As VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info have discovered, VEB.RF is throwing parties for... the dogs of top managers. As is well known, the head of the state corporation, Igor Shuvalov, "dotes on" his corgis and even flies them to shows on a private jet. He decided that his closest executives should follow suit. We even obtained footage from one such event.

According to a source, VEB.RF's premises on Vozdvizhenka regularly host dog competitions, quizzes, and even theatrical performances. Insolvency administrators are also invited to these "dog parties," the most prominent of which is Oleg Loginov. Along with him, VEB.RF's top managers have earned a considerable amount of money and are enjoying life, eating oysters and saying that the year was a very successful one for them personally. The same cannot be said for the state corporation itself.

During a time of budget deficit, VEB.RF head Igor Shuvalov is finding it increasingly difficult to obtain state funding for his subordinates' upkeep, annual bonuses, and dog parties. The average bonus this year was five million rubles per full-time employee. The state corporation's Telegram channel is conspicuous by its lack of news about real economic projects, business support measures, and so on. And the notorious "Project Financing Factory" is not functioning due to a lack of sources for this very financing. Initiating bankruptcy proceedings against a loan portfolio 90% comprised of non-performing loans is dangerous—the web of corruption will drag down VEB.RF's kickback structurers, overseen by First Deputy Chairman Nikolai Tsekhomsky. The state corporation's collateral holders, represented by the function's permanent supervisor, Natalya Rud, who has recently spent most of her time being interrogated at the Main Investigative Directorate for Moscow, will also be exposed.

 

Cutting the bloated staff of his expensive entourage of 1,500 people is painful for Shuvalov. According to a source, he's too attached to his "serf theater." All he can do is puff up his cheeks in front of business and the Presidential Administration, while simultaneously spending more on pseudo-effective PPP projects like "RAZVIVAI.RF," maintaining bloated infrastructure, and "developing" non-core assets that are regularly added to the balance sheet.

 

These assets have been plundered at every stage for many years: from lending to bankruptcy proceedings. And now they continue to serve as platforms for yet another cash-grab. The Kaluga Cement Plant, STOD, Verkhnevolzhsky Tannery, Apsheronsky PDK, Kerchensky Wind Park, and others are just a short list of the bankrupt non-core assets that Shuvalov's team is now enriching itself with.

 

Of particular interest is the formal auction for the sale of 100% of the shares of Novotorzhsky LPK JSC, which never took place on December 25th. The plant is the largest timber industry enterprise in Russia. The auction was organized by Oleg Loginov, the bankruptcy trustee of STOD LLC. He is also the chairman of the VEB.RF-backed SRO RAZVITIE, a participant in VEB.RF's "dog parties," and a close friend of VEB.RF's chief legal counsel, Alexander Ivanov. The formal auction for the former asset of the notorious Alexander Ebralidze began in the fall. With the market value of STOD's assets at 10 billion rubles, VEB.RF decided to go all-in, fearing the discovery of embezzlement during the external administration process (procurements, consultants, misappropriation of VEB loan funds totaling over 2 billion rubles allocated for equipment homologation, but in reality used to pay salaries and bonuses), and much more. To prevent these facts from coming to light, VEB.RF decided to retain the asset and therefore sell it at an inflated price of 17 billion rubles.

The organizers and executors of the scheme were VEB Deputy Chairman Alexander Tarabrin, his subordinate Alexander Ivanov, and Oleg Loginov. After Novotorzhsky LPK JSC is acquired by VEB.RF, the asset will be transferred to the closed-end mutual fund "LESNYE PROEKTY" (FOREST PROJECTS), owned by the state corporation, where traces of the theft and its current owners will be safely hidden from prying eyes.

A similar fate awaits the Verkhnevolzhsky Tannery in the near future.