It all started with the fur storage room. The luxurious estate of railway chief Yakunin, complete with a forest, a dammed-up river, artificial ponds, a 2,000-square-meter bathhouse, a prayer room, and a fur storage room, made a huge impression on everyone at our Anti-Corruption Foundation.
It was obvious that a family living on such a scale, and so far beyond its means, had to become the subject of our close attention. The head of the country’s largest socially oriented state company and, in effect, a government official, failed to hide an estate worth nearly $100 million. It sticks out like rabbit ears from the hat of a clumsy magician. So what was he able to hide? At first, we focused on some rather curious field research into the estate. Have a read — it’s amusing. Then, like everyone else (Novaya Gazeta, Vedomosti), we studied the offshore companies to which this “cunning” “railway man” had transferred ownership of his estate. The scheme began to look like this:
Eventually, everyone got tired of dealing with Yakunin’s murky offshore schemes. But not us. Step by step, we traced the connections and mapped out the structure. Now it hangs above my desk and looks like this:
And this is only a small part of it. Strictly speaking, it’s too early to publish all this — we could have kept digging longer — but there are two important factors: I am being sentenced on July 18, and my ability to investigate Yakunin’s business empire may soon become severely limited. The Foundation will continue this work, and I want to involve everyone in it. It is obvious that the valiant FSB officers bugging our offices carry their little memos into the kind of office where our railway man brings his money. There is no other way to explain why the scheme started changing right before our eyes after we exposed it. For example, Yakunin’s wife began withdrawing from companies she had been a founder of for many years. Before I move on to the main story, here’s an epigraph. Just to give you a better feel for the context, so to speak. President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that Russia needs a system of measures for the “de-offshorization” of the Russian economy. He said this in his address to the Federal Assembly. “We need an entire system of measures for the ‘de-offshorization’ of our economy,” Putin said. Now take a look at this: http://navalny.ru/yakunin/
http://navalny.ru/yakunin/ You can even switch back and forth between them for a while. Click: Putin calls for “de-offshorization”; click: the Yakunin family’s offshore scheme. This is exactly what I meant when I said in my final statement in court that Russia has a disgusting feudal order in which a handful of mafia families control 85% of the country’s national wealth.
We assert that the family of Russian Railways chief Vladimir Yakunin used corruption and abuse of power to build a giant business empire registered to offshore companies around the world. This empire is worth billions of dollars. The Yakunin family is one of the richest families in Russia and in the world. This is a genuine mafia family, existing only because it works for a mafia boss: V. V. Putin, who allows them to loot everything around them.
The map of the Yakunin empire is already huge and convoluted. It’s hard for an unprepared reader to make sense of it, so I’ve pulled out a few stories that are already obvious to make things easier to follow: Hot**els. **The hotel chain, located mostly on (SURPRISE) the station squares of major Russian cities, is an important part of the Yakunin business empire.
Its creation and development is being handled by Yakunin’s elder son, Andrei Yakunin. This is the left side of our super-diagram.
To conceal ownership of this asset, 16 Russian LLCs were created, with shares in each of them held by the Cypriot company RHC Regional Hotel Chain Ltd:
http://navalny.ru/yakunin/hotels.xlsx The Cypriot company RHC Regional Hotel Chain Ltd is owned by two other Cypriot companies: VERLYS NOMINEES LIMITED and V.R.L. NOMINEES LIMITED. The founder of V.R.L. NOMINEES LIMITED is Vera Lyssiotis, who, together with Renos Lyssiotis, is also a founder of VERLYS NOMINEES LIMITED. Vera Lyssiotis is the daughter of Renos Lyssiotis; both are Cypriot lawyers.
