The problems of Mr. Veremeenko are not political, but exclusively financial and criminal in nature
Denis Lavrov
The central media do not like to write about Bashkiria. Just think, there is some kind of national republic there, all sorts of provincials live, no passions for you, no one kills anyone, no rallies. Silence, smoothness and God's grace. However, today, in this very patriarchal corner, serious passions are beginning to flare up. At times it seems that all Moscow PR people and journalists are just busy telling everyone about the Bashkir scandals.
It is not at all surprising that all these scandals are in one way or another connected with the Veremeenko brothers, Sergei and Alexander, who are now well known not only in Bashkiria, but throughout Russia. Sergei is the closest employee of the head of Mezhprombank Sergei Pugachev, and Alexander has just flown from the chair of the head of the Bashkir gas structure - Bashtransgaz - to the chair of the head of the Bashkir tax inspectorate. We do not at all pretend to provide a complete biography of the brothers. Quite a few newspaper pages are devoted to these memorable characters. Therefore, let's try to understand the essence of the conflict.
Recently, a version has been persistently presented that, they say, all the problems of the Veremeenko brothers are from the highest political spheres, these brothers fly so high that they constantly get burned on something high. At that moment, when brother Alexander had just been fired from Bashtransgaz, one newspaper popular in the business world even broke out with the version that he was about to be appointed to the highest position in the Presidential Administration. And he will be assigned to watch over Bashkiria and Tataria, and will report everything to the very top. However, Alexander Veremeenko did not head anything like managing Bashkiria and Tataria in the Presidential Administration; moreover, he did not oversee Bashkiria either on behalf of the Pope or on behalf of Condoleezza Rice. The funny thing is that such a high version was indicated precisely on the day when he actually received the appointment as head of the tax inspectors of Bashkortostan. However, Mr. Pugachev’s assorted assistants in the field of public relations were weirder and cooler.
In our humble opinion, the problems of Mr. Veremeenko are much more mundane. And they are not at all political, but completely economic, frankly speaking, financially - criminal in nature. Let's try to substantiate this position. For this purpose, let us turn to some areas of financial activity headed by brothers of commercial structures.
Criminal Veremeenko – senior
Another aggravation with the Veremeenko brothers occurred after the dismissal of the eldest of them from the post of head of the Bashkir “daughter” of Gazprom, Bashtransgaz. At the same time, the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Bashkortostan opened criminal case No. 3010028 about theft by fraud on a large scale. During inspections of statements from a number of enterprises of the Republic of Bashkortostan that carried out construction and installation work for Bashtransgaz LLC about fraudulent actions in the implementation of mutual settlements using bills of exchange of the International Industrial Bank CJSC, it was established that after the appointment in April 2002 to the position of general director " Bashtransgaz" of the former manager of the Ufa branch of Mezhprombank, Alexander Veremeenko, began the game of bills so beloved in Mezhprombank. The most exotic offices were used as holders of these bills. Thus, the holder of Mezhprombank bills in the amount of more than $5 million was a certain LLC “Kvant”, registered in the name of a certain Vladimir Semenov, who was previously convicted under Article 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which, translated into public terms, means drug distribution. There were other, no less sophisticated, holders of “inter-industrial bank” receipts.
According to experts, the role of intermediary structures (naturally, not capable of spending a single ruble in construction on their own) installation work) is to enforce contracts with suppliers and contractors using these same bills. In this case, bills of exchange are used with maturities of at least 3 years. Then the games with discounts and taxes begin. As a result, upon payment, at least 25% of the money remains at the disposal of lucky combinators. Thus, the banal scheme of robbing various kinds of enterprises was carried out. Not for nothing for last year the amount of bills issued by the Ufa branch of Mezhprombank increased 4.9 times, and the share of long-term (3 years) bills rose over the same period from 13.1% to 87.8%.
According to the relevant tax office, where the already mentioned LLC “Kvant” is registered for tax purposes, financial statements transactions with these bills are not reflected at all, and some of these bills were taken into account by Mezhprombank for 0.5% of the nominal value. In general quite standard scheme avoiding taxes and cheating others.
