Russian special services earn on illegal alcohol

From the rearrangement of heads of PAP schemes do not change.
25.07.2019
Origin source
Plundering, production of counterfeit, pressure on independent entrepreneurs - after a short break, the alcohol market began to live again under criminal schemes. According to PASMI sources, the management of the shadow business remains in the hands of the ex-head of the RAR, Igor Chuyan, who escaped from Russia. The country's president gave the team for his criminal prosecution, but the FSB leadership first allowed the official to flee, and then return the influence, introducing his successor into the RAR.

The information that the market for baked alcohol remains under the control of the ex-head of the Russian Alcohol Regulatory Authority accused of corruption appeared in late 2018. One of the largest Russian producers of alcoholic beverages said that the state annually misses 4 billion rubles in taxes because of the scheme of falsification of fruit wines, the income from which Igor Chuyan receives. At the beginning of July 2019, Versia reported that companies affiliated with Chuyana’s former wards also produce vodka, port and beer drinks, and total budget losses from their activities reach 15 billion rubles.

This information was confirmed by PASMI sources in law enforcement agencies and the alcohol industry. They also revealed the name of Igor Chuyan’s unwritten successor in the shadow market - Anatoly Yablonsky.

Successor from Kostroma

Entrepreneur Anatoly Yablonsky, according to official data, is now the founder of 24 organizations. The largest business projects were previously associated with Kostroma. According to regional activists, the businessman was a trusted person of the former governor of the Kostroma region, Igor Slyunyaev (the current name is Albin), who led the region in 2007-2012.

Slyunyaeva and Yablonsky are associated with the schemes of “cutting” the Kostroma budget through the Avangard Bank. Local Internet resources reported that the calculation of the utility services came under the control of the bank, and the rise in prices caused a wave of disturbances in the region. Yablonsky was a member of the Avangard Board of Directors, and also owned a number of utility companies that were mentioned in publications in connection with suspicions of fraud in the housing and utilities market.

And this year, the alcohol market has also fallen into the sphere of Anatoly Yablonsky’s interests. In June, he became the chairman of the Union of Cognac Producers, the founders of which are the largest industry enterprises - Kizlyar Cognac Factory, Moscow Wine and Cognac Factory KiN and All-Russian Exhibition Center Alliance-1892.

According to the PASMI sources, this appointment is the legalization of the secret mission of Yablonsky, appointed in the fall of 2018 as the main curator of the Russian shadow alcohol sector.
 
Guarantors from the FSB

Patron Jablonsky called the former head of the "K" FSB, General Viktor Voronin, who as a seconded officer of the special services supervised the Avangard Bank, where the KGB man and the merchant were friends.

Voronin was repeatedly seen on holiday in the Kostroma Fishery, which is owned by Yablonsky. LLC KRH is considered to be a base where issues that cannot be condemned in official residences were resolved. In 2018, a large federal scandal was associated with these sites: the Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia, Saak Karapetyan, crashed while hunting for a private helicopter, which flew unauthorized.

Editors of the editorial office said that a number of high-ranking security officials had participated in the process of entering Yablonsky into alcoholic affairs. Voronin acted through the first deputy Alexander Bortnikov Sergey Smirnov. The latter addressed the request of the retired general to the head of the FSB FSB Sergey Korolev, who turned to the current head of the K department and the curator of the RAR, Ivan Tkachev.

There is evidence that Tkachev and Korolev met with Yablonsky in the fall of 2018, and then Anatoly Yablonsky presented and recommended to the new head of Rosalkogol Igor Aleshin. At the same time, the alcohol market found out that all issues can now be resolved through the alleged FSB protege.

Also, according to PASMI, Voronin introduced Anatoly Yablonsky to Colonel Kirill Cherkalin, who, before his arrest in the spring of 2019, could assist the entrepreneur in his banking business, as well as in the alcohol business.

Secrets of Chuyan's Escape

According to PASMI sources, Igor Chuyan is directly involved in the coordination of Anatoly Yablonsky's actions. The quick "Minister of Alcohol" received Israeli citizenship, and from there, according to the latest data, he moved to the United States.

Presumably, the acquaintance of Chuyan and Yablonsky happened through Viktor Voronin. The retired head of the banking department “K” is called not only the long-time patron of Igor Chuyan, but also his close friend. People familiar with Chuyan say that the former head of the RAR openly defied relations with Voronin, and when the head of the K department was dismissed in 2016, Chuyan was literally weeping in his office. The all-powerful “alcohol minister” even then foresaw that he too would soon leave his post, losing a high-ranking patron.

