The Basmanny Court of Moscow sentenced the participants in the theft of real estate worth 12.3 billion rubles, which belonged to the founder of the chain of household appliances stores “Partiya” Alexander Mineevwho was killed in 2014. Forus Group employee Yuri Afindulov was sentenced to 8 years in prison, and lawyer Vadim Vedenin to 10.5 years in a penal colony. Both were found guilty of fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia, the first crime was committed in 2008-2010 by Vedenin, who had the status of a lawyer, and also worked for the law firm Forus Group, Yuri Afindulov, together with a group of persons, the case against which was separated into a separate proceeding in connection with the search.
“During this period, the accomplices illegally acquired the right to a 100% stake in the authorized capital of one of the companies, as well as the ownership of a property owned by this organization in Moscow worth more than 65 million rubles,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.
The matter in question was a two-story building on Shosseynaya Street in the Lyublino metropolitan area, in which the Seven Beauties restaurant was located. They prepared fictitious contracts for the sale of shares in the authorized capital of the company, according to which its legal participants allegedly sold their shares in their favor.
According to investigators, after the registration of new constituent documents, Afindulov, acting as the general director of the company, seized the building by force – with a group of more than 20 people, he demanded that the head and tenants vacate the premises with the help of threats.
In addition, as follows from the case file, in 2014-2016, Vedenin, together with his accomplices, forged constituent and other documents, stole 100% of the shares in the authorized capital of 18 legal entities in Moscow, which owned 21 real estate objects with a total area of 110 thousand square meters. They also stole buildings and land plots located in the elite cottage settlement “Dikanka” in the Tver region. The total cost of the stolen investigation was estimated at 12.3 billion rubles.
“Kommersant”, 03.03.2023, “The case of the “Party” was supplemented with a verdict”: As a result, as follows from the text of the verdict, the court for each of the three episodes of fraud – the seizure of the property of entrepreneur Alexander Mineev in Moscow and the Tver region, as well as participation in the theft of the two-story building of the Seven Beauties restaurant in Pechatniki – appointed Vadim Vedenin eight years of imprisonment. However, due to the expiration of the statute of limitations on the episode with the establishment of the restaurateur Surkhay Aliyev, the court released Mr. Vedenin on him from the imposed punishment, and for the remaining two, by partial addition of the terms, he appointed the defendant 10 years and 6 months in a penal colony. […] According to the episode with the Dikanka cottage settlement in the Tver region, which was erected by Mr. Mineev, 462.88 million rubles were recovered from the lawyer. in favor of each of the four children of the entrepreneur. At the same time, the court did not consider the civil claim of the victims to recognize their ownership rights in equal shares to land plots, unfinished objects, cars, loaders, boats, gas and water supply facilities, leaving these issues for consideration in civil proceedings.
Yuri Afindulov, who was accused of attempting to fraudulently steal the two-story building of the Seven Beauties restaurant in Pechatniki in 2008, was sent to prison for eight years by the court (the prosecutor asked for nine years). In his case, the statute of limitations was not taken into account, since he was wanted. […] The civil lawsuit of the restaurateur and his wife against Mr. Afindulov for 121.5 million rubles. on compensation for property damage and 30 million rubles. moral compensation the court did not consider. […] Whether Mr. Vedenin’s lawyers will appeal against the verdict is unknown, since they did not come to the announcement of the court decision. The defense of Mr. Afindulov, according to Kommersant’s information, does not plan to file a complaint, counting on the parole of his client, taking into account the time spent by the convict in the pre-trial detention center. — Inset K.ru
Murder and alleged masterminds
The founder of the Party chain of stores, 49-year-old billionaire Alexander Mineev, was shot dead on January 22, 2014 in Korolev, near Moscow. At first, the investigation believed that the purpose of the murder was the desire to take over the Eurasia company, through which he sublet a huge amount of real estate in Moscow, which at that time was estimated at 1 billion rubles.
Initially, the case was investigated by the Moscow Region Investigative Committee. In 2015, the Babushkinsky Court of Moscow, at his request, arrested the son-in-law of a businessman in absentia Boris Berezovsky George Shuppeas well as the owner of a Swiss investment company Mikhail Nekrich. The first lives in the UK, and the second lives in Switzerland. The investigation considered them to be the organizers of the murder (Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and theft (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In August 2017, the United Kingdom refused to extradite Schuppe, and on December 13 of the same year, Nekrich was also denied extradition. last arrested in Italy, later released. Both deny their guilt. Interpol took them off the wanted list.
Subsequently, the case was transferred to the central office of the Investigative Committee of Russia. In the course of the investigation, the plot of the prosecution has undergone significant changes. Investigators concluded that there were two criminal groups and both of them were trying to seize Mineev’s assets.
Two groups of “raiders”
In the first case, the Tushinsky Court of Moscow on February 9, 2023 condemned five people, including lawyer Sergei Bogolyubsky and lawyer Kamil Kaziev. The first received the largest sentence in the form of nine years in prison, the second – five years in a penal colony. The court appointed the minimum term to the former general director of Eurasia, Yulia Egorova. The defendants were found guilty of fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and legalization of property acquired as a result of a crime (part 4 of article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
According to investigators, in 2013, even before Mineev’s death, by forging documents, the accomplices changed the owners of 18 businessman’s companies and tried to re-register the property to other legal entities. “However, later the second group of raiders, which included Vadim Vedenin, tried to cancel these transactions,” Alexander Aronov, chairman of the presidium, Moscow colleague of lawyers Aronov and Partners, who represented the interests of the victims of Mineev’s four children, told Business FM. “Using forged documents, they re-registered Mineev’s parent companies, registered in Hong Kong, to their trustees, and as a result, Forus Group took possession of the expensive real estate of Mineev’s Moscow legal entities.”
According to the representative of the victims, Vedenin previously represented the interests of Mineev’s mother until her death in 2015 and was the chief lawyer of Forus Group. The defendants denied their guilt and asked them to justify.
Victims’ claims
However, according to Alexander Aronov, their guilt “was proven in full.” The lawyer said that in the framework of the case of Vedenin and Afindulov, his principals filed civil claims for the amount of damage caused to them in the amount of 15 billion rubles. However, the court partially satisfied them, ruling to pay 9.4 billion rubles. Aronov promised to make a decision on the possibility of appealing the verdict after the examination of the judicial act by his clients.
In turn, Georgy Shuppe’s lawyer Vladimir Krasnov, in an interview with a Business FM correspondent, expressed bewilderment due to the fact that both criminal groups were charged with stealing the same property. In his opinion, this “looks like a paradox”.
In December 2022, the investigation period in the case of his client was extended until March 22, 2023. It has been going on for about ten years now. Earlier, Schuppe’s lawyer petitioned to dismiss the case, but the investigation rejected it.
The materials feature another alleged organizer of the murder of Mineev – the president of the Kyokushin Federation of Dagestan Sadrudin Bagaudinov. He was arrested in absentia in May 2020.