It was to investigate such cases that criminal case No. 3010028 was opened. It was after this story that the head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, removed Alexander Veremeenko from the leadership of Bashtransgaz. A very real possibility has arisen of Alexander Veremeenko acquiring the honorable status of a suspect. Naturally, only a court can recognize a fraudster, so in the future we will not call the respectable entrepreneur such a bad word, limiting ourselves to the word “suspect” in his address.
Old tradition
The use of various types of bill of exchange schemes is an old, but not a good tradition of Mezhprombank. There are countless stories like this. Even the central press wrote about this more than once. So, Novaya Gazeta columnist Yulia Latynina published a series of materials about the use of these bill of exchange schemes and various types of fraud associated with them. Naturally, the name of the Veremeenko brothers is not ignored in the financial chains of scammers. A certain Unitemp LLC, used in these schemes, was founded by the same Alexander and Sergei Veremeenko. According to our information, Novaya Gazeta suffered quite seriously from the participants in this chain. It is well known that suing Mr. Pugachev and his associates is a very expensive pleasure. However, during the legal battles that followed the publications, on the part of Mezhprombank the main attention was paid to formal features, but there were no objections to the very essence of the “wash-and-wash” scheme.
Mezhprombank introduced similar types of bill schemes in other Russian regions. Both with and without the participation of the Veremeenko brothers. So in Kabardino-Balkaria, back in 1999, Mezhprombank suddenly issued a loan of 50 million rubles to the Republican Ministry of Construction, as usual, in the form of its bills. This issuance somehow suspiciously coincided exactly with the allocation of absolutely the same amount to the republic from the federal budget. It was this money that ended up with Mezhprombank at the most short terms.
Then the fun began. Five of these bills, for example, were purchased by Uralvneshtorgbank and tried to present for payment. It turned out that in the opinion of Mezhprombank itself, I am not me, and the bills are not bills. They say that they do not have a “live” signature, but a facsimile (a facsimile is unacceptable on bank bills). And the paper immediately turns into an IOU. And according to these promissory notes, they say, only the Government of Kabardino-Balkaria bears obligations. By the way, tell me whose name appeared on these bills as the head of Mezhprombank? Or can you guess it yourself? This is that. The funny thing is that before the purchase, Uralvneshtorgbank asked those who issued the bills - what were the bills? The answer was, of course, bills. Naturally, these bills were offered to be redeemed for 60% of their value. Unfortunately, we do not know who divided the profit and how. If such combinations are not a scam, what is? However, such examples can be multiplied.
From sick to healthy
Obviously, all these facts are known not only to us. And naturally, Messrs. Veremeenko is forced to defend himself in some way. Most powerful way protection in such cases of election to one or another public office. Or at least participation in the election campaign, which allows, with a certain dexterity, to try to present one’s financial sins as revenge from political opponents. However, this requires revitalization. Because the damned electorate has less and less faith in the bankers’ fighters for the people.
Back in mid-May, as if anticipating his dismissal from Bashtransgaz, Alexander Veremeenko told shocked journalists that an attempt had been made on his life. The assassination attempt, according to his employees, was committed in his country house with round-the-clock security (there are 15 dogs there alone) on the night of May 13, and for some reason it was announced on the 16th. True, according to any competent specialist, the attempt on the Bashkir elusive Joe was staged. Why?
Firstly, a tripwire with an F-1 grenade was installed on the back door handle country house, from which dogs are let out for a walk. In addition, just in case, he decided not to straighten the antennae on the fuse, which made the grenade completely harmless. Secondly, the security guard of this country house reported that next to the tripwire he found a plastic bag containing 4 more grenades and plastic bottle with white powder. Everything, of course, is good, but then this guard drowned this bag in the swamp. So they didn't find him there.
However, Alexander Veremeenko is now almost a victim, sort of like a sufferer. Probably for the people. And not at all for dubious financial schemes.
Rookery
There is no doubt that the history of managing financial flows on the part of Sergei and Alexander Veremeenko will continue to sparkle with bright colors. However, it seems that this story is close to sunset. And the sunset in this case is, as they said in the past, a government house. The critical mass of criminal cases will only increase, and saving the “weak link” of the financial chain will become more and more difficult. The final is just around the corner, no matter how many places in the Presidential Administration obliging journalists promise their patron. And no matter how they try to wash it.
