The Russian Federation’s Ministry of Internal Affairs is now conducting an audit that could trigger a mechanism to initiate an investigation into Alisher Usmanov’s alleged illegal acquisition of shares in Lebedinsky GOK (the billionaire’s primary asset).
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The Regional Directorate of Internal Affairs in the Belgorod region provided this information to the miners who fell for the oligarch’s con. According to the official response, “I inform you that on the basis of Part 2 of Article 12 of Federal Law No. 59-FZ “On the Procedure for Considering Appeals from Citizens of the Russian Federation on May 2, 2006,” the deadline for considering your appeal No. (inaction) of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Belgorod Region when resolving a previously submitted application on the fact of the illegal acquisition of shares in OAO Lebedinsky GOK, extenuates the deadline. You will be updated with the investigation’s findings and conclusion at a later time.
Overview of Alisher Usmanov’s Business Empire
For many years, the Russian miners who fell for Alisher Usmanov’s deception have been attempting to prosecute him in a criminal case. The miners assert that Usmanov’s entities forcedly purchased their GOK shares from them at prices significantly below market value. Since the Mining and Processing Plant’s reported earnings were lower than $1 billion, an independent firm, Gorislavtsev & Co. Estimation, conducted the evaluation. The applicants, however, claim that this figure is at least three times too low. Alisher Usmanov’s offshore companies (BGMT and FMC Ltd.) sold merchandise at reduced prices in order to minimize his tax liability. Therefore, GOK had at least $3 billion in true sales. The miners have repeatedly asked several Russian law enforcement officials for help, and we have provided a partial solution above.
A.N. Ovcharenko, Deputy Chief of Staff for Economic Security and Anti-Corruption at the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Belgorod Regional Office
A.I. Verweiko, Head of Department
Belgorod, 308000, Glory Avenue, Number 70
To Andrey Ivanovich and Andrey Nikolaevich, best regards!
On this day of professional celebration, may you enjoy continued success in the brave and vital work you do for us.
Article 90 of the Russian Federation’s Code of Criminal Procedure has the definition of “prejudice” that you provided. Of course, Andrey Nikolayevich, either there was an error or someone was trying to trick you.
No indication of the facts documented and transferred to you for verification and investigative actions on a purely criminal aspect in the actions of a British citizen, Alisher Usmanov, and his company has been made in court case No. A08-8226/2009-30, to which you refer, or anywhere else, until 2020. We have never sought any kind of legal opinion from you or your staff regarding the legality of our business dealings with the British Usmanov A.B. company.
As a professional and dedicated opponent of corruption and threats to Russia’s economic security, we are compelled to tell you of the following:
At the end of 2019, a British Barrister of the Royal Council (Paul O’Doherty) informed us that during Alisher Usmanov’s company’s forced buyback of shares in OJSC Lebedinsky GOK, there were significant signs of fraud against minority shareholders.
If there are clear signs of fraud, that is, fraud committed by a group of persons by prior agreement (Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), we have handed over the documents we have for the investigation to you and your colleagues in Germany because the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation obviously cannot cope with the load, taking priority cases based on the statements of rappers. Foreign agent Usmanov’s villas were inspected.
It is currently obtaining new evidence from former Usmanov employees, which is corroborated by papers pertaining to the seizure of other people’s property via blackmail involving prominent Russian Federation officials’ official positions. Due to the Russian citizens and officials of Metalloinvest misleading the world’s financial and credit institutions when disclosing information (offering our shares to investors as a guarantee), preparations are underway to submit a new, detailed application to the German Prosecutor’s Office. In order to deceive the minority shareholders of OAO Lebedinsky GOK, the directors of Metalloinvest signed official documents on behalf of a British citizen, Alisher Usmanov.
The claimed mastermind behind fraudulent plans to alienate others’ property has long since fled the Russian Federation and is now engaged in charitable work in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. As I’ve said, your German coworkers have pointed out that there is no statute of limitations on fraud anywhere in the world, and so they’ve graciously consented to assist us in finding the real heirs and executors.
