Let me explain—and document—why the Serdyukov and Oboronservis case could never have ended any other way than with a whimper.
The question is simple: if so much was stolen, and so little of the damage was repaid, then who took the difference? And why does that person remain in the shadows?
The answer comes from the St. Petersburg branch, which conducted this investigation:
As you may recall, there was one key figure in the Oboronservis case:
Valery Nikolaevich Puzikov.
The very same Puzikov who was fortunate enough to marry Galina Eduardovna Serdyukova, Anatoly Serdyukov’s sister. An ordinary tractor and combine operator who suddenly turned into the head of a major state-owned enterprise serving the Tax Service, and later the Defense Ministry.
Valery Puzikov was one of the people who accumulated the money and assets carved out of the Defense Ministry by Serdyukov’s team.
When the Oboronservis case began to unfold, Puzikov also came under scrutiny: a criminal case was opened against him, and he was even placed on the federal wanted list. However, Puzikov was released fairly quickly under a travel restriction, which looked rather strange. There is a simple explanation for that.
What does a criminal do when he realizes everything he stole may now be taken away? Exactly: he transfers it all to someone from whom it cannot be taken.
Here are the facts and the timeline of events.
October 2012 — the investigation begins in the Oboronservis case.
On February 7 and 10, 2014, Valery Puzikov re-registers (see the link below for all documents) four land plots on the Gulf of Finland in Sestroretsk, on Parkovaya Street, with a total area of 8,712 sq. m. At the same time, a small house of 54 sq. m located there is also re-registered. The price of one sotka (100 sq. m) of land in this area is 2.5 million rubles—at the time, nearly $85,000. The total value is approximately $7.4 million.
On February 10, 2014, Valery Puzikov is placed on the federal wanted list.
On February 19, 2014, a company owned by Valery Puzikov, Modern Food Technologies LLC, re-registers two buildings measuring 178.9 and 176.3 sq. m. They are located in the same area, in Sestroretsk, at 6–8 Listvennaya Street. The total value of the land on which the buildings stand is $3.6 million.
March 5, 2014 — Valery Puzikov appears before investigators. He is released under a travel restriction.
So who were these accomplices to whom the land and houses were re-registered?
Both buildings in Sestroretsk are transferred to the son of the man from whom not a single asset was seized in the “Serdyukov corruption case”—that is, Anatoly Serdyukov.
The talented businessman Sergey Anatolyevich Serdyukov (his son from his first marriage) received these houses on top of the real estate he has been buying up in St. Petersburg wholesale.
(and this is the most interesting part) And the ultra-elite land worth $7.4 million goes to...
...Anastasia Nikolaevna Zubkova, Anatoly Serdyukov’s adopted daughter and the granddaughter of former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov—one of Vladimir Putin’s closest confidants. So trusted, in fact, that Zubkov has chaired the board of directors of Gazprom for many years.
Who is going to carry out confiscations against the granddaughter of a man like that?
Now let’s see whether, in earlier years, the terrible corrupt official and embezzler Puzikov had been passing along anything interesting to the family of Putin’s trusted associate.
The documents say he had.
Thus, in 2012, via his own wife as an intermediary, Valery Puzikov transferred to Anatoly Serdyukov a land plot of 4,255 sq. m and a 573 sq. m house at 37 Parkovaya Street. The approximate value of such a property is $3.6 million.
And immediately after the investigation began, Anatoly Serdyukov re-registered them in the name of his sister, Natalya Serdyukova.
Let’s keep going. In 2005, Valery Puzikov registers a land plot in Sestroretsk in the name of Viktor Smirnov, the nominal owner of the Nefertiti beauty salon. The salon’s director is Zoya Mikhailovna Zubkova—the wife of Viktor Zubkov. In 2006, a 263 sq. m house appears on that plot. The cozy dacha ultimately ends up in the hands of its final owner—Viktor Alexeyevich Zubkov himself.
Now let’s move on to the map (we made everything visual and clickable) and look at all these land plots together.
Adjoining them is Anatoly Serdyukov’s own house, located in the same part of Sestroretsk. And there is also the land plot that somehow passed from the state into the caring hands of his son, Sergey Serdyukov.
The result is a very charming Zubkov-Serdyukov estate with a total area of 21,254 sq. m in one of the most scenic and prestigious areas outside St. Petersburg. The market value of the land alone is half a billion rubles.
Let’s ask ourselves again: could the current authorities not only confiscate this property, but even so much as mention it, even though it was clearly acquired with money stolen from the state budget?
Of course not. That is exactly why there is such a “black hole” between the damages in the Oboronservis case and what the guilty parties actually repaid.
Here is a detailed table showing when and to whom the plots were transferred. You can verify everything yourself.
Now we can look at the “Serdyukov case” for what it is: starting in 2005, state official Viktor Zubkov, state official Anatoly Serdyukov, and state official Valery Puzikov systematically bought up land in one of St. Petersburg’s most expensive suburbs, using corrupt money to do so. When this came to light, the only person who was “punished” was the lover of gold and 12-room apartments through whom the money was leaking “out of the family.” State official Serdyukov received amnesty, the case against state official Puzikov never made it to court, and the likelihood of him ever ending up in the dock is close to zero; as for state official Zubkov—not a single mention.
The Anti-Corruption Foundation is officially forwarding all available materials to the Investigative Committee and demanding that the assets transferred to the Serdyukov-Zubkov family be examined as part of the Oboronservis case.
Thanks to Dmitry Sukharev of the St. Petersburg Anti-Corruption Foundation for the excellent investigation.