And where is the guarantee that this “weak link” will simply stop being saved at some point? And the “Orthodox banker” will simply pass by without even shrugging his shoulders. Sergei Pugachev himself is now having a hard time, he, of course, can still (or rather, supposedly can) pretend that he is waiting in front of the presidential doors, but now it is more than obvious that the circle of serious political players in Moscow has ceased to include when - then the powerful head of Mezhprombank. And the way they wiped their feet on Pugachev in Bashkiria, throwing out his famous creature from Gazprom, like a naughty cat, is further confirmation of this.
Politics is a dirty and cruel thing. Consumables are thrown away there without a twinge of conscience.
The Central Bank of Russia has revoked the license of the Central Commercial Bank, better known as Tsentrkombank. The reason for the revocation was not only a violation of the “ordinary” norms of banking regulation, but also the law “On combating the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime and the financing of terrorism.”
Despite all the formidable promises of Veremeenko, at the time of the revocation of the license, Tsentrcombank, according to reporting data, as of September 1, 2016, occupied not fifth, but ... 206th place in the Russian banking system
The simplest explanation for this discrepancy is that the bank could be conceived as a reserve airfield for the entire Mezhprombank group, and the “divorce” of the partners itself was part of a business combination that simply was not completed due to problems with the “senior comrade.” However, nothing is known about the fact that there is any danger hanging over the banker Sergei Veremeenko. His name was not mentioned in connection with the revocation of his license. And it is possible that the banker is already at the new credit airport.
The “Bashkir Party” of Sergei Veremeenko, by the way, also turned out to be not such a loser. Ultimately, he came to power in the republic in 2010 Rustem Khamitov, whose longtime acquaintance and colleague was Alexander Veremeenko, who worked as the head of the Federal Tax Service for Bashkiria in the 2000s, and before that - the general director of Bashtransgaz
Sergey Veremeenko is a famous businessman from the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky, professor, doctor of technical sciences, co-founder of Mezhprombank, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Tver region, as well as one of the richest people in Russia in terms of Forbes rating. How did his path to success begin?
Excellent student
Sergei Veremeenko was born on September twenty-sixth, 1955 in a city called Pereslavl-Zalessky. After the father of the future businessman is demobilized from the army, the whole family moves to Ufa. Sergei has an older brother, Alexander, in whose footsteps he entered the Ufa Petroleum Institute later, in 1973.
Sergei Alekseevich remembers his student years with particular warmth and speaks of them as the best time in his life. He was a very active young man: he studied excellently, carried out orders from the Komsomol, took part in construction teams, and even traveled to Germany. Sergei Alekseevich graduated from the Veremeenko Institute with honors and decided to enroll in graduate school.
Having become a graduate student, he also continued to take an active position in life: he participated in construction teams, traveled on various assignments, spoke to young people and taught the younger generation instructions: in order to achieve something, it is necessary to “be in sight.” Veremeenko is sure that in Russia a person’s activity is assessed first, and only then his professional skills.
First business
In 1981, he defended his PhD thesis in technical sciences and got a job as an engineer in the laboratory of the State Oil Product Committee of the RSFSR. Sergei Alekseevich moves up the career ladder: first he becomes a senior engineer, head of a laboratory, and later head of a department at the Ufa Petroleum Institute.
But five years after the start of work, Sergey Veremeenko decides to open his own business - in the production of thermal decals. It was at this time that he begins to earn much more than his colleagues, for which he receives disapproval from society.
From 1989 to 1992, the businessman was appointed to the post of deputy general director of the West Siberian Engineering Center of the All-Union Institute for Pipeline Construction.
At the same time, Sergei Alekseevich Veremeenko did not forget his scientific activity - in the early nineties he defended his doctoral dissertation in technical sciences. I believed that in the future an academic title could be in great demand.
Collaboration with Pugachev
At the same time, Veremeenko meets his future business partner Sergei Viktorovich Pugachev - he works in Leningrad at Promstroybank. Sergei Alekseevich runs a cooperative for the production of Phoenix decals, and Pugachev assists him in organizing sales.
