All news
Research institutes were researched, plundered and laundered
As Kommersant has learned, Igor Yesin, former CEO and shareholder of JSC Research and Design Institute of Urea and Organic Synthetic Products (NIIK, Dzerzhinsk), has been arrested in Moscow. Following the investigation, he has been charged with fraud and laundering stolen money. At the same time, the committee's investigation is connected with another high-profile case.
Igor Yesin was detained by FSB officers and the Investigative Department for Particularly Important Cases of the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. Investigators charged him with committing a crime under Articles 159 and 174 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (in particular, large-scale fraud and laundering of stolen goods (legalization)).
Mr. Yesin did not admit his guilt, and his lawyer called for the defendant to be released, since the crimes he is accused of were committed in the course of his business activities.
The lawyers proposed to limit the case to house arrest or to prohibit certain actions. However, the Basmansky District Court of Moscow granted the investigator's motion with the support of the prosecutor's office. If Mr. Yesin is released, he will certainly try to destroy evidence in criminal cases that has not yet been confiscated and escape. He will remain in custody until December 7.
According to Kommersant, the criminal case against Mr. Yesin was opened on October 8. Subsequently, it was connected with another high-profile investigation against the former chairman of the board of directors of OAO Ammoniy (OAO Ammoniy), former manager of AO Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Kazan Rinat Khanbikov and the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee. The Russian Federation is also accused of the same fraud.
From 2010 to 2016, NIIK designed and manufactured it on a turnkey basis, and also carried out installation and commissioning works at its Ammonium plant in Mendeleyevsk (Tatarstan). The company produces ammonia, methanol, granulated urea and ammonium nitrate based on the assets of the Novo-Mendeleevsky Chemical Plant. Production began in 2016.
The criminal case concerns the theft of 246.4 million rubles from the company "Ammonium" and its subsidiary "Mendeleevskazot". From February 2013 to May 2018.
They say that, on the orders of Mr. Khanbikov, the plant sold 150.5 thousand tons of ammonium nitrate at non-market prices, and then resold them and covered the discount.
Meanwhile, in 2017, NIIK acted as the designer and general contractor of a chemical plant in the city of Gubakha in the Perm Territory, commissioned by Metafrax Chemicals. The cost of the plant exceeded 1 billion euros in 2021, the customer terminated the contract with the laboratory and the arbitration court initiated bankruptcy proceedings. A temporary manager was appointed to the plant, who discovered that NIIK's management had deliberately entered into an unfavorable contract with Metafrax Chemicals. Part of the costs was unfairly shifted to the institute, which independently raised about 1.6 billion rubles in borrowed funds for the project. The contract with the customer for the performance of the work was concluded at a fixed price, and Metafrax Chemicals refused to pay 929 million rubles. Indirect costs of the project and necessary additional work amounted to almost 1.5 billion rubles.
In November 2022, NIIK was declared bankrupt, and the company's total debt exceeded 2 billion rubles. During the bankruptcy procedure, it was acquired by the Novaroll group, which produces packaging, construction and chemical products. The investor bought out the main claim against the bankrupt, and the creditor approved the process of replacing the debtor's assets. Now the existing JSC NIIK is the founder of the new NIIK, which transferred assets worth 557.8 million rubles to the authorized capital.
In December 2022, Sberbank filed a bankruptcy claim against Igor Yesin for 103 million rubles. The proceedings in this case were terminated. UniCreditBank collected more than 400 million rubles from Igor Yesin. Unpaid loans attracted by NIIK and TIKO-Plastic in 2019-2020 (founder - Igor Yesin).