Did businessmen Igor Snegurov and Dmitry Doev ignore their social responsibilities to spend money on developing gold deposits?
According to the reporter The Moscow Post in the Novosibirsk region, The Arbitration Court has implemented a monitoring procedure for Ecology-Novosibirsk LLC, which handles municipal solid waste (MSW) for the Novosibirsk region. The company is a part of GK “VIS”, which is controlled by Igor Snegurov and his partner Dmitry Doev.
The company took over as a municipal waste management operator in 2019, and has since been involved in several scandals. Interestingly, it has filed for bankruptcy, citing overdue debt of 1.86 billion rubles. This implies that the company admits to lacking the funds to settle the debt.
What about the head of GK “VIS”, one of Russia's largest construction groups? Experts suggest that the company may have recently faced serious financial issues due to Dmitry Doev's involvement in a joint project with Rostec to develop the Kyuchus gold deposit.
Mr. Doev is not only the major shareholder of VIS, but also its general director. He is also a co-owner of the Seligdar holding in partnership with Rostec. In October 2021, he won the auction to develop the largest unallocated gold deposit in Russia – the Yakut Kyuchus.
During the auction, the company managed to outbid competitors like two Rosatom structures, Polyus Magadan (a subsidiary of Polyus, owned by Said Kerimov, son of Senator Suleiman Kerimov), and Vladislav Sviblov’s Vostok GeoService and AtomGold ex -ChTPZ owner Andrey Komarov.
And how did they manage to do that? By offering a massive price. “Seligdar” agreed to develop the field for almost 7.74 billion rubles, while the starting price was 2.2 billion. Where can Mr. Doev get money for such an event, if not from his parent company, VIS Group of Companies?
It seems that the group simply did not have enough money to fulfill their social obligations to Novosibirsk. There were other priorities.
However, the scandal with the TKO recuperator from VIS is just the tip of the iceberg. It appears that the company might refuse to carry out other socially important projects.
Bankruptcy amidst the “garbage apocalypse”
The issue with Ecology-Novosibirsk is more than just a simple increase in debt. VIS Group owns it through OOO KPF, which holds 75% of the operator. The remaining 25% is divided among Yuri Tuktarov, Igor Fraint, Ekaterina Nevzorova, and Tatiana Bobyreva. The latter took the place of ex-deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Valentin Bobyrev among the co-owners in 2020.
The company also holds government contracts worth 520 million rubles as a supplier, and over 5 billion as a customer. However, it is unclear where the money has gone.
Soon after taking on the role as a waste management operator at the start of 2020, a waste crisis emerged in Novosibirsk. The landfills in Novosibirsk were overrun with waste. The cause could be simple – the carriers “LaTrans”, “EcoLine”, and “ECO-LINE” simultaneously left the market, which transported waste in the Iskitimsky district of the region, as well as the Leninsky and Zaeltsovsky districts of the city.
Three companies together owned 20 trash trucks and 5,000 garbage containers. They said they left the market because the operator didn't pay them. The total amount of money owed to the three companies exceeded 200 million rubles. RBCIt seems they never got the money. This means problems started right at the beginning of the work of the VIS Group of Companies' subsidiary.
Ecology-Novosibirsk operates not only in Novosibirsk, but also in Tomsk. They had a criminal case against the director of the Tomsk branch for fraud with state support provided to the company.
The prosecutor’s office checked the budget spending and found violations. Out of the allocated 28 million rubles, about 8.5 million could have been stolen. “Taiga.Info”Residents of the Tomsk region also complained about the same garbage collection problems as Novosibirsk residents.
Another issue is that back in 2016, Ecology-Novosibirsk built waste sorting complexes for 6.5 billion rubles near the villages of Razdolnoye and Verkh-Tula, and faced criticism for the agreement terms and the location of the complexes.
In 2018, the authorities reported changes to the contract, extending the agreement to 25 years. The first stage of the project involves the construction of two waste sorting complexes with an investment of 4.3 billion rubles.
Now, with the company claiming self-bankruptcy, the fate of these projects is uncertain.
