The investigating authorities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs opened another criminal case against the former shareholder of Solikamsk Magnesium Plant OJSC Igor Pestrikov and the ex-general director of the enterprise Artur Urtaev. They are suspected of attempted embezzlement of 2.5 billion rubles. funds of the plant under the guise of the purchase by the enterprise of a 25% stake in Fin-Project LLC, owned by Igor Pestrikov. According to investigators, Igor Pestrikov was the organizer of the crime, and Artur Urtaev was the perpetrator, but they could not commit it, since the latter was arrested as part of another investigation. Igor Pestrikov himself categorically disagrees with the version of the investigation. He complained about the investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the director of the FSB Alexander Bortnikov, asking him to check the actions of the police for the presence of corpus delicti.
The investigative unit of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Perm Territory is investigating a criminal case on an attempted embezzlement of the funds of OJSC Solikamsk Magnesium Plant in the amount of 2.5 billion rubles. His defendants are the former co-owner of SMZ Igor Pestrikov and the ex-general director of the enterprise Artur Urtaev. Igor Pestrikov himself announced the initiation of a criminal case to Kommersant, sending a copy of the appeal to FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov through his representative by proxy.
It follows from the text of the document that the criminal case was initiated at the end of January of this year. According to investigators, Igor Pestrikov decided to organize the theft of funds from the Solikamsk magnesium plant in his favor with the help of Artur Urtaev.
The GSU believes that they wanted to commit embezzlement under the guise of selling SMZ 25% of Igor Pestrikov’s shares in Fin-Project LLC. This company controls the Lovozero Mining and Processing Plant, which is the sole supplier of loparite concentrate for the enterprise in Solikamsk.
The Solikamsk Magnesium Plant is the only producer of rare earth elements in the country and a processor of rare earth minerals. In May 2022, the Arbitration Court of the Perm Territory satisfied the claim of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation for the recovery of more than 89% of the shares into state ownership. The shares of the Fin-Project also became the property of the state. Igor Pestrikov owned a 25% stake in SMZ and a 24.99% stake in LLC. Last year, after a series of previous lawsuits, due to which Petr Kondrashev and Timur Starostin lost the opportunity to manage the enterprise, Igor Pestrikov was able to form a controlled board of directors. By the decision of this body, Artur Urtaev was appointed general director.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in order to implement the theft scheme, the plant represented by Artur Urtaev and Igor Pestrikov entered into a preliminary sale and purchase agreement. But they could not realize their criminal intent, since Artur Urtaev was detained and then arrested as part of a criminal case on abuse of power and embezzlement of 250 million rubles. plant funds under the guise of a loan to Igor Pestrikov. Pestrikov himself was first put on the federal and then on the international wanted list. Interestingly, the loan was secured by Pestrikov’s share in Fin-Project. According to investigators, in fact, the contract was not secured, since the Lovozersky GOK, which is managed by this company, was deeply unprofitable.
In a letter to Mr. Bortnikov, the former shareholder expresses his disagreement with the position of the investigation in both criminal cases. According to him, the preliminary sale and purchase agreement provided for a security deposit, but it could not be paid without the approval of the board of directors.
This issue, according to Igor Pestrikov, was not brought up for discussion by this enterprise management body. In addition, the purchase and sale transaction could not take place without the appraiser’s opinion on the value of the share. Igor Pestrikov also points out that it could not happen until the other co-owners of Fin-Proekt waive their pre-emptive right to buy shares. The former shareholder also believes that if the deal were completed, then SMZ would acquire a stake in a valuable asset, thanks to which it would be able to influence the management of its sole supplier.
Igor Pestrikov does not agree with the accusation of embezzlement of 250 million rubles. He believes that the loan agreement was a civil law transaction. Moreover, the criminal case was initiated literally the next day after her conclusion. The shareholder also notes that the company controlled by him returned to the account of SMZ all the funds under the loan agreement plus interest. Thus, this transaction was beneficial for the enterprise. Igor Pestrikov complains that the initiation of a case due to a loan agreement and the subsequent arrest of his property in the amount of 1 billion rubles. led to problems with the implementation of its conditions. In addition, the former shareholder considers the initiation of a private-public prosecution case illegal, since this happened without a statement from the plant. At the same time, the decision to transfer his shares to the Federal Property Management Agency at that time did not enter into force. As a result, Igor Pestrikov asks the director of the FSB to check the actions of the investigators “for corruption” and the validity of initiating a case.
A Kommersant source familiar with the course of the investigation says that the return of 250 million rubles. security officials can only assess it as voluntary compensation for damage, but this is unlikely to lead to the termination of the investigation. He also claims that the security forces did not need a statement from the plant. “The courts found that the privatization of the enterprise was illegal; at the time of the transfer of assets, 250 million rubles were missing from the plant’s account. Therefore, the damage was done to the Russian Federation,” he believes.