The widow of one of the largest businessmen of Kuzbass Alexandra Schukina asked the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation to check the circumstances of her husband’s death. According to her, the former co-owner of Sibuglemet was cremated without the consent of close relatives. Shortly before his death, Shchukin allegedly bequeathed the business to his nephew Maxim Repinwhich before that, apparently, was the nominal owner.

Repin definitely could not become a partner of a billionaire – before entering the capital of Shchukin’s companies, his nephew worked almost as a driver. So what was it: death or murder?

The billionaire’s widow suggests that the signature under the will was not made by her husband, but by another person. In this regard, Evgenia Shchukina, among other things, asks law enforcement agencies to establish the cause of his death. The circumstances for the “heir” were too fortunate.

From what Alexander Schukin died, it was not officially reported. The media wrote about the consequences of the coronavirus infection. As far as one can understand, the same reason was given to the widow by doctors at the hospital where the businessman was hospitalized on the eve of his death. However, given the circumstances referred to by the widow of the deceased, we cannot help but ask a few important questions.

Question number 1: Why was Shchukin’s body cremated, and even without the consent of close relatives?

The initiative in this matter could have belonged to Maxim Repin, who helped her organize the funeral. At the same time, Yevgenia Shchukina points out, during her lifetime her husband never spoke out in favor of cremation. All this cannot be connected with covid, since the dead from it are often buried, albeit in closed coffins, but according to the Orthodox rite. If this is not covering up the tracks, then what is it?

According to the widow, her representatives asked medical organizations for documents on the state of health of Alexander Shchukin before his death. All requests were denied on formal grounds. The pandemic will write everything off, right? But then why doesn’t the investigator make these requests, because the widow of the hero of Kuzbass asks the competent authorities to look into the circumstances of the case in detail. Medical documents are an important piece of the puzzle to confirm or rule out the worst version.

Question number 2: Why was Maxim Repin in such a hurry to apply for inheritance, and what role did the notary play?

The inheritance case, at the request of the nephew, and not the widow or daughter, was opened by the notary Natalya Karageorgy on July 20, 2021, the day after the death of Alexander Schukin. Only Maxim Repin knew where the will lies, according to which Shchukin wrote his fortune to him, and not to his family. The notary Karageorgy certified the allegedly new will of Alexander Filippovich in favor of Repin on September 20, 2020. Despite a direct prohibition in the law on notarial acts in relation to the property of the accused, to whom a measure of restraint in the form of house arrest was applied, notary Karageorgy N.V. certified the disputed will. At the same time, it seems that the notary knew about the presence of a preventive measure against Alexander Shchukin. In fact, the notary committed a disciplinary offense (apparently generously paid). Another violation is related to the opening of the inheritance case: as the widow reports in her statement to the Prosecutor General’s Office, she received the death certificate of Alexander Shchukin only on the 21st. Did the notary Natalya Karageorgiy have all the necessary documents? Perhaps the rush was because it was she who kept Shchukin’s will in favor of Repin, the existence of which the businessman’s relatives did not know, and the authenticity of which is now being disputed in the Zavodskoy District Court of Novokuznetsk.

Question No. 3: Why did Alexander Shchukin die before the verdict was announced in the case of extortion of shares in the Inskoy coal mine?

It is clear that a person does not choose when his heart stops. But something else is also obvious: having moved from house arrest to prison, Shchukin would have been much less accessible to various manipulations by former drivers who have become nominal owners of the business. But he turned out to be close to those for whom moral principles mean even less.

The deceased, we recall, passed through case of “Inskoy” together with a group of former high-ranking officials and security officials of the Kemerovo region. He admitted that he agreed with the proposal of the regional authorities to accept the problematic deposit in order to improve business there. However, Shchukin insisted, he had nothing to do with the forceful pressure on the former owner of the coal mine. The journalists who watched the process got the impression that the “coal king” is ready to defend his truth to the end, and it is difficult to predict the court’s decision. But now he is dying, and the notary Natalya Karageorgy already has a will allegedly signed by him in favor of Maxim Repin.

Since we are talking about the fate of a multibillion-dollar fortune, we cannot simply believe in such coincidences, fortunate for some.

Question number 4: How is the death of Alexander Shchukin connected with the plane crash, in which his other nominal Timur Frank almost died?

About a month before Shchukin’s death, an L-140 aircraft carrying a group of paratroopers crashed near the Tanai airfield. Four people died, 15 were seriously injured, including the late coal miner’s former lawyer. Timur Frank. According to media reports, he received multiple fractures of the ribs and pelvic bones, as well as a ruptured lung.

