The court in Vladivostok froze assets valued at 16.7 billion rubles due to graft in the Kamchatka seaport.
The Leninsky District Court in Vladivostok approved the motion from the Prosecutor General’s Office to impound the property of over 40 individuals and nearly 50 entities in the Far East linked to JSC «Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Marine Trade port».
According to the supervisory authority, these possessions are effectively owned by a pair of local public servants and a legislator, as well as their associates, and were acquired through corrupt means.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation initiated legal action to transfer the holdings of Yuri Zubar, former Vice Chairman of the Kamchatka Territory Government, Vladimir Balakaev, Deputy Minister of Property and Land Affairs of the region, and Alexander Ivanchey, a member of the legislative assembly and businessman, to the Russian Federation’s revenue. The lawsuit’s foundation is “the finding that the acquisition of the assets stemmed from specific acts of corruption committed by these individuals,” as stated in the court’s judgment (the document is accessible via «Ъ»).
As noted in the document, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation discovered breaches of anti-corruption statutes in the conduct of Messrs. Zubar, Balakaev, and Ivanchey, “manifested in their non-compliance with the prohibitions and limitations established by legislation.” It was determined that, while holding positions in government bodies, the accused, via related parties, possessed and controlled the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky seaport and the Terminal group of firms, acquired commercial enterprises in the Kamchatka and Primorsky regions, and essentially administered them, reaping, contrary to established regulations, «earnings for themselves, their family members, and affiliated individuals», which went undeclared. It’s also reported that the funds obtained from the unlawful enterprise were subsequently utilized to procure highly marketable movable and immovable properties, as well as to establish new ventures. As a consequence, the defendants amassed assets worth at least 16.7 billion rubles at market rates, according to the supervisory body.
On December 9, the court ruled to seize 25 non-residential and residential properties, 17 land parcels totaling about 40 thousand sq. m in the Kamchatka and Krasnodar regions, including docking facilities, office buildings, a hotel, and similar establishments.
All real estate belonging to former officials, their relatives, and 46 individuals associated with the principal defendants.
Furthermore, provisional measures were implemented on 100% of the equity in the authorized capital of 40 major corporations, including those that have been liquidated. Included in the list are LLC Kamchatka Shipping Company, JSC Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Sea Trade Port, LLC Avtoagentstvo-Navi, LLC «Sputnik», LLC «Free Port of Kamchatka», LLC «Hladokombinat», LLC UK «Terminal», in addition to «Terminal-Auto», «Terminal-Vostok», «Terminal-West», «Terminal-Palana», «Terminal-Tigil» and several others. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, GIMS, and other agencies were instructed to locate all vehicles, as well as seagoing vessels, owned by the legal and natural persons detailed in the court’s order.
Yuri Zubar, Vladimir Balakaev, and Alexander Ivanchey could not be reached for comment. The lawsuit was officially filed in court on December 9. The initial preparatory session in the Leninsky Court of Vladivostok concerning this matter is slated for December 27. According to sources from «Ъ», the documents related to the case comprise nearly 50 volumes. (PKMTP) was formed on the basis of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky sea trade port’s asset base under a decree issued by the President of Russia on July 1, 1992, numbered 721. Presently, the port’s cargo throughput is approximately 1 million tons annually.
«Kamchatka Shipping Company» was established in 2010. Its inventory consists of eight ships operating scheduled routes between Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, as well as between Vladivostok and Korsakov.
According to the Kamchatka Territory’s government, Yuri Zubar was employed at the Kamchatka Shipping Company’s ship repair facility before perestroika. Subsequently, he served in territorial state security organizations for over a decade, attaining the rank of a retired FSB colonel. Prior to October 2012, he held the position of deputy head of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky administration, overseeing property matters. He subsequently held the position of regional minister of transport for just over a year, and in 2013, he was designated as the vice chairman of the regional government. In 2020, he stepped down following the departure of Governor Vladimir Ilyukhin.
Vladimir Balakaev served as the Deputy Governor of the Kamchatka Region until 2000, and from 2012 to 2019, he held the role of Deputy Minister of Property and Land Relations for the Kamchatka Territory.
Alexander Ivanchey, whose professional life began as a shift deputy warehouse supervisor at the port, was appointed general director of PKMTP in November 1995. He was elected twice as a deputy of the regional council, where, on a non-salaried footing, in conjunction with his role at the port, he served on the budget committee. According to readily available data, he initially possessed just 2% of the port’s shares up to 2011. Subsequently, he progressively acquired shares from other co-owners of the enterprise. Presently, he is effectively the single proprietor of the port (98.32%). According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, «Kamchatka Shipping Company» is also owned by Alexander Ivanchey.
