Sergey Sopchuk is out of reach

Criminal case against a former State Duma deputy and a former deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Primorsky Territory Sergei Sopchukwhich is currently is wanted suspended on charges of money laundering and illegal entrepreneurship. The prosecutor announced this at the board of the regional prosecutor’s office summing up the results of 2023. Sergey Stolyarov.

“The case has been suspended due to the search. This is the case in accordance with Art. 208 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism),” the department’s press service explained to RBC Primorye. Let us note that Part 2, Clause 1 of this article states that the investigation is suspended if the suspect or accused has fled or his whereabouts have not been established for other reasons.

According to Stolyarov, last year 17 criminal anti-corruption cases were suspended. All – under the second and third paragraphs of Article 208. The third states that continuation of the investigation is impossible if the location of the accused is known, but there is no real possibility of his participation in the criminal case.

“Four names in total: (Rustam) Abushaev, (Sergey) Sopchuk, (Dmitry) Stukov and the former head of VPOPAT (Ruslan) Samigullin. Abushaev is defending his homeland at the front, Samigullin has left for the Northern Military District zone, Sopchuk is wanted, Stukov too,” – Stolyarov noted.

Let’s add that Primorye media call Dmitry Stukov Sopchuk’s nephew, he appears in one of the lawsuits against the ex-deputy.

Let us remind you that in November 2021, Sopchuk was put on the international wanted list. He was charged in absentia with illegal business and money laundering. The ex-deputy’s home was searched, documentation was confiscated, and United Russia (*aggressor country) suspended Sopchuk’s membership in the party. Court on the claim of the FSB Directorate for the Primorsky Territory confiscated the Mayak tourist complex near Vladivostok worth more than 900 million rubles, owned by Sopchuk, and 135 million rubles in profit from the operation of this base.

The Federal Property Management Agency sold a 100% stake in the authorized capital of Terney Gold LLC for 1.2 billion rubles. The new owner of the company is LLC “Medoed” from Khabarovsk, Konkurent.ru reports. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Honeyed LLC was created only in April 2023, the company’s main activity is the extraction of decorative and building stone, limestone, gypsum, chalk and shale. Viktor Shapovalov owns a 90% share in the company, he also controls Malinovskoye LLC, which is engaged in geological exploration, and DV Tekhmash LLC, which rents and leases construction machinery and equipment.
Terney Gold LLC came under the control of the Federal Property Management Agency as a result of the “confiscation” operation carried out by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism). Previously, Terney Gold was 99.23% owned by Lyudmila Stukova, another 0.5% was controlled by Partner DV LLC, and 0.27% was controlled by Omonia LLC.
Stukova is the sister of ex-State Duma deputy Sergei Sopchuk. According to some reports, she received a share in the company in 2016. At the end of 2020, the State Prosecutor’s Office filed a lawsuit to convert the shares of Stukova and other companies into state revenue on the basis, as the supervisory authority believed, that they were all fictitious owners of the gold mining enterprise. Because after being elected as a deputy of the State Duma, Sopchuk continued to determine the fate of this society, make governing decisions and illegally supply funds. Plus, you can use it to generate income and enrich yourself in a way prohibited by law.

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