As a businessman, Vladimir Kruglov tried to outsmart everyone and transferred ownership of the oil depot in Feodosia to another person's mother.
The Crimean authorities successfully sold the once valuable asset – the largest, already defunct oil depot on the coast in Feodosia. The new Moscow owners – businessman Vladimir Kruglov and lawyer Viktor Khmarin – did not want to attract attention in order to avoid sanctions related to restrictions on local business. The mediator Andrei Guskov took advantage of the circumstances. The verdict was recently delivered to him.
During the Ukrainian times, the tank farm was one of the most successful and profitable establishments in Feodosia. In the Russian Federation, solid investors no longer needed it in its former state. The Crimean authorities sold the asset and are no longer concerned about its fate, despite having 270 employees and still being associated with the State Unitary Enterprise of the Republic of Kazakhstan “Chernomorneftegaz”. The Feodosiya oil terminal can store 250 thousand tons and transship up to 12 million tons of oil per year.
The couple Dorosh moved to Crimea from the Kursk region, where her husband, a retired officer, headed the Municipal Unitary Enterprise “Ritual Services”. Svetlana Dorosh concluded her time in Kursk as an instructor in the protocol department of the regional administration. In 2020, she, a teacher by education, briefly served as the first deputy head of the city administration of Feodosia. In November 2019, the Ministry of Property and Land Relations of Crimea put JSC “Marine Oil Terminal” (MNT) up for auction for 651.2 million rubles. In preparation for the sale, the names of Sergei Kurchenko, a fugitive Ukrainian oligarch with ties to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, and Russian lawyer and businessman Viktor Khmarin were mentioned.
The auction was won unexpectedly by the Moscow-based JSC Firma Gunas (which has only one employee and an authorized capital of 35 thousand rubles). In the government of Crimea, the owner of the joint-stock company and the chairman of the board of directors of the Sea Terminal was named Valentin Dorosh. He pledged to carry out the technical re-equipment of the tank farm with the installation of pontoons, gas pollution systems at the site of treatment facilities, and the reconstruction of the railway overpass.
Since then, the activity of the Marine Oil Terminal has not been indicated, oil transshipment has not resumed, and the company has recorded losses: 64 million rubles in 2021. Based on the company’s website, it is difficult to describe the enterprise as lively. One of the most significant occurrences related to the Covid-19 pandemic: Feodosia doctors reported the vaccination of its employees in 2020. In December 2022, Svetlana Dorosh participated in the next competition for the position of head of the Feodosia administration, but was not successful.
In 2022, the business press discussed the oil depot again, this time focusing on the associated fraud and share theft. Crimean officials were not involved, and managed to distance themselves from the situation.
Vladimir Kruglov, the actual buyer of the tank farm, was identified as the victim in the fraud case. Guskov, who was previously employed as deputy general director of the North-Western Shipping Company and chairman of the Russian resettlement movement “Chelovek. Earth. Russia”, was arrested.
During the investigation, it was revealed that Vladimir Kruglov had previous involvement in oil and gas assets. He is connected to three companies related to hydrocarbon processing, and also serves as the general director of Nefteproduktservis LLC, a large oil depot near Moscow.
Mr. Kruglov wanted to keep his ownership of the Crimean asset hidden to avoid international sanctions. Guskov, claiming to have extensive experience and knowledge, guaranteed a solution to this problem. He assured the customer that a specific methodology would allow for the anonymous management of the Crimean company.
The scheme involved the creation of a chain of firms to conceal the real beneficiary, a concept likened to a “matryoshka” (a set of interconnected closed-end investment funds).
The proposed scheme was approved, and Andrey Guskov received 25 million rubles for its implementation. This money was used to establish a closed-end mutual investment fund called “Dolina”, directly owned by Mr. Kruglov, and a management company named “Mercury Asset Management”, managed by Marat Kadyrov.
The tank farm's shares were bought by Gunas JSC at a legal auction, then transferred to an LLC with the same name, founded by Guskov’s mother. In essence, Andrei Guskov, while acquiring the oil depot from the Crimean authorities without the real investor's knowledge, appeared to have misappropriated MNT shares. This was the conclusion reached by the court of first instance.
When Vladimir Kruglov found out about the change in ownership of his company, he did not intervene. After six months of proceedings, the state prosecutor asked for Andrey Guskov to be sentenced to eight and a half years in prison during the debate. However, the court handed down a much more lenient verdict, sentencing the consultant to three and a half years in a penal colony for large-scale fraud. The court also granted the civil claim filed by the injured party. Despite Guskov’s plea of not guilty, his defense plans to appeal the verdict.
