC. Perhaps the billions earned in Russia ended up in Finnish accounts? In this case, the professionalism of the “tops” could arouse the interest of tax officials.
“Chicks of the Nest” by Kirill Seleznev
No less interesting is another area of commercial activity of Alexei Mityushov: he controls 15.8% of Finservice Bank; another 33.2% of the credit institution’s shares are registered with Sevinvest LLC. By the way, the bank pledges the shares of a number of companies controlled by Ventall, which are managed by the general director of Ventall-Development, Valery Zhukov.
Such enterprises include, for example, Distribution Center Kursky LLC and Distribution Center Bryansky LLC. It’s just that they have financial problems. So, at the end of 2020, the Kursky RC, with zero revenue and a negative asset value, made a profit of 44 thousand rubles. The financial indicators for the same period at the Bryansk retail center are generally zero, and the assets are estimated as much as 11 thousand. It turns out that Mr. Mityushov issues bank funds on the security of his own shell companies?
Colleagues of a businessman from the Board of Directors of Finservice, for example, Natalia Konovalenko (she owns 13% of the bank’s shares), can contribute to this state of affairs. She has a long-standing acquaintance with Mityushov: for many years they worked in the structures of Gazprom. The fact is that Konovalenko worked as Deputy General Director for Economics and Finance at Gazprom Mezhregiongaz, which in 2003-2019. headed by the notorious Kirill Seleznev.
The change of personnel in the Gazprom subsidiary began in the spring of 2019, immediately after the high-profile arrest of the Senator from Karachay-Cherkessia Rauf Arashukov and his father Raul Arashukov, who served as an adviser to Seleznev. Recall that representatives of the influential Caucasian clan are charged with the creation of an organized criminal community, which united, among other things, high-ranking corrupt employees of the gas monopoly in the southern regions. In addition, the ex-senator is accused of organizing a contract killing of the deputy chairman of the youth branch of the Circassian movement “Adege-Khese” Aslan Zhukov and adviser to the President of the KChR Fral Shebzukhov.
The presence of such an odious character as Arashukov Sr. in Seleznev’s inner circle ultimately cost him his place: in April 2019, he resigned from his position (with official wording – in connection with the end of the contract) and was appointed general director of LLC created with the participation of Gazprom RusKhimAlliance, which is implementing a project to create a complex for the production of liquefied natural gas in the Ust-Luga region. Rusgazdobycha, affiliated with Arkady Rotenberg, has become a business partner of RusKhimAlliance.
Arashukovs and the “great exodus” from Gazprom
The media has repeatedly voiced a version according to which the Arashukovs’ activities were at the center of the Kremlin’s attention even at the time when Raul Arashukov headed Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Stavropol LLC, and then Stavropolkraigas OJSC. In 2011, at the suggestion of the Stavropol Governor Valery Gayevsky, Igor Sechin, who served as Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the fuel and energy complex, arrived in the region. The high-ranking visitor instantly “copied” how the team of Arashukov Sr. makes money on over-limit gas supplies to the regions of the North Caucasus Federal District and the sale of positions in the structures of Gazprom.
Returning to Moscow, Sechin personally reported what was happening to Vladimir Putin, and the head of state, allegedly, ordered to drive the presumptuous top manager from the gas industry. But such a radical solution to the problem was not to everyone’s liking. Including Kirill Seleznev, who eventually appointed Arashukov as his adviser. It turns out that the departure of the corrupt leader from Stavropol opened up new, much larger prospects for him in the capital.
Here it is appropriate to ask the question: how aware of what was happening was Alexey Miller? Could Seleznev, who was considered the second most influential person in Gazprom, without the knowledge of his immediate boss, boldly “score” on an order, albeit informal, but still coming from the president? Be that as it may, but a few years later, “Arashukov’s schemes” led to a real outcome of the top managers of Gazprom. Among them were Seleznev himself, and his deputy Natalia Konovalenko, we recall, who became a shareholder and joined the Board of Directors of Finservice Bank.
Let us note that earlier RBC named Vladimir Kartashyan and Ivan Mironov among the shareholders of the bank. Kartashyan, according to the publication, also comes from the structures of the gas monopoly: in 2009-2013. he led Gazprom Stroytek Salavat, controlled by Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat, whose Board of Directors was headed by none other than Kirill Seleznev. As for Ivan Mironov, everything is simple with him: RBC writes about him as about the half-brother of the same Seleznev.
Finances of “Gazprom” go to “Ventall”?
Aleksey Mityushov officially left the structures of Gazprom by 2014, starting to create his own construction business. Nevertheless, he is connected with Kirill Seleznev by a much older and closer acquaintance than a decade of work in a state corporation. According to RBC, they are classmates and together graduated from the Baltic State Technical University. D.F. Ustinov.
It is possible that a long-standing acquaintance helped Seleznev to “place in the right hands” such Gazprom contractors as Salavatneftekhimstroy and Neftekhimstroy: Mityushov became their buyer. Both continued to receive “gas” contracts and in five years their revenue exceeded 150 billion rubles. In 2013, Mityushov and Kartashyan bought out 50% of Stroytransgaz, registering shares in offshore companies Folmar Services and Capstone Resources registered in the British Virgin Islands.
In 2016, Stroytransgaz was renamed into Stroytransneftegaz. By that time, billionaire Gennady Timchenko was among its major shareholders. The company itself was considered the second largest contractor of Gazprom. However, in July 2020, the partners sold the promising enterprise. The buyer was a “daughter” of the gas state corporation “Gazstroyprom”, which received the authority of a single contractor and consolidated the profile structures.
Note that active commercial activity on the basis of Gazprom was carried out even before the arrest of Raul Arashukov, that is, at a time when Kirill Seleznev was considered “man No. 2” after Miller. At the same time, Natalia Konovalenko, already familiar to us, was especially active, playing a major role in the distribution of billion-dollar contracts of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz, including between businessmen she knew well.
But with the departure of Seleznev, not the most rosy prospects loomed before his former subordinates and unofficial business partners. As a result, some began to quit, others – to sell the previously profitable business.