VERLYS and V.R.L. are founders of another Cypriot company, ANTALON LIMITED. One of ANTALON’s founders is the Cypriot company QUETAR CONSULTANTS Ltd, owned by Swiss lawyer Irene Brakxator. Congratulations to our “railway family” on their excellent human research. Brakxator not only manages offshore companies for mafiosi like Yakunin, but is also the author of a book on the fundamental legal principles of Panamanian foundations. A solid theoretical basis, so to speak, for the coming “Putin-style de-offshorization.” In Russia, ANTALON LIMITED owns 100% of two companies: Aquarius Properties LLC and Solnechnoye Properties LLC. Both are involved in construction, both are registered at the same address, and both are headed by Sergei Valentinovich Bashkov. Sergei Bashkov is (SURPRISE) also the director of Akulinino LLC, whose sole founder is the Cypriot company MIROLO INVESTMENTS LIMITED. This is the very same Mirolo to which Vladimir Yakunin transferred his palace outside Moscow. The one that contains that treasured FUR STORAGE ROOM. The Yakunins’ own statements on this matter are more than completely contradictory: “In a statement to Reuters, Russian Railways said there are no business ties between Andrei Yakunin and the state monopoly.” “In a statement to Reuters, Vladimir Yakunin denied any ties whatsoever to his son’s business.” “The first three hotels to open — in Kazan, Astrakhan, and Izhevsk — have nothing to do with Russian Railways,” Andrei said. Yet according to Rezidor information, at least five more are planned to open opposite or very close to major railway stations. To obtain suitable sites, Andrei Yakunin said, his company conducted a ‘rigorous selection process’ to find a real estate consultant in Russia. That consultant turned out to be Russian Railways subsidiary Zheldoripoteka. (Remarkably, 50% of Zheldoripoteka was controlled by Yakunin’s partner Sergei Orlov, who also sat on its board of directors.) He added that it was Zheldoripoteka that helped the Regional Hotel Chain obtain the desired properties. “We were able to find several plots of land, which we ultimately acquired through Zheldoripoteka,” Andrei Yakunin said. “The plots are located opposite or near railway stations in the country’s largest cities.” From here The scheme we uncovered shows that the Yakunins are lying. The House with Lions “...on Petrov Square, Where on the corner rose a new house, Where above the lofty porch, With raised paw, as if alive, Stand two guardian lions...” A.S. Pushkin, The Bronze Horseman
Yakunin’s activities as a hotelier are not limited to 15 properties in major Russian cities. On terms unknown to the public, the Presidential Property Management Department granted a building on Voznesensky Prospekt to Tristar Investment Holding CJSC on a “long-term lease.” The large-scale reconstruction of this early-19th-century architectural landmark was supposed to have been completed several years ago, and the building is now becoming a Four Seasons hotel. Investment for this project was raised by VIY Management, owned by Andrei Yakunin. They did their job well: in 2008, Uralsib Bank gave Tristar a preferential $45 million loan. A bit about VIY Management. It is a Russian investment company (all its projects can be viewed on its website) owned by a Cypriot offshore company of the same name, which in turn is owned by VERLYS Nominees Cyprus. A company with the same name also exists in the UK. Andrei Yakunin is one of its founders. Another founder was Sergei Vladimirovich Orlov (we will mention him again below). The Conspiracy Theory Department of the Anti-Corruption Foundation claims that VIY does not stand for some “Venture Investments & Yield Management,” but for Vladimir Ivanovich Yakunin. Now about Tristar. Founded in 2001, it was initially 50% owned by Andrei Yakunin (today he retains less than 1%). The di***rector of Tristar is V. V. Sobolevskaya, who previously served as director of two of the 15 legal entities in the Regional Hotel Chain group. The director is not the only thing linking the “House with Lions” to the Yakunin family’s structures. Tristar is almost entirely owned by the Cypriot firm WALIA Ltd, which is owned by the same offshore company, VERLYS Nominees Ltd, that, as we already know, owns the Regional Hotel Chain. Let me remind you that VERLYS belongs to an enterprising family of Cypriot lawyers. The photo shows Vera Lyssiotis, who, together with her father, is the nominal founder of VERLYS Nominees Ltd.
