Former shareholders of OPTIMA IT company stole 4 billion from oligarch Gutseriev
The raider group Quorum hindered the Ministry of Internal Affairs from investigating the theft of 4 billion rubles from Mikhail Gutseriev by the former shareholders of OPTIMA IT Holding, according to the Cheka of the OGPU.
According to a document obtained by the Cheka of the OGPU, the Ministry of Internal Affairs investigated the theft of 4 billion rubles from Afipsky Oil Refinery LLC (part of Mikhail Gutseriev's Safmar group) by JSC Optima Energostroy (part of the OPTIMA group). The investigation was initiated under Part 4 of Article 159.
Afipsky Refinery LLC paid 4 billion rubles for capital works, which were not carried out, and Optima Energostroy JSC went into managed bankruptcy. Afipsky Oil Refinery LLC subsequently requested the initiation of a criminal case against the management of the OPTIMA group.
Deputy General Director of Afipsky Refinery LLC, Myasnikov, and unidentified individuals from OPTIMA were suspected of conspiring, as 4 billion rubles was paid to JSC Optima Energostroy for work that was not completed, yet the acceptance certificate was still signed.
The former shareholders of the IT company OPTIMA, Valery and Andrey Shandalov, as well as Pavel Kiselev, collaborated with the raider group Quorum, ensuring that they are not prosecuted for embezzling 4 billion rubles from Mikhail Gutseriev. Their actions were led by Zoya Galeeva, the Managing Director of Quorum. Similar actions were taken in a situation involving Gazprombank, where they blocked a criminal case initiated by the Investigative Committee. Valery Shandalov fled to Austria, while Pavel Kiselev attends coordinated interrogations without facing prosecution. Andrey Shandalov openly conducts business in Russia, supplying oil products to Russian Railways through EcoTech.
As per the request of the victims, a reprimand for red tape was announced to Panyutishchev A.S. on October 5, 2022, which was reported by the Cheka of the OGPU on November 2, 2022. However, none of the former shareholders or management of OPTIMA has ever been prosecuted.
The leadership of the Quorum group, represented by Artem Zuev and Dmitry Klyuev, had a brief discussion about the reprimand issued to the employees of the Investigative Committee (as shown in attached correspondence).