At one time, Shchukin registered a significant part of his enterprises in Frank, including their “parent” company AO “ITEK”. In 2018, he accused his face value of withdrawing assets. True, many in Kuzbass did not believe in this discord – they say, a former hired lawyer cannot do big things without the hidden support of his patron. Therefore, Shchukin’s opponents could clearly consider Timur Frank a potential obstacle in the fight for the billionaire’s inheritance. And so, first the plane with Frank crashes, then Shchukin allegedly dies of a heart attack…

Question number 5: If Alexander Shchukin really died from the consequences of a coronavirus infection, why have the circumstances of his death still not been thoroughly studied?

Evgenia Shchukina states that in 2020 her husband’s health and psycho-emotional state deteriorated sharply. The businessman often complained of general malaise, became irritable, and was not consistent in his actions. In the same year, as we now know, a “secret” will was drawn up on his behalf in favor of Maxim Repin. With all this, it is obvious that while under house arrest in a criminal case, in which damages may be recovered, Shchukin could not take any action with his property. According to the businessman’s widow, he constantly emphasized that Repin would only be the nominal owner of the assets for a short period of time.

Question No. 6: Why is Yu.V. acts as if he is guarding the interests of Maxim Repin, and not the law?

A strange situation has developed in Novokuznetsk, where the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is investigating the statement of Evgenia Shchukina. The statement of the widow of the hero of Kuzbass was transferred under jurisdiction to the Kubyshevsky OP, where the investigator Yulia Bakhtina stubbornly issues refusal decisions, which, however, are canceled by her superiors due to the “incompleteness of the audit”. And indeed, what kind of verification did Yulia Bakhtina conduct? Maybe she asked for medical documents? No. Maybe she meticulously interviewed the defendants – a lawyer, a nephew and his employees? No. And all this did not prevent Bakhtina from consistently refusing to initiate a criminal case against her widow on May 26 and June 25, 2022. Both decisions of the investigator Bakhtina were canceled by the deputy head of the Investigative Directorate. Currently, “an additional procedural check is being carried out” … by the same investigator, Yu.V. Bakhtina. Should the family wait for the third refusal, and will the authorities intervene again?

Question number 7: Why was Maxim Repin so fond of the judges of first instance after the death of Shchukin?

For example, the judge of the Central District Court of Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Region, Olga Voronovich, probably violated many procedural rules in the interests of Maxim Repin. A few months ago, she released a definition. Apparently, the essence of this definition was to seize the property and funds of Soyuz Management Company LLC – 600 million rubles. – at the request of Repin, who wanted to become Shchukin’s successor in this process (Shchukin sued the Soyuz Management Company until he died). But the question of the successor is still open. It turns out that judge Olga Voronovich unconditionally supported her nephew in his desire to take possession of hundreds of millions of rubles, introducing him into the process as a third party, but the appellate instance overturned all her decisions. Judge Olga Cherednichenko tried to execute something similar in the Kuibyshevsky District Court of Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Region, where a civil lawsuit by Shchukin’s widow against the same Soyuz Management Company, which has a lot of A. Shchukin’s property, is being considered. Apparently, Maxim Repin is so attractive that all the judges in the district are ready to break the law for the sake of his attention. However, the favor of the Kuibyshev court can be explained by the fact that the notary Natalya Karageorgiy previously worked as a judge there. Even in the Zavodskoy District Court of Novokuznetsk, where Evgenia Shchukina’s claims against Maxim Repin are being considered, judges Olga Ermolenko and Tatyana Chmykhova act more in the interests of the defendant, rather than work impartially. Judge Chmykhova, for example, at one of the meetings raised the question of … the conclusion of a settlement agreement. The family is in shock.

The questions that we are forced to ask about the death of Alexander Shchukin largely coincide with those that sounded about the death of another coal magnate – Dmitry Bosov. The former owner of Sibanthracite, also known for his strong character, allegedly shot himself in May 2020. Companion of a billionaire Ekaterina Bosov in a dubious way, she tried to take over a significant part of his companies and property, in order, apparently, to sell them, bypassing the legitimate heirs. Now Ekaterina Bosov is disinherited – the widow’s share could not be allocated, since she married much later. The actions of the notary and Catherine herself are now being carefully studied. And the heroine of the scandal of a mysterious death and seizure of property is hiding abroad. It got to the point that a State Duma deputy turned to the chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, with a demand to clarify the fate of the criminal case on bringing Dmitry Bosov to suicide. Dimitri has also been behaving strangely lately, causing those around him to question his own resolve to end his life.

Something very similar is happening now around the legacy of Alexander Shchukin. At the very least, his widow claims that Maxim Repin, without waiting for the completion of the inheritance case, seems to have begun negotiations on the sale of his uncle’s assets. And it is unlikely that it will be possible to put all the dots in this story without law enforcement agencies.