The areas around Warsaw Station and Moscow Station in St. Petersburg Vladimir Yakunin has another son — Viktor. For four years, Viktor skillfully combined the post of head of the St. Petersburg office of his brother’s company (VIY Management) with the role of director of the legal department at Gunvor. Viktor describes all of this in detail, and at length, in his LinkedIn résumé, which is still publicly accessible for now.
We will definitely return to Viktor Yakunin’s work at Gunvor. Half a year ago, in early 2013, Viktor Yakunin decided to give up salaried employment and opened his own investment firm, Veritas Investments LLC. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Yakunin owns 1% of it and serves as CEO, while Veritas is otherwise owned by Cypriot and then Panamanian offshore companies. Veritas is registered in St. Petersburg at 20–22 Galernaya Street. LSS Varshavskaya LLC is registered at the same address. We’re not claiming anything — surely it’s just a coincidence.
LSS Varshavskaya LLC was created by LenSpetsSMU, the region’s largest development and construction company, specifically to develop the area next to Warsaw Station. Plans to build there have been discussed for years; projects and governors have come and gone, but it appears the final decision was made in LenSpetsSMU’s favor: land belonging to Russian Railways has been handed over to them for construction of a residential complex with 9,000 (!) apartments. According to the генеральный директор (general director/CEO), Varshavskaya LLC will receive rights to the site gradually, as it fulfills the terms of its contract with Russian Railways. Apparently, this complex is part of an even larger project — the mixed-use residential, retail, administrative, and business complex “Izmailovskaya Perspektiva.” Here is Matviyenko (Valentina Matviyenko, a senior Russian official) looking impressed as she examines the project model:
LSS Varshavskaya moved to its Galernaya Street address from its previous office at 19 Morskaya Street. At that same address on Morskaya Street, Regional Hotel Chain LLC — the company of Yakunin’s other son, Andrei — was also registered. Again, we’re not claiming anything. Just a coincidence.
The director of LSS Varshavskaya is Valentin Tiberiyevich Chimpoake. He is also the director of another major developer, Rosregionproekt Development, registered at the very same address on Morskaya Street and with exactly the same contact phone number. Valentin Tiberiyevich, by the way, claims that Rosregionproekt Development and LSS Varshavskaya are unrelated." Rosregionproekt received an equally significant site: the former freight yard of Moskovskaya-Tovarnaya station — 21 hectares of land, on which, according to the project, a residential and retail complex will be built. Judging by information from open sources, the plot will pass into the ownership of Rosregionproekt Development LLC through a land swap. In 2008, the company — created about three years earlier and with no projects before Moskovskaya-Tovarnaya — announced plans to invest $1.5–$2 billion in this project. Chi***mpoake actively denies any affiliation between the two above-mentioned companies and Andrei Yakunin. In fact, Valentin Tiberiyevich is being disingenuous. According to the historical extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the Cypriot offshore company ROSREGIONPROJECT Ltd (which owns 80% of Rosregionproekt Development LLC) wholly owned Andrei Yakunin’s Regional Hotel Chain LLC in 2006. ***The other 20% of Rosregionproekt Development LLC now belongs to the Cypriot firm LONGSOUND INVESTMENTS Ltd. In turn, a quarter of that company is apparently owned by Liechtenstein’s Investport Holdings Foundation. Be sure to remember that name before reading the story about the seaport of Ust-Luga. Here’s another addition to our collection of “mere coincidences”: Cypriot ROSREGIONPROJECT Ltd is 55% owned by the Panamanian offshore company RHODIA ENTERPRISES Ltd. Panama is a small country, and it so happens that RHODIA’s director and management company are the same as the director and management company of DIAMONDROCK Inc., the company to which ***a house in London at 88 West Heath Road is registered — a house worth £4.5 million, which Andrei Yakunin lists as his