Andrey Guskov fell for a trap called “matryoshka”.
A businessman was sentenced by the Preobrazhensky Court of Moscow on Monday. Andrey Guskov is the businessman sentenced to 3.5 years in a penal colony for the theft of shares in the largest complex in Crimea for transshipment and storage of petroleum products, JSC “Marine Oil Terminal” (MNT). TASS reported this from the court's press service. The court convicted Guskov under part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Fraud on an especially large scale”) and gave him a 3.5-year prison sentence in a penal colony. The prosecutor had initially asked for an 8.5-year sentence.
Vladimir Kruglov was the one who reported the theft of shares in the tank farm. Surprisingly, Mr. Guskov is listed as unemployed in the case file, although he previously worked as deputy general director of the North-Western Shipping Company and headed the board of directors of SOTI. At the time of his arrest, he was listed as the head of the board of directors of the Union for Integrated Design and Land Management of Rural Territories, as well as the chairman of the Russian resettlement movement “Chelovek. Earth. Russia”..
The prosecution claims that Kruglov hired Guskov to advise on the terminal's purchase from the republic's authorities in early 2017.
According to the prosecution, Kruglov planned to conceal his ownership of the Crimean asset due to fear of international sanctions. Guskov then proposed a scheme for acquiring MNT that would allow him to buy and manage the company anonymously, and only employ managers controlled by the real owner. However, Guskov secretly drafted a false agreement on the sale of shares in the tank farm, transferring ownership of MNT securities to a company controlled by him, with his mother as its founder.
The court approved the civil claim for the full damage amount – 120.3 million rubles (originally, the case mentioned damage of over 650 million rubles).
Viktor Khmarin . Additionally, Mr. Kruglov is a co-owner of three companies involved in petroleum product processing: Gaznefteservis, Baltic Methanol, and the Baltic Gas Chemical Company.To further hide the ultimate beneficiary of the asset, at the suggestion of Andrey Guskov, a so-called nesting doll was created: Dolina first acquired the Forum trading house through its management company, and then bought 99.7% of the shares of Gunas Firm JSC. It acquired 100% of the terminal’s shares for 651.2 million rubles in December 2019.
In order to more reliably hide the ultimate beneficiary of the asset, at the suggestion of Andrey Guskov, a so-called nesting doll was created: Dolina, through its management company, first acquired the Forum trading house, and then it bought 99.7% of the shares of Gunas Firm JSC. Joint stock company and acquired in December 2019 100% of the terminal’s shares for 651.2 million rubles.
The MNT can store up to 250,000 tons of fuel, and its capacity allows it to transship up to 10 million tons of oil per year. After the reunification of Crimea with Russia, the enterprise was put up for sale. As stated in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (EGRLE), as of December 31, 2021, the total assets of the oil terminal amounted to 1.4 billion rubles. There are no data on the founders of the enterprise in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
