The Prosecutor General’s Office has filed a new lawsuit regarding the FESCO transport group. Now the defendants are not only the founder of the Summa group, Ziyavudin Magomedov, his brother Magomed and their companies, but also other shareholders, including those who bought the papers after the arrest of the Magomedovs. Sources of “Kommersant” call the purpose of the lawsuit “turning into state revenue” the FESCO shares that remained in commercial circulation after Ziyavudin Magomedov’s share was recently confiscated.
The Prosecutor General’s Office filed a new lawsuit with the Khamovniki District Court of Moscow, concerning the FESCO group. The defendants are Mikhail Rabinovich and his partner Andrei Severilov (who own 26.5% and 23.8% of FESCO shares respectively), a number of shareholder companies, as well as the founder of the Summa group Ziyavudin Magomedov and his older brother Magomed Magomedov. The latter were recently sentenced by the Meshchansky District Court to 19 and 18 years in a strict regime colony on charges of organizing a criminal community, fraud and embezzlement (Articles 210, 159 and 160 of the Criminal Code) in the implementation of a number of large projects, including those with state participation. The FESCO stake owned by Ziyavudin Magomedov was confiscated by the court in favor of the state (see Kommersant dated December 2). In March 2018, Mr. Magomedov was arrested, in September 2020 it became known that FESCO filed a lawsuit against companies associated with the shareholder in the London Court, demanding the return of $1 billion in debt. Mr. Magomedov announced a raider takeover of the group, accusing her management. In the same 2020, the GHP Group funds of Mark Garber and TPG Capital left the capital of FESCO, the shares of which were bought by Mikhail Rabinovich and Andrey Severilov. Prior to the confiscation, Mr. Magomedov owned 32.5% of FESCO.
The two respondent companies, Cypriot Smartilicious Consulting Limited and Enviartia Consulting Limited, are direct shareholders of FESCO’s parent company, PJSC FESCO, owning 24.99% each. shares. Noubelius Ltd, Vovosa Co Limited and Rikima Holdings Limited previously appeared in the financial statements as shareholders of FESCO with stakes of 9.6%, 8% and 6.6%, respectively, information about LLC Nautilus and LLC NovatorInvest as shareholders of FESCO also can be found in court materials on lawsuits challenging the results of the second annual meeting of shareholders of the port in 2020.
The basis for the confiscation, as Kommersant reported, was the information that the brothers themselves acquired part of the shares of the port and other assets, using, among other things, criminal and other unforeseen funds that Magomed Magomedov received as a member of the Federation Council. Being a member of the commissions on natural monopolies and on industrial policy, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, he “used his position in power, contrary to the prohibitions provided for by law” while continuing to engage in business, including those related to the acquisition of various assets.
Officially, the Prosecutor General’s Office does not comment on the content of the new lawsuit, but a source close to supervision told Kommersant that this time the appeal is based on the participation of Magomed Magomedov in business when he was a senator.
Representatives of Mr. Magomedov refrained from commenting, referring to the fact that the proceedings had not yet begun – a preliminary meeting was scheduled for December 28. FESCO stressed that FESCO is not a defendant in this lawsuit. “We do not comment on litigations that are not directly related to the company, as well as those related to shareholder issues,” the group explained. prosecution of the Magomedov brothers may not result in an announced verdict: “As a rule, such major criminal cases are accompanied by parallel proceedings in civil courts. Probably, the new lawsuit is related to FESCO shares and transactions with them, taking into account that the block of shares belonging to the Magomedov brothers was turned into state revenue. Thus, the lawsuit registered in the Khamovnichesky court may be a direct continuation of the criminal proceedings.”
A partner of another law firm, who wished to remain anonymous, also believes that “the lawsuit may be related to the criminal case of the Magomedov brothers and compensation for damages RF from their illegal activities.