Igor Borovikov sells the Russian assets of Softline (specializes in information technology) to the fund of the management company Tethys Capital. Thus, Borovikov is left with only Softline Global, headquartered in London. It is highly likely that the founder of Softline himself will soon move there for permanent residence.
It is believed that Borovikov may thus be trying to save foreign business against the backdrop of sanctions risks. The correspondent of The Moscow Post figured out what other motives for this decision could be and whether he would be able to keep the Russian one.
Softline, or rather its structure Softline Trade, was involved in the case of ex-Deputy Minister of Energy Anatoly Tikhonov, who is now on trial for the alleged withdrawal of more than 600 million rubles on the creation of an information system GIS for the fuel and energy complex.
The fact is that “Softline Trade” was among the list of companies that, according to the investigation, fulfilled contracts at obviously inflated prices. Nevertheless, the court ultimately refused the Ministry of Energy during the proceedings to recover damages of almost 20 million rubles Softline”, because he considered the fact of overestimation of the cost unproven.
But this money could go to Cypriot offshores.
After the publication of this information by The Moscow Post journalists, Borovikov began his manipulations with assets. And who did he sell them to?
Don’t belay and fluffy
The main ultimate beneficiary of Tethys Capital is Oleg Belai. Tethys Capital is owned by Trinfico, which in turn is controlled by Trinfico Holdings JSC, which is part of Trinfico Group LLC. The latter is 70.04% owned by Oleg Belai – Kommersant writes about this. Belai is a very noticeable character. He hypothetically could take part in the withdrawal of money from NPF Akvilon, The Moscow Post suggested. After all, it is Belay who is the beneficiary of Trinfico, to which Kit Finance Trade sold the shares bought in the repo in 2019 at an inflated price.
“The Kit Finance Trade company took securities in repo, in fact, these illiquid bonds, from third parties. After that, it sold securities at a price higher than the market. It sold them to the permanent management company Trinfico, which managed the funds of NPF Akvilon” In this case, several days passed, and a reverse operation was carried out by Trinfico to sell the same securities to Kit Finance Trade at the expense of NPF Akvilon at the expense of NPF Akvilon. As you understand, at first there was a sale at an inflated price, then at a reduced price,” TASS sources describe the essence of the scheme.
Serik Rakhmetov, who previously worked for Transneft and LUKOIL, was the main shareholder of Trinfico Management Company at that time. Through him, Belai could also participate in another unpleasant business. We are talking about the scandal with the Cypriot broker Ronin Europe, which, in a likely conspiracy with company officials, bought foreign currency from LUKOIL at a reduced price, which caused damage of 146 million rubles.
In addition, as The Moscow Post suggested, Oleg Belai could also put his hand into the Russian Railways fund “Welfare”: together with the son of the first deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Alexander Zhukov, Peter Zhukov, Belai launched the Tendertekh Internet service. The partners offered to provide a guarantee from Absolut Bank, which belongs to the Welfare Foundation.
Thus, any one-day company, in fact, could receive a bank guarantee on an order from some state-owned company. Then the contract was allegedly broken and the bank paid the money under the guarantee. Just fantastic.
“Welfare” through the Criminal Code “Trinfico” controls “Absolut Bank”, which in 2019 the security forces frequented. Already at that time, he showed solid losses. And now the bank, one might say, “breathes its last.” And there is a version that it is by no means due to economic factors, but due to the actions of specific individuals, among whom could be Mr. Belay.
The latter may even be involved in political scandals – as The Moscow Post told, his company TGC-14 in 2019 “accidentally” sent out a detailed report to the media about fake signatures for candidates for governor in the Trans-Baikal Territory. This information could have damaged the then acting governor Alexander Osipov.
And such a burning interest in the topic of TGC-14 could have been provoked by the latter’s pre-election promise to deal with problems in the energy sector. But TGC-14 “became famous” for saving on its own employees, to whom it paid 25 thousand rubles each, because of which they even went on a hunger strike. She was also caught on the “undercooling” of the water during the winter periods.
True, apparently, they feared the energy industry in vain. After Osipov was nevertheless elected, the situation did not noticeably change for the better, and the tariffs only grow. Everything that Osipov does against this background is talking from the podium about ways to solve the problem, but so far it looks like an empty “trap”.
Will not lead to good
Despite gigantic government orders, TGK-14’s financial position hints that the company may soon come to an end. According to the latest data, it does not have enough own funds to ensure current activities, there is a risk of loss of solvency. The company has been showing signs of inefficiency for a long time and there is not enough working capital to pay current liabilities in a timely manner.
The situation is approximately the same with Trinfico and Trinfico Holdings, whose founders recently included the Cypriot NIBRO CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED.
But what speaks most eloquently about how Belai conducts his business is the total revenue of the companies he heads – and it is equal to zero. This hardly means that the entrepreneur develops his “brainchildren”, preferring, most likely, to use them for personal enrichment. Including, perhaps, at the expense of the state.
Softline is currently a very successful company in the market. Although it is also very unstable in terms of financial stability. Spiteful critics are sure that Borovikov used it to withdraw state money. And not only at GIS Fuel and Energy Complex.
I don’t want to think what will happen to the firm when Belaya comes “to power”. The office is subject to government orders, most of which are under execution. And will inevitably take new ones. No matter how gullible customers end up with a “broken trough” and budget billions don’t settle somewhere in the Virgin Islands.