permanent place of residence. ***Interesting, isn’t it? Pick any patriot and fighter against the corrupting influence of the West, and his dear son turns out to be living in London in a £4.5 million house. Ust-Luga And now it’s time to talk about the seaport of Ust-Luga. Large-scale construction in the Leningrad Region has been underway since 2000 as part of a public-private partnership. Under a contract with the Ministry of Transport, the state customer, JSC “Ust-Luga Company” is the initiator and developer of the project. On the company’s website, you can ознакомиться in detail with plans to create five interconnected clusters: transport and logistics, industrial, city cluster, recreational, and agro-industrial. Ust-Luga Company actually has a special mission. It is bringing to life the most cherished dreams and plans of V. V. Putin, who devoted part of his dissertation to the development of this port back in 1997 (topic: “Strategic Planning for the Reproduction of the Region’s Mineral Resource Base Under Emerging Market Relations. St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region”). On page 135, after a “comprehensive survey of the coastline” and a profound analysis of the need to create Transport and Technological Port Complexes in the Leningrad Region, Vladimir Vladimirovich arrives at the following conclusion:
Now for how the Yakunin family is making the President’s dreams come true. Vladimir Ivanovich Yakunin himself remained Chairman of the Board of Directors of “Ust-Luga Company” until the very end of 2005. However, as the company’s press release very accurately states, “having stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Directors, Vladimir Yakunin is not leaving the project.” The same press release reminds the reader that “Vladimir Yakunin continues to supervise the project on the personal instructions of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.” Vladimir Ivanovich’s son Viktor, it turns out, also worked on the Ust-Luga project. In the list of affiliated persons of Rosneftbunker JSC, which is building an oil terminal in Ust-Luga, Viktor Vladimirovich is listed as a member of the board of directors until March 2012. According to Rosstat, Rosneftbunker JSC is owned by the Cypriot company “Capefar Limited.” This offshore company is part of the Gunvor group. Viktor Yakunin’s successful career at Gunvor (in various positions for about seven years) now falls into place. Vladimir Petrovich Vasilyev, who co-owns “Real Hunt” LLC with Yakunin Sr., is also involved in the port’s construction. His company Finprom-Engineering LLC — a Russian Railways contractor — claims on its website that it worked on equipping the rail approaches to Ust-Luga. Incidentally, the friendship between Yakunin and Vasilyev grew into effective cooperation long ago: another of Vasilyev’s companies, Innoline LLC, received contracts to install lighting equipment at Vyborgsky and Finlandsky railway stations. There was also room for Orlov, Yakunin’s personal adviser and co-founder of the British VIY Management, and for the company RVM Capital (which invests in large private companies operating on the Russian market, mostly affiliated with Russian Railways), where he serves as director. RVM holds stakes in both Ust-Luga Company and TLK JSC — the company responsible for the transport and logistics side of the port development. At this point, it’s worth stepping away from Putin’s dreams and returning to Vladimir Yakunin’s offshore empire. Remember the Cypriot offshore company ROSREGIONPROJECT, which is developing the Moskovskaya-Tovarnaya station area in St. Petersburg? Well, its Liechtenstein owner, Investport Holding Establishment (renamed from Foundation, as can be seen from the Liechtenstein extract), owns 15% and 23% of Ust-Luga Company and TLK JSC, respectively. Once again, Rosregionproekt director Valentin Tiberiyevich Chimpoake was wrong — it seems there really is an affiliation between his employer and the Yakunins. And once again, let us recall the offshore company QUETAR CONSULTANTS LTD, registered to a lawyer-author and owning the Cypriot company ANTALON, which leads us back to the dacha in Akulinino. We open the information memorandum published by Ust-Luga Company, and there we see that very same QUETAR.