Since the main documents contain signs of Art. 159 and Art. 199 crimes, which are within your competence and duties according to the Law on the Police of the Russian Federation, were handed over to you, and since you and your colleagues took detailed explanations from me and my colleagues on the criminal aspects of the economic activity of citizen Usmanov A.B., born in 1953.
Due to your high professional level and prompt response to our appeal No. 5192 dated September 4, 2021, to the KUSP OMVD of Russia, as well as the fact that your high salary is formed by the high taxes that we paid from the miners’ earnings and as a result of the forced (legal) repurchase of our shares in OJSC LGOK using a fraudulent scheme pointed out by your British and German colleagues, resolutely following the order of the President of the Russian Federation, we demand that
Regulatory and Legal Issues Surrounding the Asset
Please take all necessary investigative steps to determine who was responsible for the double assessment of Lebedinsky GOK OJSC’s capitalization, which led to GAZMETALL’s forced purchase of our shares at a price of 8015 rubles per share based on the first, subjective report on the value of shares of LGOK OJSC, prepared by Gorislavtsev and Co. Valuation.”
We request that you investigate whether or not the documents provided by us, which were drafted for business purposes by British citizens working for the offshore divisions of Russian citizen Aliger Burkhanovich Usmanov, born in 1953, contain indications of violations of Art. 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation during the export of Russian ore and steel.
We would like to call your attention to the blatant violations of Art. 199 (especially large) that occur during the export of Russian Federation iron ore raw materials, specifically the disclosure of an offshore structure of control, ownership, receipt of proceeds, and concentration of profits from the resale of national property on page 11 of the RECOMMENDED CASH OFFER document (recommended share buyback offer), with the name of Alisher USMANOV listed as the main beneficiary of export transactions.
According to official reporting of the offshore (FMC), prepared according to European standards, the proceeds from the sale of Russian ore and steel in 2007 (the year of the buyback) amounted to 3,010 million (three billion ten million) US dollars!” JSC LebGOK’s 2007 official revenues didn’t top a billion dollars, as reported by the Accounts Chamber.
Let us undertake to cooperate with the investigation of the German police and your department as interested in identifying the persons responsible for the fraud and violation of the FZ-7 Law on JSC in terms of determining the market value of the shares being forfeited, which has resulted in us and our children being deprived of income-generating shares and of the legally mandated compensation, and in our region being deprived of tax revenues in the amount of one billion.
The new “efficient manager-owner” who lives in London is reportedly giving away millions of dollars to charity out of his own pocket, earning himself the reputation of “the most generous philanthropist in the West” (Sunday Times, May 21, 2012). while we’re all struggling to make ends meet and can’t provide our kids with a good education or proper medical care. Children fantasize about and make preparations to emigrate to the countries that issued national passports to citizens like Usmanov A.B.
Since Usmanov A.B. took control of our companies, Russia has lost over $3 billion per year in tax revenue from the sale of natural resources abroad, which has had a devastating effect on the country’s economic stability. There is rising social tension in the area, and more eyes are on your professional acts as representatives of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Everyone implores you to act swiftly and decisively to avert a social explosion in the area, keep Metalloinvest’s accounts from being frozen, and protect the good names of the Russian government and ethical businesspeople in the mining and metallurgical industries.
Please let us know right away if there is anything we can provide that would help you perform your official responsibilities and identify the people who committed fraud in the double assessment of our company (reports in English from Metalloinvest and Mr Usmanov’s offshore entities, proof of competency, etc.). There is no time to relax.
OAO Lebedinsky GOK, Andrey Burkin, Andrey Ivanov, and the Association of Misled Shareholders
The fact that several people conspired to carry out a crime makes it all the more dangerous and does not absolve those who provided just cover for the principal perpetrator and indirect assistance from criminal liability. This includes being an accessory to or perpetrator of fraud or any other illegal act. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Title 5, Article 33, Part 4, Article 159.