According to PASMI, the former head of Rosalkogol Voronin could help in solving all issues, closing his eyes to the "gray" schemes in the market, as well as to the illegal activities of the United Financial Capital Bank. Through OFK-Bank, unsupported loans were issued to firms from the alcohol distributor of LLC Status Groups, whose beneficiary Alexander Bastrykin’s subordinates consider Chuyan. Financial frauds revealed one of the owners of "OFK-Bank", a classmate of President Vladimir Putin, lawyer Nikolay Egorov. His statement to the police formed the basis of the criminal case, in which, in September 2018, charges were filed against Igor Chuyang.

Egorov’s statement coincided with Putin’s report on illegal production and sale of alcohol, launched by Chuyan for 10 years of RAP leadership, as well as criticism of the department’s management by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Federation Council Chairman Valentina Matvienko. The total damage from Chuyana’s schemes is estimated at more than 200 billion rubles. After this information, the president gave instructions to understand the activities of the head of the federal service.
 
But the official did not bear the punishment for what he had done: they say that loyal comrade Viktor Voronin and other influential patrons who turned to the current FSB generals helped him to escape from the country. As a result, Chuyanu was given about six months so that he could prepare documents, transfer assets, pay off his assistants, and fly out of the country. Only after that the security forces declared him wanted.

However, even without this information from PASMI sources, it can be concluded that (at best) the ineffective work of the federal security service. Under the noses of the KGB, the official fled from punishment, whose criminal activities, at least since 2014, have been in development and, as follows from reports to the president, threatened the state’s economic security.

His people - are considered

All the key figures of the shadow alcohol market, which were mentioned in the investigations of journalists and reports to the president, remained in their places today and even expanded their spheres of influence. Thus, the turnover of companies affiliated with former members of Chuyan - Arsen Tsipinov and Igor Shusharev, now reaches more than 20 million bottles of vodka, port, wines and beer drinks monthly. According to media reports, Tsipinov and Shusharev own companies through nominees. Their enterprises are located in North Ossetia, Moscow, the Moscow region, Leningrad, Tula, Penza, Voronezh regions, the Stavropol Territory and the CBD. Today, the work of Tsipinov and Shusharev is associated with Yablonsky.

After his departure, Chuyana remained in his place as well as all his assistants in the Rosalkogolregulirovanie, which were carried out in the operational developments of the security forces as participants in illegal chief schemes. This is the deputy head of the PAP Elena Afanasenko, the head of the Interregional Department of the PAP in the Central Federal District Irina Golosnaya, who in December 2018 also became the deputy head of the PAP; another deputy Aleshina - Vladislav Zaslavsky, head of the licensing department Sergey Gorbovsky and others.

According to the interlocutors of PASMI, Chuyan today maintains contact with Afanasenko, who continues to oversee the licensing schemes for enterprises. Golosnoy is now engaged in control activities and issuing excise stamps, and Zaslavsky is responsible for contacts of regional and interregional departments of the PAP, where Aleshin’s deputies “push” their people.

For example, Andrei Medved, who assists the enterprises of Arsen Tsipinov and Igor Shusharev, manages the interregional administration of RAR in the North Caucasus Federal District. And Timur Tatarintsev was appointed the head of the MRA in the Southern Federal District in July 2018. One of his tasks is
promote such companies as Moscow “MoRo”, which successfully absorbs the Crimean alcohol market.

Count losses

As an example of how the state budget was plundered through RAP, the editor-in-chief referred to purchases of brandy alcohol through Armenia. Russia acquires raw materials, which cost $ 1.5-2 per liter, for $ 4, and the delta is distributed among the interested parties. The estimated damage to the treasury from these transactions is estimated at 6 billion rubles a year.

Another variant of the work, which is practiced by shadow businesses, is the production of “left” port. The drink is made from ethyl alcohol, water and flavors, and the label indicates that it is a fruit wine. The realization of such products gives a huge benefit due to its low cost. Today, Russia produces about 300 million liters of fruit wines and wine drinks, they are sold in almost all supermarkets of economy class.

In addition to manufacturing and trading frauds, customs schemes are also used. Thus, the Selyatino checkpoint became famous on the Russian alcohol market: goods can be brought in quickly through this customs terminal, but at prices that are overestimated by 2-3 times. And those who do not want to use expensive service, especially create problems at other checkpoints. The result is almost legalized corruption. According to sources, Deputy Head of RAR Vladislav Zaslavsky and Deputy General Director for Economics and Finance of Rosspirtprom JSC Dmitry Bylno coordinates the work of the customs terminal.

All these and many other schemes were launched when Chuyang was the head of Rosalkogol, and today almost all illegal lines continue to operate.

Crime

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