The Prosecutor General’s Office filed a lawsuit against the richest businessman in Russia

The General Prosecutor’s Office of Russia filed a lawsuit against businessman, billionaire Alexei Melnychenko. According to the source referred to by the business media, the plaintiff demands that Melnychenko JSC “Siberian Energy Company” (SIBEKO) be transferred to the ownership of the state. The prosecutor’s office considers the transaction to acquire SIBEKO to be corrupt.

Melnychenko bought the company in 2018 from entrepreneur Mikhail Abyzov for 35.5 billion rubles. According to the prosecutor’s office, Abyzov sold SIBEKO to Melnychenko in order to hide his involvement in the sale of the company’s shares. The agency calls the transaction “anti-social” and demands that everything that appears in it be recovered from the state’s income.

The defendants in the case, in addition to the businessman, also include “Kuzbassenergo”, a part of the Siberian Generating Company (SGK), and JSC “Khakasskaya servisno-remontnaya kompaniya” (KHSRK), which purchased SIBECO shares.

This is not the first time that the Prosecutor General’s Office demands the seizure of private assets in favor of the state. As noted by RBC, there were four such lawsuits in the summer of 2023 alone. Earlier, the prosecutor’s office filed a lawsuit in connection with the “illegal privatization” in the 1990s of Metafrax Chemicals, one of the largest producers of methanol and formalin in Russia, and demanded the seizure of the company’s shares from the current owners. In July, the Tefida fishing holding and the Perm port were exterminated.

• SIBEKO (Siberian Energy Company) is the main supplier of electricity in Siberia, it is engaged in the production and supply of thermal and electrical energy.
• Alexey Melnychenko heads the list of Russia’s richest businessmen according to Forbes. His fortune is estimated at 25.2 billion dollars. Melnychenko is a co-founder of Eurochem and SUEK coal company.
• Melnychenko is under sanctions from the United States, the European Union, Great Britain and Switzerland. After the introduction of restrictions, the businessman left the boards of directors of SUEK and Eurochem.