Straight from Akulinino to Ust-Luga. But QUETAR’s role in the seaport does not end there. Until 2008, it owned 25% of Universal Loading Complex LLC, which specializes in shipping, storage, and cargo handling in Ust-Luga. The other 75%, and later QUETAR’s share as well, was acquired by Vladimir Lisin’s company UCL Port B.V., which still owns it today. A walk around Ust-Luga
“Conduct a comprehensive survey of the coastline”:”
And one more meeting (with a bonus)
Gelendzhik On November 8, 2010, the founders of Gelendzhik Resort Complex-Meridian LLC (“GKK-Meridian”) became a group of very nice, kind people. Stanislav Sergeyevich Chemezov (son of Sergei Chemezov, CEO of the state corporation Rostec) Dmitry Vladimirovich Artyakov (son of Vladimir Artyakov, Chemezov’s deputy and former governor of Samara Region) Maya Nikolayevna Bolotova (daughter of Nikolai Tokarev, chairman of the management board and president of Transneft) Natalya Viktorovna Yakunina (wife of Vladimir Yakunin, president of Russian Railways) The company’s legal address is 7 Magnolia Street, Gelendzhik, Krasnodar Region (here it is on the map). On this plot there are residential buildings, all of them owned by GKK-Meridian.
Less than two weeks ago, on July 3, while this investigation was already underway, Natalya Yakunina withdrew from the founders of GKK-Meridian, and was replaced by Vladimir Valeryevich Chernyshov, Senior Adviser to the President of Russian Railways. Now let’s move 100 meters (about 330 feet) away from the cottages. Here we see a pier.
The pier belongs to Launch LLC, which, according to an extract from the legal entities register, is owned by the Cypriot company Skarpelo Investments Limited. SKARPELO INVESTMENTS LIMITED itself belongs to the Panamanian offshore company SKIRON HOLDINGS S.A. Yes, yes — this is the very same Skiron that ultimately owns Yakunin’s palace in Akulinino. GKK-Meridian LLC and Launch LLC are headed by the same person — Alexander Ivanovich Anzhenko. But that is not all linking the Gelendzhik real estate described above with Akulinino outside Moscow. In fact, Chemezov, Tokarev, Artyakov, and of course Yakunin — who registered their Gelendzhik residences in the names of relatives — all live together in Akulinino. The pier was built illegally — without a construction permit and without the necessary documentation. Construction involved drilling rigs and other heavy machinery. The Azov-Black Sea interdistrict environmental prosecutor’s office went to courts of several instances, but the court ruled that the violation was insignificant and the punishment “was limited to an oral reprimand.” Another appeal by the environmental prosecutor’s office was denied because the statute of limitations had expired. That’s how you can build a 40-meter (about 131-foot) pier on the waterfront in the center of a resort city without tiresome paperwork or urban planning approvals. You just build it, and that’s that. At this point, you are probably saying: ENOUGH, I DON’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING ANYMORE. Can you imagine what it was like for us trying to untangle all this? Let me say right away: all the information listed above and all the registry extracts were obtained from open sources. You can verify all of this yourself and get the same results. You may just need access to a few paid databases. We are continuing to investigate the business empire of the crook Yakunin. The scope of the work is enormous. If our ACF — a nonprofit organization with no official powers — managed to uncover all these schemes in just a few weeks, one can only sigh dreamily imagining what agencies with actual powers could do. But*** let’s not dream. The agencies with powers — the FSB, the Interior Ministry, the Investigative Committee — serve the interests of this mafia and feed from its hand, singing songs about “officers, officers, your hearts are under fire” in between, and raising toasts to “honor and patriotism.” So we will rely on ourselves and on your help. Yakunin’s structures are too large to maintain complete secrecy. Surely many people know something, have heard something, or have documents. If you have anything to tell us, please write to yakunin@fbk.info Any scrap of information will help us. Now we move on to the traditional and mandatory part of the program. We do not merely expose corruption — we demand formal and legal consequences for corrupt officials. It is obvious to us that Yakunin must be removed from office immediately, and that his family’s corrupt activities must be investigated publicly. We call on everyone to put pressure on the authorities for this purpose and to spread information about Yakunin’s offshore empire. What the Foundation has already done. Our official complaints: To the Prosecutor General’s Office https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_VQeHLcziV_R3ktWlRSdHZNb2s/edit?usp=sharing