The main Russian "fish tycoon" Vitaly Orlov has completely bought out the 39th floor in the highest residential building UK, St. George Wharf Tower for £13 million (933 million rubles). Neighbors of Orlov in St. George Wharf are Kurdish oil tycoon, Egyptian largest manufacturer of snacks, Indonesian banker, the Uruguayan coach, a former pilot of Formula 1, and the family of Deputy head of the board of directors FosAgro and former Senator Andrey Guryev.

Fish is looking where it is deeper, Orlov is looking for the fish

He can afford it: Bloomberg, which every year counts billionaires in Russia has found another businessman with a ten-digits fortune. How Vitaly Orlov made his first billion, says the investigation.

- He is a mysterious figure. Even among the fishermen of the city, who know each other, know who and what kind of fish caught, who married whom, who and how goes to the sea, everybody is silent about Orlov, said the columnist of one of the Murmansk newspapers Nina Antonyan, which has spent 20 years writing about the problems of the fishing industry.

- I thought he had long been a billionaire, and he's been just added to the list? says surprised former chairman of a fishing collective farms of the North, who asked not to be named in "this subject."

Orlov is still not known to the general public. But industry experts have long whispered him to be "the king of the sea": Orlov's holding, according to experts, has 15% of the total catches of the Russian cod, pollock and herring and is one of the largest earners of white fish in the world. Annual revenues of his companies are estimated at $500-600 million.

"Cod Pirate"

Vitaly Orlov was born in the "sea capital" of the North, Murmansk. Choose a romantic and for these places quite logical profession: he enrolled in the Navy School, with the specialty of "navigation".

- It's been a long time, he did not maintain relations with the institute, and his teachers and fellow students have scattered in all directions, said Head of the Navigation department of the Murmansk Marine Fishing College Valery Veklichev.

Vitaly Orlov in 1993 went to the Swedish company, which had the exclusive right to catch the Russian fish. It was said that the head of the company from Sweden was linked with the Russian special services, so for him it was a special relationship. Orlov was accepted to strengthen ties between the Russian and Swedish fishermen in business.

Cod and pollock from the Russian waters straight went to the Scandinavian counters. At work, Orlov got acquainted with one of the top managers and a naval officer in the past, Magnus Roth. They became friends and decided that it was time to go into a separate swimming, creating their own company Ocean Trawlers.

-I Heard that Magnus Roth back in the 90s was called a "cod pirate" for risky and not always law-friendly operations, reminded one of the marine ecologists, who asked not to be referred to.

-In the 90s there was, as they say, a wild market, but Orlov had enough flair and tenacity to swim in the right direction. He made a bet not only on production but also on the development of the fleet, says fishery manager Vladimir Lyapunov.

Murmansk fish managers recall that Orlov managed to occupy a profitable niche: he fetched the used Norwegian ships in Russian waters. In return, the fishermen often gave their catch to Orlov's company. This was called development.

By the time the lucky fisherman and future oligarch already moved to the "Norwegian Rublyovka": the picturesque old town of Drøbak in a fjord, which is considered a warm haven of Oslo. From that European place, the Murmansk businessman was pushed by an international scandal.

The war with the Vikings

By 2004, the little Norway rebelled against the outsiders. It appeared that Ocean Trawlers controlled up to 80% of the cod market. The Norwegian tax authorities started to check the operations of the company and the national television showed the investigation, in which the successful businessmen were accused of involvement in corruption schemes, and illegal fishing. The film is called "Predatory Fishermen."

Most criticized was the third owner of Ocean Trawlers, Alexander Tugushev, who with his company joined the Russian-Norwegian business. In 2003 Tugushev became deputy head of the State Fisheries Committee (now - Rosrybolovstvo) Eugene Nazdratenko and Norwegian journalists hinted that Tugushev from his high chair continued to patronize the company Orlov and former partners are still working in the same bundle. One of the proofs - scan fax, which is the journalist's Rune Etreberga, the transfer of € 20 thousand from the accounting Ocean Trawlers Miss Tugusheva the name of a luxury hotel in Cyprus.

Orlova company managed to fight off all the charges, which they called the insinuations competitors.

Insubmersible

Since the beginning of the 2000s the company Orlova became a holding company engaged in buying up fishing and nautical companies in the North and the Far East. However, Arkhangelsk fishing farms defended the independence, raising the noise due to the attempt to bankrupt companies in order to further buying. Long-time friend and partner Orlova - Deputy. the head of the State Fisheries Committee Tugushev - then demanded from Arkhangelsk to sell all the fish specifically Ocean Trawlers. A letter with his signature then caused a lot of noise.

official career was over, but for another reason: Tugusheva sent to 6 years in prison for extortion of bribes in the allocation of fishing quotas. But uzhetogda quota allocated by the "historical" basis, and can not one official had to change it.

When "love" Norway has passed, the company Orlov moved to Hong Kong and began working with China's largest processor Pacific Andes. In 2012, the Chinese proudly stated that the control 60-70% of the catch of the Russian pollock.

- Russian fish hits the counters across China, with international premium! - Outraged and fishermen and consumers, and, of course, competitors Orlov, among which there are very powerful players - "Gidrostroy" member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Alexander Verkhovsky and "Russian aquaculture" Brother Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov - Maxim Vorobiev and son Gennady Timchenko Gleb Frank.

Director of Murmansk Michael rybkombinata Tooth said that most of the fish "swims" in Hong Kong and China. True, his ardor has cooled down: a request for comment on this subject refused.

In 2016 Orlov opened processing factory in Murmansk. The event came to the head of the Federal Agency for Fishery Ilya Shestakov, the son of a sparring partner Vladimir Putin Vasily Shestakov.

Birds of a feather

In 2017, Vitaly Orlov became the full owner of the holding company changed its name to the new - "Norebo". But if Magnus Roth quiet enough transferred its shares Orlov (undisclosed amount), then proceeding with another companion recall action-packed thriller.

When Tugushev released from prison, he returned to the company as vice president - the road to the bureaucratic service was closed to him. Even earlier, in the transition to service in the State Fisheries Committee, Tugushev written waiver of his stake in the company. After serving, he began to assure that the rejection was purely formal, but oral agreements to business you will not sew. Further developments were the basis of the criminal case of extortion Orlov 5 billion rubles (so Tugushev assessed their share).

"You have time till the evening ... I do not decide the question in a normal, and I'll rip your legs family - allegedly hired Tugusheva said" negotiator ", Chechen Usman Dzhamaldaev. - If you can not rewrite the action, then you will lose your head ... "

From the offered compensation of $ 60 million Tugushev refused - eventually got a criminal case, and a new term. Thus ended the most successful redistribution of fishing Holding, one of the companions went to the bottom, the second surely sustained rate at the list of billionaires.