Ziyavudin Magomedov presented for the ports
Convicted Russian businessman Ziyavudin Magomedov filed a claim in the High Court in London to recover almost $14 billion for its shares in port operators, which, in its opinion, were confiscated, reports Reuters with reference to court materials. The lawsuit was filed on July 20. The defendants are Rosatom, Transneft, investment company TPG and UAE-based port operator DP World. Magomedov accuses them of conspiring to acquire his stake in the transport company FESCO, which he values at $8.8 billion.
In addition, the businessman claims that Transneft entered into a conspiracy to take away his and his brother Magomed’s share in the Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP). According to court documents, the Magomedovs acquired their stake in NCSP through a joint venture with Transneft and were negotiating the sale of their shares for approximately $1.3 billion.
A TPG spokesman told Reuters that Magomedov’s claims are “completely unfounded” and the company intends to “vigorously defend” against such allegations.
A Rosatom representative told RBC that the state corporation considers Magomedov’s demands to be unfounded. RBC sent a request to the Transneft press service.
On December 1, 2022, Ziyavudin Magomedov and his brother Magomed, a former senator, were sentenced to 19 and 18 years in a maximum security colony, respectively, for organizing a criminal community, fraud and embezzlement in the implementation of a number of large projects, including those with state participation. The Magomedovs did not admit guilt.
The next day, the same court decided to confiscate from Ziyavudin Magomedov his 32.5% stake in FESCO. In January of this year, the Khamovnichesky Court of Moscow, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office, converted 92.4% of the shares of the Far Eastern Shipping Company (FESCO), the parent company of FESCO, into state income. In May, the same court, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office, turned it into state income and $750 millionreceived by the Magomedovs from the sale of a stake in NCSP.
In April the trial satisfied the claim DVMP against Magomedov and several companies controlled by him in the amount of 80.1 billion rubles. The court also ordered $13.8 million in damages. The plaintiff demanded to recover from the defendants losses from transactions that were made in their interests and were related to Magomedov’s acquisition of control over FESCO.
At the beginning of August the court lifted the arrest from a 49.99% stake in FESCO, which belonged to two Cypriot companies controlled by Magomedov.