According to a Forbes source close to Petropavlovsk, its co-founder and former CEO Pavel Maslovsky is under questioning. The press service of Pokrovsky Rudnik (Petropavlovsk's daughter) did not confirm information about his arrest. He is suspected of stealing funds from the Pokrovsky Rudnik company as part of an organized group, Forbes was told in its press service. Allegedly, Maslovsky made a transaction for the sale and purchase of real estate at an inflated price.

There is no injured party in the case, the message from Pokrovsky Rudnik says. The representatives of the power structures did not make an independent assessment of the deal.

As an interlocutor of Forbes in Petropavlovsk explained, the questions of law enforcement agencies concern the purchase of an office building in Blagoveshchensk, which was affiliated with Maslovsky. The amount of damage, according to the interlocutor, is measured in tens of millions of rubles. This is a deal in 2018, its market nature was checked by Russian and international auditors as part of the audit of the annual accounts. Searches are underway at the Pokrovsky Rudnik office in Moscow from 12 noon on December 24. Together with representatives of the security forces, the new head of Petropavlovsk Denis Aleksandrov (took office on December 1) and several other representatives of the new administration of the gold miner are in the office. Earlier, Interfax reported on the searches. According to the agency's sources, they may be connected with the investigation into the circumstances of the sale of the company's office building in Blagoveshchensk or with a criminal case against the former and. about. Petropavlovsk General Director Maxim Meshcheryakov. The searches were conducted by officers of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The press service of the Petropavlovsk company did not comment on the purpose of the searches, as the company did not see the case materials. "The meeting of shareholders of the company this summer initiated an independent investigation of a number of transactions over the past three years, when Pavel Maslovsky held the position of CEO," they recalled.

A company spokesman said that the criminal case could have been initiated due to preparations for the Pokrovsky Rudnik shareholders' meeting, the agenda of which is the change of management bodies. “This could be an attempt to put pressure on the management of Pokrovsky Rudnik,” the company said in a statement. Today's searches are the quintessence of the conflict between the majority shareholder of Petropavlovsk Konstantin Strukov and Maslovsky, their mutual acquaintance claims. According to him, Maslovsky is not a shareholder of Petropavlovsk, but has a personal influence on local management and allegedly tries to control the company informally. The fact that personal disagreements arose between Strukov and Maslovsky on the basis of business is confirmed by a source close to Petropavlovsk.

In Petropavlovsk, a corporate conflict between shareholders and the company's management continues since June 2020. The main shareholders of the company did not support the candidates to the board of directors recommended by the board of directors, including the candidacy of Pavel Maslovsky, general director and co-founder of Petropavlovsk. The Board is asking the British regulator to investigate, suspecting that the vote was orchestrated by Yuzhuralzolot President Konstantin Strukov F 50 and Nikolai Lustiger, who has represented the combined interests of Everest and Slevin for the past two years. The conflict is taking place against the backdrop of rumors about the merger of Petropavlovsk and Yuzhuralzolot.

This is not the first shareholder conflict in the company. In its history there has already been a similar dispute with the shareholder, Renova, Viktor Vekselberg, which also had plans to consolidate the industry. In 2017, Renova and the Sothic and M&G foundations that supported it announced that they intend to vote against re-election to the board of directors of the founder of the company Peter Hambro and three independent directors. After the victory of the candidates from Renova, Pavel Maslovsky left the post of CEO and board of directors. Subsequently, Renova sold its stake without presenting the development strategy of Petropavlovsk, and Maslovsky returned to the company and became its head.

Pavel Maslovsky is the founder and CEO of Petropavlovsk, a former co-owner of the Asia-Pacific Bank, Private Bank and the Azbuka Vkusa supermarket chain. With partner Peter Hambro, in the 2000s he listed the gold mining company Peter Hambro and the iron ore company Aricom on the London Stock Exchange. In December 2011, Maslovsky became a member of the Federation Council from the Amur Region, and in October 2014, he prematurely resigned as a senator.