As a result, in 1991, Sergei Pugachev opened the Northern Trade Bank in Leningrad, and Sergei Veremeenko opened his own branch of this institution in Moscow. A year later, the bank grew from a branch to an independent “International Industrial Bank”. Sergei Alekseevich became the manager of this institution, and it was decided to sell the Northern Trade Bank. The last decision was correct - three years later the bank went bankrupt.
From 2003 to 2004, Veremeenko became the managing director of Mezhprombank, and then a member of the board of directors of this institution. In parallel with this activity, since 2000 and the next five years he has been a representative Russian Federation in the organization of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. The work consisted of preparing meetings of heads of state, business trips to different parts of the world, and developing documents to be discussed at meetings.
Participation in the presidential elections in Bashkiria and a quarrel with Pugachev
In 2003, Sergei Alekseevich Veremeenko decides to run for the post of President of the Republic of Bashkortostan. He makes it to the second round of elections, but after that he voluntarily withdraws his candidacy.
Participation in the campaign becomes a reason for breaking the partnership between Eremeenko and Pugachev. They decide to divide the business, which happens not without scandals, which are covered in all its glory in the press. As a result, in the same year Veremeenko resigned from his position as manager at Mezhprombank.
Social activities of Veremeenko
Since 2004 and for the next five years, the businessman has been president of the Russian Modern Pentathlon Federation. During this time, the team won two Olympic medals and won many victories at the World and European Championships. As Sergei Alekseevich later admitted, we should bet on those sports where victories for our team are most likely.
Therefore, he continues to actively support sports schools in Moscow and the Tver region, as well as the Krylya Sovet hockey team. Since 2009, Sergei Veremeenko has become an adviser to the president of the International Union of Modern Pentathlon.
In 2004, he held many public positions: he became vice-president of the Russian Academy of Engineering, chairman of the Regional Development Assistance Fund, and co-head of the presidium of the Supreme Engineering Council of Russia. In addition, the businessman is appointed head International Institute investment projects and construction economics.
New business projects and properties
New projects are also appearing in business, and very successful ones, now with another partner - Vadim Varshavsky. These are the Russian Coal company, where Sergei Alekseevich owns 25 percent of the shares, and the Estar metallurgical group (Alexander Shishkin is also a co-owner). Veremeenko owns the company "VILS". He completely controls the "Central Commercial Bank".
In addition to enterprises, he owns large plots of land in the Kaluga, Penza and Tver regions (total area of about 30 thousand hectares), as well as the village of Aquatoria Istra in the Moscow region.
Love for horses
One of the oligarch's biggest interests is horse breeding. He owns the Snipe horse farm, which is located in the Tver region. In the future, he plans to increase the livestock - now he has one and a half thousand, but in the future he plans to increase this number to 30-50 thousand. This herd will be the largest in Europe.
To increase the livestock, Veremeenko plans to attract local and regional authorities, as well as regional and state funding, personal and even credit funds. The businessman believes that the key point in this enterprise is that about five thousand jobs will be involved, employing people from rural areas.
With particular enthusiasm, Sergey Veremeenko speaks about mares' milk - kumiss. He claims that this is a unique product, which in its composition is very similar to human milk, therefore it is the best substitute baby food. Kumis is also useful for patients with tuberculosis, for this reason Veremeenko supplies a certain amount of the product for sale and to tuberculosis dispensaries.
According to the businessman, his enterprise produces the best kumiss in the country. Therefore, he plans to launch a sanatorium program using fresh mares' milk. Sergei Veremeenko assures that the result of such treatment is simply amazing.
Wives of Sergei Veremeenko
Sergei Alekseevich was married three times. He was associated with his first wife, Alla Veremeenko, and business relations, she was a co-owner of Mezhprombank. Now she owns the youth entertainment complex "Lights of Ufa".
Married to his second wife, Marina Smetanova, Sergei Alekseevich had a son, Alexey, who is now fifteen years old.
