Russian businessman Viktor Baturin, better known not for his entrepreneurial successes, but for scandals with his younger sister Elena Baturina (widow of former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov), may soon lose his British asset.
The Shelborne plant in Suffolk, Britain, which still regularly brings profit to the family of Viktor Baturin, seems to have been acquired in violation of English law and can be recovered as part of Baturin’s ongoing personal bankruptcy proceedings.
Numerous creditors of Viktor Baturin, whom he does not particularly like, have a real chance to get at least something.
Service by service
According to documents obtained by the journalists of the authoritative English publication London Globe, the notorious Russian businessman Viktor Baturin is likely to face new legal proceedings very soon. They are related to his hidden assets in the UK, which his creditors can foreclose.
This is a large and profitable plant in the east of England, in the county of Suffolk, called Shelbourne Reynolds Engineering Ltd., and specializes in the production of agricultural machinery for the US and Canadian markets.
As a result of the London Globe investigation, it turned out that Mr. Baturin acquired Shelborne as a politically exposed person (PEP), becoming the owner of the company in 2006.
Given the career of Viktor Baturin in Russian government and his political connections, the sources of funds for the acquisition of Shelborne, according to the London Globe, are likely to become the object of not only a judicial, but also a police investigation.
In 1998-1999, Viktor Baturin worked in senior positions in the Republic of Kalmykia – the chairman of the government and adviser to the president. Persons in such positions and with such connections are considered by the Anti-Money Laundering Group (FATF) to be a politically exposed person: PEP, “politically exposed person”. In some jurisdictions, PEPs are considered to pose an increased risk of potential involvement in bribery and corruption due to their position and the influence they may exercise.
That is, the problems with creditors may be added to the proceedings with the British authorities.
Start of sales Stanton Holdings Limited
Since 2006, Stanton Holdings Limited (until April 2015 it was called Russian Shelbourne Ltd.,) has become the owner of Shelbourne. As of May 18, 2006, Viktor Baturin owned 100% of Stanton’s shares, and was the ultimate beneficiary of Shelborne.
But in 2010, Viktor Baturin, according to documents at the disposal of the London Globe, disposed of 100% of Stanton’s shares in this way:
1. 4,990,068 shares (about 95%) were transferred to Inter Agro Tech Ltd (British Virgin Islands);
2. 262,365 shares (about 5%) to Alexander Kuznetsov (who was a Stanton director until November 2021);
3. 1 share went to Mr. William Thomas Stokler.
Nevertheless, Viktor Baturin continued to control Stanton through Inter Agro Tech Ltd., where he had a controlling stake until February 24, 2014. According to the “London-globe” on February 24, 2014, a controlling stake in Inter Agro Tech Ltd. passed into the possession of Lyudmila Obraztsova. The same name is the mother-in-law of Viktor Baturin.
Between October 2017 and September 2018, 95% of Stanton shares held by Inter Agro Tech Ltd. were transferred to PRP Ltd, an offshore company in the Marshall Islands.
The sole trustee of the trust who held shares in Stanton’s former and current parent companies, Inter Agro Tech Ltd. and PRP Ltd. – was and still is Mr. Daniel Greenburg – probably the nominal owner of Stanton and, as a result, Shelbourne. Alexander Kuznetsov continues to own the remaining 5% stake in Stanton.
Prison cases -Viktor Baturin
It is important to remember that in June 2011, Viktor Baturin was found guilty of large-scale fraud in the sale of real estate in the center of Moscow, and sentenced to three years of probation.
In November 2011, he was again arrested on suspicion of embezzlement of large sums of money on counterfeit bills. In July 2013, the Gagarinsky Court of Moscow sentenced Viktor Baturin to 7 years in prison for fraud.
Thus, it turns out that all of the above transactions related to the change in the structure of shareholders of the British company were carried out by Viktor Baturin while he was in prison, and for their implementation he turned to the services of his mother-in-law Lyudmila Obraztsova.
It seems that these transactions had a single purpose for Baturin – to hide his assets in the UK from numerous creditors and Russian law enforcement agencies, and also to maintain control over him. It is worth noting that Lyudmila Obraztsova played a key role in the whole scheme.
In early 2015, Viktor Baturin officially divorced his wife Ilona Obraztsova. Probably, the divorce was fictitious, at least in Instagram accounts https://www.instagram.com/motorashka/, https://www.instagram.com/ludmilabant/ you can find many photos of Ilona Obraztsova with her mother Lyudmila The exemplars lead a luxurious lifestyle, allegedly using the profits from the Shelborne factory in the UK.
In January 2016, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kalmykia released Viktor Baturin from further serving his sentence (2 years 10 months before the end of the term). In August 2016, the court, again in Kalmykia, accepted for consideration the claim of one of Viktor Baturin’s creditors to declare him bankrupt. The story is still going on.
The total amount of creditors’ claims against Viktor Baturin is more than 3.3 billion rubles. Baturin’s largest creditors are Cypriot Sarrio Investments Ltd (3.2 billion rubles), the Federal Tax Service of Russia (18.6 million rubles), citizen Stanislav Iosilzon (8 million rubles), Penza LLC Portal-Stroy (15.6 million rubles) and Penza branch of Rosselkhozbank (10.3 million rubles). Victor Baturin has already told his creditors that he will pay off all debts within 7 years. However, nothing has been heard about such repayments so far.
Viktor Baturin back in crime
Viktor Baturin also persuaded his bankruptcy trustee to file a lawsuit against the sister of Elena Baturina, the widow of former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, demanding $250 million for assets allegedly stolen from him. In May 2021, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow dismissed the claim.
In July 2021, Viktor Baturin again became a defendant in a criminal case on attempted fraud on an especially large scale. The application was submitted by Elena Baturina. Her brother remains behind bars to this day.
Well, all this time, the Shelborne English plant continues to produce agricultural machinery and generate income for Viktor Baturin, Lyudmila Obraztsova and other members of his family. Although, judging by the financial reports, Shelborne could have already closed most of the claims against Baturin. In 2020, Shelbourne had a turnover of £29.2m and a profit of £8.9m.
Given the family’s determined unwillingness to share Shelborne’s profits with anyone, it seems that the only way for creditors to get their money back is to return the shares of the plant to their original state and their further sale as part of Viktor Baturin’s bankruptcy proceedings. But for this, the Russian proceedings in the Baturin bankruptcy case must first be recognized in the UK. What happens next seems to be a matter of technique, since information confirming the fictitious nature of transactions with Shelborne and the nominal nature of the current owners, including Lyudmila Obraztsova and others, is in the public domain.
Apparently, the London Globe only revealed the scheme by which Viktor Baturin conducted business in Suffolk from a Russian prison. Russian creditors could become the locomotive of the new process as the most interested party.
At the same time, Russian law enforcement agencies can independently assess the actions of all parties who are considered participants in the process of hiding Viktor Baturin’s assets from creditors.
For example, as the commission of illegal actions in bankruptcy (the article provides for imprisonment for up to 4 years). Or fraud on an especially large scale, committed by a group of persons by prior agreement (up to 10 years).
In addition, as noted above, one of the consequences of transactions involving Lyudmila Obraztsova, Grinberg, Kuznetsov and others in the UK may be the confiscation of the plant if the sources of funds for which it was bought are not explained to the UK authorities.
