Dmitry Mazurov considers himself a victim of the struggle for the shares of Antipinsky Oil Refinery

The founder of the Antipinsky Oil Refinery explained his criminal prosecution.
16.07.2019
Forbes
Origin source
Dmitry Mazurov believes that he is innocent of the bankruptcy of the plant, and the criminal case needs to be eliminated from the fight for the shares of the refinery. Forbes studied his testimony.

The afternoon of July 13 did not foretell anything bad to the founder of the New Stream group, Dmitry Mazurov. On the contrary, things were getting better. On July 5, the Interior Ministry refused to initiate a criminal case on embezzlement in the Antipinsky Oil Refinery, which until recently was part of the “New Stream”. Only who flew from Geneva in the business class of Aeroflot Mazurov calmly got off the ladder in Moscow's Sheremetyevo. And the businessman was immediately detained by operatives.

It turned out that the decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case was canceled. The case was initiated by Sberbank, suspecting Mazurov and the former general director of the Antipinsky Oil Refinery Gennady Lisovichhenko in fraud. A statement to the law enforcement authorities was written by the head of Sberbank, German Gref.

Mazurov is charged with theft of 1.8 billion rubles. However, the amount may increase - according to a source from Forbes, who is familiar with the claims of creditors of the refinery, the total amount of the alleged theft - $ 600 million.

According to the main creditor of the Antipinsky Oil Refinery, under Mazurov and Lisovichenko, the plant secretly entrusted to other New Stream companies and concluded contracts on unfavorable terms. The funds were allegedly taken abroad, and the plant was brought into bankruptcy. Dmitry Mazurov has a different version of events, which follows from his testimony, which Forbes studied.

Who bankrupt

Bankruptcy is to blame for the new general director of the refinery Maxim Andriasov, appointed by Sberbank in the fall of 2018, Mazurov believes. He outlined his vision of events in testimony to investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Forbes has the text). Earlier, a representative of the "New Stream" reported that on July 11, Mazurov voluntarily came to the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he gave detailed explanations on the criminal case.

According to Mazurov, Andriasov "for six months deliberately created the grounds for the bankruptcy of the plant." The general director allegedly did not prolong the loans of other banks and did not ship prepaid oil products to buyers. This led to "a serious concern of the workforce, lenders, suppliers and customers of the plant," indicates Mazurov. As a result, the plant stopped, and then "on the initiative of Andriasov" began its own bankruptcy.
On April 30, Andriasov notified about the preparation of the plant for bankruptcy, and on May 18, Antipinsky Oil Refinery filed a claim for its own bankruptcy. The day before, 80% of the plant, which controlled Mazurov and his partner, Sergei Sobyanin’s acquaintance Vladimir Kalashnikov, transferred to Sberbank. In early June, the plant’s major shareholder was a structure associated with the Azerbaijani state oil company Socar.

Why bankrupt

Andriasov’s actions became a “fictitious” basis “for gratuitously writing off” Mazurov’s shares in favor of Sberbank, the businessman writes. According to him, before the bankruptcy, Andriasov allegedly repeatedly reported on the solvency of the plant - in its financial statements and to auditors. Sberbank, according to Mazurov, initiated a criminal case in order to deprive him of his “right to defense and challenge illegal actions” and “eliminate”.

The charges of Sberbank in obtaining loans on the basis of false documents are groundless, Mazurov believes: Sberbank employees had access to all credit documentation and for six years controlled all refineries transactions. The businessman also denies embezzling the plant’s assets through deals at a lower price. From his testimony it becomes clear that, according to Sberbank, the Antipinsky Oil Refinery shipped oil products at a lower price to the trader New Stream Trading AG, which was part of the New Stream Mazurov. The businessman points out that the trader was selling oil products of the Antipinsky Oil Refinery in accordance with the terms of the loan agreement, "which registered, agreed and approved Sberbank." The conditions and rules established by this contract were not violated either by the Antipinsky Oil Refinery or by New Stream Trading AG, the businessman assures.

According to Mazurov, the new management of the plant began to dissolve “rumors about the embezzlement of funds” even before bankruptcy. At the same time, the independent auditors of Alvarez & Marsal, attracted by Sberbank, “carried out an inspection and did not confirm the facts of the withdrawal of funds,” Mazurov stresses.

Second Agrokor

The main reason for the bankruptcy of the refinery was "a significant shortage of working capital," the Sberbank representative said earlier in response to a request from Forbes. There was a cash gap, it was not possible to pay for the necessary oil supplies, and on April 26, the plant ceased production, the representative of Antipinsky Oil Refinery explained earlier. In such circumstances, the plant director "was obliged to publish a bankruptcy notice."

The refinery was in pre-bankruptcy state already in the summer of 2018, a source in the plant’s management says: “The company did not have turnover.” According to the interlocutor of Forbes, the company supported the loan, which at the end of 2018 issued Sberbank "in the hope that the plant will unwind." “But the hole was such that there was no chance,” he continues. Bankruptcy was not required to transfer shares in favor of Sberbank, the Forbes source said: allegedly Antipinsky Oil Refinery did not comply with covenants for a loan before and the state bank could take Mazurov's package "and so". The version that the trader Mazurov bought oil products at reduced prices - “live”, continues the source Forbes: “Price analysis shows that it is.”

Earlier, three sources told Forbes that Sberbank suspected Mazurov and his management in off-balance sheet guarantees, which the refinery issued under loans affiliated with the businessman structures. Their volume interlocutors Forbes evaluated differently: from $ 0.5 to 1.5 billion. However, one of them indicated that Sberbank was aware of transactions, and loans went to support the refinery.

“The main reason for bankruptcy is serious reporting problems,” says a former top manager of Sberbank. According to him, Antipinsky Oil Refinery has every chance of becoming a “second Agrokor”. In 2019, the state bank became a co-owner of the Croatian retailer Agrokor, who could not pay off the debts (more than 1 billion euros - only to Sberbank).

Advisor to the President of Sberbank Maxim Poletaev said that a re-audit of Agrokor revealed 2 billion euros of additional debt. During the bankruptcy of the Antipinsky Oil Refinery, it became known that its debts exceeded $ 5 billion. Sources of Forbes reported that the debt to Sberbank was about $ 3 billion. The representative of Sberbank and Maxim Andriasov declined to comment.

Crime

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