The most famous is the third wife - Sofia Skye (nee Shchetinina, then Arzhakovskaya). She is a ballerina, "Mrs. World 2006", "Mrs. Russia 2006", and also a Hollywood actress. Receiving the title "Mrs. World" by an eighteen-year-old Russian girl caused a heated scandal and discussion in the press, the honesty of such a decision of the judges was questioned. But bribery of the jury members was not proven, and the newly-minted “Mrs. World” herself preferred not to comment on this topic.
Sofya Skye is a Hollywood film actress. Veremeenko created the Sofia Production studio for her and is the producer of three films with his wife’s participation. Reviews about the films were very contradictory, and one of the films was never released in Russia.
Businessman's children
For a person like Sergey Alekseevich Veremeenko, children play a big role in life. He has four of them - from his first two wives, but he has not yet been able to create heirs with his current wife.
Veremeenko is a very generous father - his eldest daughter Margarita owns half of the shares of Centercombank. He gave her such a royal gift for her twenty-fifth birthday. Margarita also found herself in the jewelry field: she buys diamonds, then processes them, and then sells them on the stock exchange. In addition, under the supervision of the girl, the construction of five cottage villages in Moscow is underway.
It is also known that Sergei Alekseevich presented his daughter Seraphima with a car on her thirteenth birthday. And what a black Hummer H2! In general, the businessman loves his children very much and tries to encourage each one.
Sergey Alekseevich Veremeenko and his family run a business together in different directions. This includes banking, construction, real estate, and recently even tourism and recreation.
Sergei Veremeenko's net worth
Forbes included the businessman in the ranking of the richest people in Russia. Veremeenko Sergey Alekseevich, whose fortune is currently estimated at over 1 billion 400 thousand US dollars, has built more than forty churches and continues to build churches, and also established the charitable Christian Investment Fund for Social Ministry.
He offered a reward of a thousand dollars yesterday. general manager Bashtransgaz LLC (a subsidiary of Gazprom) Alexander Veremeenko for information shedding light on the assassination attempt being prepared on him.
As Marat Bikbaev, head of the public relations service at Bashtransgaz, said, on the night of May 12-13, at about 2.30, a security guard who was in the general director’s country house was startled by a dog barking. While walking around the house, he discovered an F-1 grenade taped to the handle of the back door.
“The antennae had not yet been straightened, but a nylon thread had already been tied to the ring,” our interlocutor said. According to him, there was a plastic bag lying nearby, which contained 4 more grenades and a plastic bottle with white powder. The guard, fearing an explosion, threw the bottle into the swamp, and it could not be found.
There are several oddities in this whole story. Firstly, it is completely unclear why the assassination attempt was organized on the night of May 13, when Alexander Veremeenko was already on a business trip, from which he returned only on the night of May 16. Secondly, it is strange that they began to place a banner at the back door, through which the dogs guarding Veremeenko’s house were always let out for a walk.
Finally, it is strange that the incident was kept secret for several days. Bashtransgaz explains it this way: “Following internal instructions, the security guard did not report what had happened to anyone until the return of the general director,” says Marat Bikbaev. “On Friday, Alexander Alekseevich made corresponding statements to the police and the FSB.”
Indeed, the local FSB department opened a criminal case into the assassination attempt. Representatives of law enforcement agencies have already stated that the attempt on Veremeenko’s life could have been organized by supporters of the former general director of Bashtransgaz Mukhamatnur Valeev. “There are certainly grounds for this,” Marat Bikbaev said in an interview with an NG correspondent. “When Alexander Alekseevich was appointed director, the first thing he did was conduct an audit of financial and economic activities, during which thefts of 760 million rubles were discovered.” In addition, with the arrival of Veremeenko, not only Mukhamatnur Valeev, but an entire related clan had to leave Bashtransgaz. For example, his son Dmitry Valeev was his father’s deputy for capital construction; high positions were occupied by Valeev Sr.’s son-in-law and other close relatives.
From the NG dossier Alexander Alekseevich Veremeenko was born on April 23, 1948. In 1971 he graduated from the Ufa Petroleum Institute. From 1991 to 1992, he held the position of executive director of the International Industrial Bank (president - Sergei Pugachev, chairman of the board - Sergei Alekseevich Veremeenko). In April 2002, he was appointed general director of Bashtransgaz; before that he was director of the Ufa branch of MPB. In September 2002, an agreement was reached between the MPB and OJSC Gazprom to prepare an agreement on financing certain areas of Gazprom's activities.