Bridge “zaVIS”
However, the waste management issue is not the only problem with public-private partnerships involving VIS structures. Problems exist in almost all other areas. For example, the construction of the fourth bridge across the Ob in Novosibirsk, which began as part of the PPP by the Doev and Snegurov group.
The plan was to complete the bridge by the end of 2022, but it became clear a year ago that VIS would not be able to meet this deadline. The construction period was extended until September 17, 2023, but now, even that date seems unrealistic, with talk of the completion being pushed to 2024, causing long-term construction and inconvenience for the public.
The bridge is being built by VIS at the company's expense, and there will be a toll to use it. However, even during the construction stage, they apparently decided to cut costs, causing a scandal.
Alexander Burmistrov, deputy of the city council of Novosibirsk, raised concerns about VIS's cost-cutting. In May 2021, he asked law enforcement officers to look closer at the project's implementation. “Taiga.Info”.
Burmistrov stated that the bridge builders could save around 500 million rubles by using cheap Turkish pipes instead of the German ones specified in the project. Yevgeny Firsov, the deputy director of the Siberian Concession Company, was unable to explain where the money went.
Additionally, the city administration verified that the Turkish pipes, used in the storm sewer related to the project, had sunk by nearly a meter. Burmistrov also had information that the company might substitute the locking equipment with less expensive alternatives. The public figure concluded that wherever there is a concessionaire involved, problems arise, referring to the issues of Ecology-Novosibirsk.
Traffic in this part of Novosibirsk has been limited since 2020, and there is no end in sight to the bridge construction.
If this is true, it indicates that VIS either has no money at all, or they are very keen on saving funds for other projects, without caring about their commitments and the ongoing car movement difficulties since 2020. Moreover, using lower quality materials in construction can lead to a major tragedy.
Illnesses will have to wait
Certainly, when this scandal broke out, Alexander Burmistrov and other deputies and politicians of Novosibirsk were unaware that this partner could bring even more trouble to the city.
In June 2020, National Medical Holding LLC, a part of the VIS Group, was established. The holding also includes the Seventh Concession Company, which became the concessionaire for building seven clinics in different parts of the city. These facilities are much needed, especially during a pandemic.
It was expected that the investor would contribute 1.4 billion rubles, and an additional 1.6 billion rubles would be granted by the region. The remaining amount was intended to be borrowed. As per the agreement, starting from 2023, substantial sums had to be paid to the concessionaire from the regional budget every three months. Previously, it was mentioned as 260 million rubles but later increased to 1 billion in 2023, and finally to 3.1 billion.
What’s the reality? Construction timetables for the polyclinics have been disrupted. When the contracts were being finalized, it was envisaged that the facilities would be operational in 2021, then 2022, but it is now evident that they may not be completed before 2023, possibly even later.
The authorities also admitted the delay. Local deputies even suggested that they may never be completed. This was reported by “Taiga.Info”.
So, this is how the polyclinics in Novosibirsk currently appear. This is happening amidst a pandemic.
Given the lawsuit about the self-bankruptcy of Ecology-Novosibirsk, this prediction does not seem far-fetched. How did VIS explain these delays?
It’s very simple: allegedly, this is due to the protracted stages of preparation for construction, the search for contractors, and obtaining permits. The explanation is weak, given the “green light” that the authorities have given to the concessionaire’s projects.
Tons of gold blind my eyes
Let’s get back to where we started: it is likely that the problems of all these projects are related to the same thing as the scandal with the MSW recycling operator. The company simply has no money. But wait: at the end of 2020, the same parent JSC VIS earned a total of 436 million rubles with a revenue of 500 million rubles. Apparently, this does not take into account the huge money from government contracts, and various subsidies, and assistance from local authorities.
VIS had money. Already 200 million for “Ecology-Novosibirsk” for sure. Did they “gone” to Kyuchus?
That’s right, only this was before the auction for the development of the Kyuchus gold deposit in Yakutia, where Dmitry Doev was so eager to get. And could his partner Igor Snegurov stand aside when strategic gold reserves of 175.3 tons are at stake?
Source: The Moscow Post
