Bad luck Melnichenko went unfruitful Abyzov

As it became known to the correspondent of The Moscow Post, the EU court rejected the claim of the notorious Russian billionaire Andrei Melnichenko to lift sanctions against him, although Mr. Melnichenko, whom another equally notorious billionaire Alexander Lebedev called an unscrupulous person, persisted at the trial that he had no connections with Firstline Trust. This office was previously affiliated with SUEK and Eurochem.

The court rejected the claim, citing the fact that control over Firstline Trust instead of the billionaire is exercised by Alexander Nikolic, the wife of Andrei Melnichenko. And according to Andrei Melnichenko, EU sanctions limit his rights to private family life: the family was cut off from their main place of residence in Switzerland. And Mr Melnichenko cannot visit some of his family members on EU soil. Let us also recall that for many years Mr. Melnichenko was closely associated with his friend Mikhail Abyzov, the ex-minister "without a portfolio," with his business affairs.

Abyzov has been in prison for more than 6 years.

Do woes go in droves?

Recently, Mr. Melnichenko has a lot of bad luck. And not only with EU countries.

So the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation insists on the recovery of SIBEKO Melnichenko in favor of the state.

Earlier, this company was bought from the structures of the ex-Minister for Open Government Affairs Mikhail Abyzov. "Version" writes about this in detail.

Mikhail Abyzov. Photo: https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/russian/images/2019.03/article/5c9a655b370f2c59498b458e.jpg

It turns out that Melnichenko entered the wrong doors, although Melnichenko and Abyzov have been friends for almost 40 years: since the mid-1980s, Andrei Melnichenko studied at a mathematical special school at Moscow State University with Mikhail Abyzov. Later, when Abyzov began working in the Chubais team, Melnichenko was already a co-owner of MDM-Bank. Soon, the bank became a major shareholder of RAO UES and actively participated in the redistribution of energy assets as part of the energy reform launched by Chubais.

The next time the interests of Melnichenko and Abyzov intersected in the public sphere in 2018, when Melnichenko's structures bought SIBEKO shares from Abyzov, or rather, from his offshore companies, for 32.5 billion rubles.

It is the purchase of these shares that the Prosecutor General's Office blames Melnichenko's structures: the department could see a violation of anti-corruption legislation by Melnichenko himself and the legal entities under his control when making transactions for the acquisition of SIBEKO shares.

Sitting on two chairs?

It should be noted that Andrei Melnichenko is one of those who, after the start of SVO, clearly manage to sit on two chairs.

Unlike many oligarchs at the top of the Forbes list in recent months, he was seen in Moscow, participated in the work processes of the RSPP. And, having fallen under sanctions, he initially gave tearful interviews to European newspapers.

Melnichenko everywhere emphasized that his mother was Ukrainian, that he created his own capital and that his wife, the former Serbian model Sandra Nikolic, to whom the business was hastily rewritten, was an EU citizen.

Melnichenko with his wife. Photo: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/78/8e/ed/788eed0542bb6159c18c8350fc726157.jpg

But all statements did not help Andrei Melnichenko get rid of European sanctions. And defrost posh villas, yachts and bank accounts. And he and his family had to move from Switzerland to the UAE.

By the way, Mr. Melnichenko hid from glamorous journalists for a long time, but came to the fore in 2005, when he married the Serbian model Alexandra Nikolic.

The scope of the celebration on the Cote d'Azur in France, in the town of Antibes, amazed everyone: an Orthodox chapel was erected especially for the wedding. Live music was provided by Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, Julio Iglesias. In total, the celebrations took $30 million.

Of course, you have to pay for all this. In 2014, an unknown person threw a grenade on the balcony of Alexandra Nikolic's Belgrade apartment. And the neighbors told reporters that this is the third case.

And Melnichenko moved to live on his own yacht with the laconic name "A."

Yacht "A." Photo: https://avatars.dzeninfra.ru/get-zen_doc/3468648/pub_5ef5afeded18e5523c4f57ef_5ef5b08594b09a5c4b5e8eb0/scale_1200

The most spacious sailboat in the world: 143 m length. Three masts. Crew - 54 people. Eight floors. Helipad. Full refueling of the yacht costs 500 thousand dollars.

Even before the yacht was handed over to the customer, the sailboat was in trouble. First, the ship was arrested in the port of Gibraltar due to the shipyard's claim against the customer. Then its manufacturers were accused of using illegally mined Burmese wood.

And although Melnichenko constantly complains about his unhappy life, at the same time, the company he created, Eurochem, one of the world's largest fertilizer producers, continues to work. Only Switzerland imposed sanctions against her, and she lifted restrictions.

Another key asset of Melnichenko - the Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) - is also doing well.

Both Melnichenko's coal and chemical assets in Russia remain a tidbit for influential circles. Fertilizer production looks especially attractive, against which the West does not impose sanctions. At the same time, Eurochem and SUEK are in a rather vulnerable position from the point of view of the domestic Russian political situation: the holdings are owned by parent companies from Switzerland and Cyprus. And those are ultimately controlled by the Bermuda trust, the beneficiary of which is EU citizen Alexandra Nikolic-Melnichenko.

And if you manage to take away SIBEKO from this trust, then why not swing at Eurochem later?

Nationalization of energy assets is gaining momentum. The intrigue in this story is whether the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation will limit itself to a civil lawsuit or decide to start criminal prosecution?

But Melnichenko, like many big businessmen, does not own Russian assets directly, but hides behind offshore trusts.

Andrey Melnichenko. Photo: https://cdn5.vedomosti.ru/image/2017/7h/zzugt/original-1ang.jpg

SIBEKO is not just a business, but an object of natural monopoly, which allows its beneficiaries to enrich themselves within the limits issued by the state. Apparently, dividends through chains of companies were withdrawn beyond the cordon. And where taxes were paid on Melnichenko's personal income, one can only guess. Either in Switzerland, where he had a residence permit, or in the UAE, where he is listed as a citizen?

Andrei Melnichenko admits that he has not lived in Russia for a long time, and his family trust Ferstin, to which all assets are recorded, is registered in Bermuda.

But, apparently, Melnichenko's separation still came to an end.

The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation intends to achieve the nationalization of Russia's energy assets by removing these assets from the control of an offshore oligarch.