To the Investigative Committee https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_VQeHLcziV_Z3k1RWdlSXJ5UWc/edit?usp=sharing To the FSB https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_VQeHLcziV_ZnUtaTlmclhHQTA/edit?usp=sharing To the President https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_VQeHLcziV_SVFxMlczcGVxVUk/edit?usp=sharing To one microblogger — oh, I mean, the PRIME MINISTER — https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_VQeHLcziV_OXdSdXJEbUVCelU/edit?usp=sharing To the All-Russia People’s Front. This one is my* favorite, since the “people’s” “front” is so patriotically minded and so actively “defends” Russia’s “interests” https:*//docs.google.com/file/d/0B_VQeHLcziV_MXNQLXpKVEZwVlU/edit?usp=sharing To all parliamentary factions in the State Duma. This is a political issue, after all. Let’s see what measures they are prepared to take: United Russia https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_VQeHLcziV_OEgwMzg3WEZ3NFE/edit?usp=sharing Communist Party https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_VQeHLcziV_RTNiU0FMSUxKdUE/edit?usp=sharing A Just Russia https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_VQeHLcziV_MFFLRnNRcGhZbzg/edit?usp=sharing LDPR https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_VQeHLcziV_SGF4TkF6elVZSTQ/edit?usp=sharing To the head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_VQeHLcziV_dWhubDNSMWRBNWM/edit?usp=sharing To the head of the Federal Service for Cadastre and Cartography https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_VQeHLcziV_TGhuc2FLdEdHaWc/edit?usp=sharing In a separate letter, we are appealing to the wonderful lathe operator and State Duma deputy Andrei Trapeznikov, who has so persuasively addressed workers at UralVagonZavod and workers across the country, talking about bloated fat cats and the need for patriotism. I would very much like to know the position of factory workers regarding Yakunin’s offshore schemes. We await Deputy Trapeznikov’s response. All our statements have been collected in one folder, “Old Man Yakunin.” What help we need from you: As usual. Go here: http://www.sledcom.ru/internet-reception/ Send this complaint: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wqN4RP2mjGdAHHNTp9t21sviIbdyxxYcogshiEBWhQQ/edit?usp=sharing
Go here: http://letters.kremlin.ru/send And ask our mafia boss whether he recognizes himself as a mafia boss: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jbVDmVWSFEJiggLw6QnSIekkWz6mFK-ZdY7IiuvElHM/edit?usp=sharing 2. Spread the information. This is the most important part. We must make sure that, despite the deathly silence of the zombie-box (slang for state TV), several million people in the country know about Yakunin’s dealings and that Putin is protecting him (unless, of course, we see a resignation and an investigation). Please help spread this post everywhere you can. Blogs, social media, Twitter, local forums, etc. Emails and text messages to friends. It will take you seconds, but for us it is critically important. We will make a special newspaper and distribute it through our own network. I have arranged cooperation with the Interregional Trade Union of Railway Workers; they will distribute this information through their networks and in their newspaper. When we produce printed campaign materials, with your help we will organize outreach at railway stations and hand leaflets to Russian Railways employees. Conductors first and foremost. They will have plenty to discuss with long-distance passengers. And we’ll do all sorts of similar things. Propaganda work will be highly effective here. Absolutely everyone has dealt with Russian Railways. Anyone who has seen these stations and toilets, slept on damp bed linen, and lives next to some half-ruined railway department building will read with enormous pleasure about the glittering empire of the billionaire Yakunin family. Join in. As I wrote above: THIS IS ONLY A VERY SMALL PART. If you have any additional information, send it to: yakunin@fbk.info We very much welcome the efforts of any investigative journalists who begin to unravel parts of this scheme and develop it further. In short: people, rise up against the mafia. Each of us can do something useful to make these people feel a little less comfortable in their fu*r storage rooms. * Many thanks in advance to everyone who takes part. Indifference is not an option. We will keep you promptly informed of developments. P.S. Acknowledgments: huge thanks to ACF staffer Zhora Alburov and to the Foundation volunteer who wished to remain anonymous for the enormous amount of work they did. I have no idea how you guys didn’t lose your minds while untangling this scheme. Thanks to Lyubov Sobol for preparing the complaints. http://navalny.ru/yakunin/ Update: A postcard for old man Yakunin