Original material
The Commissioner for Human Rights in the Tver Region presented an annual report to the Legislative Assembly on the observance of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of citizens in the region.
According to regional legislation, at the end of the calendar year, but no later than March 1 of the year following the reporting one, the Commissioner for Human Rights sends to the governor of the Tver region, to the Legislative Assembly and the Public Chamber of the region, as well as to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation and the Commissioner under the President Russian Federation for Children's Rights annual report on the observance of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of humans and citizens in the Tver region.
The report was heard at a plenary session of the Legislative Assembly. Previously, he passed a hearing in the Committee on State Organization and Local Self-Government of the regional parliament.
Commissioner for Human Rights in the Tver Region Nadezhda Egorova presented a report for 2017 to regional parliamentarians.
This voluminous document contains five sections and more than 200 pages of printed text. Moreover, there is both a section devoted directly to the activities of the Commissioner for Human Rights, and a section on the activities of the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Tver Region. The activities of the Commissioner in the field of improving legislation and his interaction at the international, federal, regional levels, with authorities local government and the expert community.
In 2017, the 10th anniversary of the institution of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Tver region was celebrated. As emphasized in the Report, during this time it was possible to build interaction with federal, regional authorities, and local governments municipalities, colleagues in other regions of Russia, public structures, the media, to become a kind of mediator between society and the authorities.
Over a decade of work, a number of systemic, unsolvable or not being resolved at the proper level of problems in the field of observance of the rights of residents of the Tver region have been identified.
As a result of the work carried out in 2017, the Commissioner noted violations in the implementation of such constitutional rights of citizens as the right to health care and medical care, social protection, housing and work, favorable environment and others.
An analysis of the identified violations showed that the current situation is largely due to the low level of legal awareness of citizens, their ignorance of their rights and how to protect them, and the insufficiently effective work of the executive authorities of the federal and regional levels, local government bodies of municipalities.
In total, in 2017, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Tver Region and his office received 2,788 complaints.
Every year, appeals related to the social sphere prevail by a large margin (61%). Among them are traditional questions about the implementation of housing rights of citizens: non-provision of residential premises, including when it is necessary to relocate from emergency housing, unsatisfactory quality of housing and communal services, high fees for them. No less significant are the problems of social security, respect for the rights of people with disabilities, and obtaining benefits and allowances. One of the most pressing issues in 2017 was providing residents of the Tver region with medical care and receiving medicines. Many appeals were received in defense of the rights of minors.
In second place in terms of number are violations of personal (civil) rights and freedoms (23%). This includes complaints related to violations of the rights to judicial protection and fair trial, dignity, freedom and security of person.
Analysis of the topics of the received appeals allows us to conclude that the main trends in violations of the rights of citizens in the Tver region have persisted for a number of years. Thus, in 2017, as in previous periods, the most acute problems remained in the sphere of realization of citizens’ housing rights – 23% of the total number of applications. Citizens' reports of violations related to the activities of law enforcement agencies (14%), in the areas of social security (10%), respect for the rights of minors (9%) and healthcare (7%) remain relevant.
The Report not only highlights the problems identified during the activities of the Commissioner’s office, but also carries out a thorough analysis of them with specific recommendations, including to the “core” authorities. As practice shows, this makes it possible to solve many issues in the field of protecting human and civil rights.
The Ombudsman also developed her recommendations for the Legislative Assembly. In particular, regional parliamentarians were asked to “initiate amendments to federal legislation in terms of establishing a differentiated approach to the issue of full or partial restrictions on the consumption of communal resources for citizens in difficult situations.” life situation, large families, single low-income citizens."
Nadezhda Egorova stated the fact that the number of appeals to the Commissioner for Human Rights is not decreasing. This means that the institution of the Commissioner is still in demand and there is a lot of work ahead.
Following the consideration, the Legislative Assembly adopted a resolution to take note of the Report.
Press service of the Legislative Assembly of the Tver Region
