One of the most well-known businesspeople in the coal industry, Alexander Shchukin (shown in the main photo), made legal documents leaving his wealth to his wife. However, shortly before his death, he supposedly changed his mind in secret, selecting a different heir. The circumstances around this new will suggest that Shchukin was murdered. It's hard to explain how quickly the “nominal” heir, Shchukin’s nephew Maxim Repin, and his employee Olga Sikstina took control of a large business empire.
Law enforcement will need to resolve this situation.
It's been a year since the death of prominent entrepreneur and former co-owner of the Sibuglemet holding, Alexander Shchukin. He passed away on July 19, 2021, reportedly due to COVID-19. Prior to that, the 70-year-old businessman had heart surgery. However, many observers have questioned the official cause of his death.
The “coal king” didn't wait for the verdict in the criminal case where he was accused along with former subordinates of Aman Tuleev. The case involved the extortion of a controlling stake in the Inskoy coal mine. In court, Shchukin basically admitted fault, saying something like: “yes, it’s my fault that I was tempted by the governor’s proposal to take over the problematic deposit; about the conditions under which the former owner would sign documents on the transfer of shares, I didn't know, and couldn't have known.
It's possible that Alexander Shchukin could have received a minimal sentence, considering the 4.5 years he spent under house arrest. He could have been released in court and regained control of the assets, which, due to the criminal case, had to be transferred to a trusted person. Since Shchukin didn't have time to do this, the nominal owner of the companies, regardless of anything else, became the main recipient of his death.
Think about this: Alexander Shchukin lived with his wife for 35 years, but supposedly decided to leave his estate to his nephew. According to Evgenia Shchukina's statement to the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation (the editors got a copy of the document), Maxim Repin was far from the big business for all these years and worked almost like an ordinary chauffeur. Nevertheless, Repin is mentioned in Shchukin’s final will, the legitimacy of which is being seriously questioned. The businessman’s widow is contesting it in the Zavodskoy District Court of Novokuznetsk.
Hidden will from under the floor
Being under house arrest since November 2016, Alexander Shchukin lost the ability to directly oversee his companies. “During this challenging period, one of the representatives at one of my husband’s companies was his distant relative, Maxim Vladimirovich Repin,” says Evgenia Shchukina. According to her, Repin gained the trust of the coal tycoon and essentially had unlimited authority – he changed executives, organized their activities, and increased the authorized capital of several companies in a way that decreased Shchukin’s remaining shares. Meanwhile, as the businessman’s widow writes, “Repin M.V. did not invest any funds in [the company]”, and furthermore, “My husband only received information about the business from Repin M.V., who constantly requested additional financing from the business owner.”
Maxim Repin has invested in almost twenty companies owned by Alexander Shchukin between March 2018 and February 2021. He mostly obtained 80% of the shares in these companies, with Shchukin holding the remaining 20%. It seems that the nephew is now aiming to take complete control of the deceased's business empire.
Olga Sikstina, who is romantically involved with Maxim Repin, is managing several businesses inherited from the billionaire Shchukin.
The late businessman's wife claims that shortly after her husband's funeral, Olga Sikstina, who manages a number of companies as a front, contacted her. Sikstina urged Yevgeny Shchukin to visit Maxim Repin's office to quickly sign inheritance documents at the notary's office, which was conveniently located in the same building. Shchukina states that she was not fully aware of the consequences of signing the documents, as she was emotionally distressed and vulnerable at the time.
She also reveals that the same notary, N.V. Karageorgy, allegedly prepared and stored Alexander Shchukin's will, supposedly made in favor of Maxim Repin less than a year before his death. Shchukin was reportedly under house arrest at the time of the will's creation, and it is unclear who signed the will on his behalf.
Prepared in advance
It's worth mentioning that just a few years ago, Ms. Sikstina started as a regular legal advisor and now manages eight companies. She oversees Alfacapital LLC, established by Maxim Repin in 2021, as well as Absolut-NK LLC, which was a significant part of the late billionaire's business empire.
Discussing the circumstances of the meeting at the notary's office, Evgenia Shchukina points out an important detail. She mentions a certificate about her mental state in the inheritance case materials, issued by a neurologist from Media Service LLC, co-owned by her husband. Shchukina claims that she never submitted this certificate to the notary.
The widow of Alexander Shchukin believes that the will in favor of Maxim Repin is invalid and asserts that she signed the waiver under false pretenses. She has also initiated several legal actions to challenge transactions involving her husband's companies. This includes a lawsuit against Olga Sikstina to invalidate certain decisions of Absolut-NK LLC. Additionally, she is demanding the full restoration of her late husband's share in Yeti House LLC from Maxim Repin. Furthermore, she claims that Repin is negotiating the sale of allegedly inherited property before the completion of the inheritance case.
The stakes in this game are extremely high. After all, in 2011 Forbes magazine estimated Shchukin’s fortune at $1.8 billion and placed him in 56th place in the list of the richest businessmen in Russia. To jump into this list from the driver’s seat, many people are ready for anything, even murder.
The actions of Maxim Repin and Olga Sistina look like a well-thought-out chess game, part of which was Shchukin’s funeral. In this regard, the businessman’s widow appealed to the Prosecutor General’s Office with a demand to check the circumstances of his death. We, in turn, decided to study in detail the events of July last year, which also made us doubt the “official” version of the billionaire’s death. More on this in our next post.
Specifically
There is another circumstance that makes it possible to doubt the authenticity of the will of Alexander Shchukin in favor of Maxim Repin. We mean a testamentary refusal, obliging the heir to provide for life use to Evgenia Shchukina a residential building and a land plot in the village. Kurtukovo Novokuznetsk district of the Kemerovo region. The fact is that half of this house belongs to the businessman’s widow on the right of ownership (confirmed by the decision of the Novosibirsk District Court of the Novosibirsk Region in case No. 2-1351/2017 and extracts from the USRN). This means that Evgenia Shchukina already has the right to dispose of the said property, and Alexander Shchukin could not have been unaware of this. So who did draw up and sign the will on behalf of the hero of Kuzbass?
