Snegurov did not ask for a loan
The “VIS Group” could be trying to use dubious schemes to illegally enrich themselves by building a perinatal center in Surgut.
The courts of three instances denied the VIS Group of Igor Snegurov and Dmitry Doev to receive interest on loans from the KhMAO Health Department. The loans were taken for the implementation of the project for the construction of the notorious long-term construction in the city of Surgut – a clinical perinatal center.
VIS Group is known for participating in a number of concession agreements for the construction of significant social and infrastructure projects in Russia. In recent years, many of them have experienced difficulties in implementation. The budget money received for them could be used to pay for other undertakings – for example, the gold mining project of Dmitry Doev and the Rostec State Corporation. Details in the material of The Moscow Post correspondent in Ugra.
The perinatal center in Surgut was built on the basis of a public-private partnership. Moreover, the amount of funds that the Ugra government had to reimburse was constantly growing. As Pravda UrFO writes, in 2019, liabilities to VIS amounted to 18 billion rubles – twice as much as originally planned. It was supposed to list them from 2021 to 2024.
However, as follows from court documents on proceedings between the company and the authorities, as a result, representatives of the state had to pay 24 billion rubles. Due to what – is not completely clear. In view of such an incredible increase in cost, the State Duma became interested in the situation – the deputies demanded a report from the KhMAO government for increasing funding for the construction.
From the same court documents it follows that this amount did not satisfy the appetites of Snegurov and Doev. The beneficiaries of the company suddenly decided that they needed almost 1.4 billion rubles more. These are claims on interest under loan agreements taken back in 2015 for a total of 1.14 billion rubles, as well as a penalty for 218.5 million rubles.
It turned out that the VIS implemented the project not with their own funds, but with borrowed funds. The claims against the Department of Health include claims to reimburse interest on loan agreements taken back in 2015 for a total of 1.14 billion rubles, as well as to pay a penalty in the amount of 218.5 million rubles.
In itself, an attempt to change the terms of the contract, which initially suited the VIS, and even after the implementation of the project, looks extremely strange. But it could still be somehow justified if the group fulfilled its obligations on time, this did not happen.
The center should have been completed in 2017. But the admission of patients began only at the end of 2021. As the latest justification for the postponement, they called the coronavirus pandemic. Was it impossible to finish the work before it began? It turns out that the residents of Surgut, pregnant mothers and families with children had to do without modern perinatal medicine for four years.
The main beneficiary of the VIS Group is Igor Snegurov.
But the situation with money can have a double bottom. It turned out that the VIS structure, which was engaged in the implementation of the project (“VIS Infrastructure”) borrowed money from another structure of its own group – PF VIS LLC, which is its direct founder.
That is, one company of the group “put” another on interest so that it could implement a socially significant project, and the budget will have to pay for all this in addition to the contracts already concluded. As follows from the material of the Pravda UrFO publication, all this looks like a scheme for possible illegal enrichment.
In open sources, it was not possible to find information about government contracts concluded by VIS Infrastructure LLC. At the end of 2021, its revenue amounted to only 15 million rubles, a net loss of 10 million rubles, with an asset value of almost 230 million rubles. All 100% of the company’s shares were pledged to VTB Bank.
VTB is a state bank. It turns out that “VIS” not only receives money from the budget through the PPP mechanism, disrupting the deadlines for the completion of projects, but the funds themselves for their implementation can be taken there.
At the same time, LLC PF VIS, and this is only one of the large divisions of the group, received government contracts worth almost 50 billion rubles. Of these, over 38 billion came from the government of the YaNAO. 22 billion rubles, the company showed an extremely modest profit for such volumes of 1.3 billion rubles, which decreased by 32% over the year.
golden prospects
Where does VIS Group’s money go? Only the company itself can give a reliable answer. However, it is known that at least one of the beneficiaries of the group, Dmitry Doev, actively invested in gold mining projects, while the mothers of Surgut were waiting for the commissioning of the perinatal center.
In 2021, the joint venture of the Rostec state corporation and the Seligdar company – White Gold, became the winner of the auction for the development of the largest gold deposit from the unallocated fund – the Yakut Kyuchus. They offered fabulous money, leaving far behind all competitors – 7.7 billion rubles, while the starting price was 2.2 billion rubles.
“Seligdar” belongs to Dmitry Doev. Earlier, UtroNews journalists suggested that Doev’s long-term ties with Gazprom could help in entering the joint venture with Rostec. Previously, he headed Gazprom Tsentrremont, which combines the repair assets of a gas company, has a huge number of connections with former colleagues and other representatives of state-owned companies.
The Kyuchus gold deposit, with reserves of about 175 tons of gold, is the second largest deposit in Yakutia after Nezhda with reserves of 632 tons, the license for which is held by Polymetal (the largest shareholder is Alexander Nesis). This is a huge piece of the pie, for access to which Mr. Doev could hypothetically redirect funds received under the PPP from VIS Group to a joint venture with Rostec.
Save up for business in England
However, money could go there not only from the perinatal center. Many VIS PPP projects are frankly stalling. One of the biggest failures in this direction was the beginning of the bankruptcy process of Ecology-Novosibirsk LLC, a regional operator for the treatment of municipal solid waste in the Novosibirsk region.
The structure, which is part of the VIS Group, has a debt of 1.86 billion rubles. The amount of state contracts of the company is 645 million rubles. At the end of 2021, with a revenue of 3.5 billion rubles, it received a loss in the amount of 628 million rubles.
This is 22,000% less than a year earlier, when the company earned 2.9 million rubles. Why such a loss? One gets the feeling that part of the assets could have been tritely withdrawn from the company. At the same time, in Novosibirsk itself, serious problems with garbage disposal have been observed in recent years.
Another landmark but problematic project is the construction of the fourth bridge across the Ob in Novosibirsk. It was planned to hand over the bridge by the end of 2022. This deadline has been broken. The owners managed to agree on the transfer of delivery to September 2023, that is, the object is still not ready. Now there is talk that the bridge can only be completed by 2024.
Earlier, a deputy of the Novosibirsk City Council, Alexander Burmistrov, publicly accused the VIS group of violating construction technology. Namely, the replacement of high-quality building materials with cheap counterparts. If it is true that the WIS could be trying to save money on a critical infrastructure facility. The Sibkrai publication writes about the situation.
There are also problems in other PPP projects with the participation of VIS. In June 2020, National Medical Holding LLC was established, which is part of the VIS Group. The holding also includes the Seventh Concession Company, which became the concessionaire of the Novosibirsk authorities for the construction of seven clinics at once in different parts of the city.
It was assumed that the investor would invest 1.4 billion rubles, and another 1.6 billion rubles – this would be a grant from the region. The rest was planned to be borrowed. Initially, the hospitals were supposed to hand over in 2021. Now, in 2024. Will they be sold at all?
Dmitry Doev.
In the meantime, people are waiting for the implementation of the most important social and infrastructure facilities, the likely relatives of Mr. Doev are forming a business in England – one of the most unfriendly countries for Russia. Maybe the money from VIS PPP projects should be sought there?