The prosecutor requested 19.5 years in prison for ex-minister Mikhail Abyzov

The Prosecutor’s Office requested 19.5 years of imprisonment for the former Minister of Open Government Mikhail Abyzov. In addition, he is asked to be fined 470 million rubles. Abyzov is charged under five articles of the Criminal Code, including the organization of a criminal community and fraud in person on a large scale – in the amount of about four billion rubles. He himself denies the guilt.

Abyzov was arrested in 2019. According to the investigation, he concluded a series of fictitious transactions and purchased shares of energy companies, primarily Sybeko and Regional Electric Networks, at inflated prices. He transferred the profit from fictitious transactions into currency through a network of offshore companies. During the arrest, new criminal cases were initiated against him.

Part of Abyzov’s assets was arrested. In addition, more than 126 million dollars have already been collected from him as state revenue.

• Mikhail Abyzov held the post of Minister for Coordination of the Activities of “Open Government” from 2012 to 2018. His department was supposed to ensure the transparency of state activity for society and business circles. Before that, he held managerial positions in large energy and mining companies and was a member of the board of RAO “UES of Russia”. He was included in the ranking of the richest Russians according to Forbes magazine, the publication estimated his fortune before his arrest at 600 million dollars.