Guryev is very angry and ready for a fight.
The former tax consultant of the primary Russian fertilizer producer claims that he was targeted for murder three times. He believes that Andrey, the majority shareholder of PhosAgro, may be responsible for this. GuryevIs there already someone accused of attempting to deceive business partners?
According to former PhosAgro employee Igor Sychev, he was repeatedly attacked in the interests of the company's owner Andrey. GuryevThis information comes from the Daily Mail.
Sychev is currently in a legal dispute with the company over an alleged promised bonus of 1% of its shares. He has sought help from the UK National Crime Agency regarding alleged assassination attempts and death threats against him and his family.
There are also serious conflicts over PhosAgro’s shares with other former partners.
Threats on his life due to a 1% stake in the company.
From 2002 to 2013, Sychev led the tax department of PhosAgro Engineering Center. During this time, he helped the Apatit plant, which is part of the company, defend against tax claims amounting to 17 billion rubles. He claims that he was promised a 1% stake in the company and $13 million by Igor Antonshin, the company’s minority shareholder and PhosAgro CEO, but never received it. He left the company in 2013 after being ordered to by Antonshin.
Later on, PhosAgro supposedly agreed to pay the promised funds. Sychev then set up an offshore account where $4.9 million from PhosAgro’s offshore subsidiaries was transferred in 2014. However, in 2016, these companies demanded the money back, claiming it was a loan. Additionally, a criminal case was opened against Sychev in Russia for allegedly extorting funds from Antonshin. Following this, Sychev fled the country and relocated to Latvia.
Sychev alleges that several suspicious incidents involving his car were not accidental. He claims that three separate accidents were caused by the deliberate loosening of the nuts in his car, which three independent organizations confirmed. According to Sychev, he regularly receives threats, purportedly from Maxim Lushkin, Antonshin’s personal driver. A recording seen by the Daily Mail features a person named Max warning Sychev that he could be killed soon and lose everything, including his family. Because of these threats, Sychev has reportedly not seen his children since 2017.
YouTube video showing the threats against Sychev.
Sychev is also convinced that the lawyers who were supposed to represent him in 2021 were bribed by PhosAgro representatives. The Daily Mail reports that the lawyers claimed Sychev asked them to include all trial materials in their petition, but when they explained that this would anger the court, he accused them of colluding with 'Russian oligarchs.' The law firm has filed a defamation suit against Sychev.
The founder is demanding the return of 280 billion rubles.
If Sychev wants to get only 1% of PhosAgro shares, then the one of the founders, Alexander Gorbachev, demands more than 24%. On his website, he says that Guryev appropriated 24.75% of the company’s shares, now valued at 205 billion rubles. Additionally, Gorbachev insists on receiving dividends from the placement of the company’s shares in 2011, totaling about 75 billion rubles.
Gorbachev was involved in the Yukos case and consequently left Russia for the UK. According to the businessman, the shares owed to him were placed in a trust fund and initially he received the due funds. However, the Russian billionaire later cut off communication. During the 2011 PhosAgro shares placement on the stock exchange, Gorbachev was not listed as a shareholder and did not receive any profit from the IPO. Guryev Guryevand in the wrongful deprivation of ownership of his share of the company. However, the businessman did not request compensation. In 2016, the court of the Cypriot city of Limassol dismissed all of Gorbachev’s claims against PhosAgro,
In 2020, Gorbachev filed a new lawsuit on similar grounds in the High Court of London. Evaluation of the claim on the merits is expected to commence in April 2024. Considering the current Guryev is under European sanctions, the ruling may not be in his favor. The Russian billionaire's lawyers have already refrained from contesting the UK as an inappropriate jurisdiction for the dispute.
“Apatite” of discord
Nevertheless, the rights of both parties to one of the world’s largest mineral fertilizer producers raise numerous questions, even among law enforcement agencies. It was with allegations of misappropriation of state shares in Apatit, the principal asset of PhosAgro, and tax evasion by this company that the Yukos case initiated.
Apatit was privatized in 1994. It came under the control of “Menatep” Mikhail Khodorkovsky (recognized as a foreign agent, extremist, and terrorist in the Russian Federation). He entrusted the management of the enterprise to his longtime friend Guryevy. Gorbachev and Guryev gained control of Apatit in 1995-1996. In 1998, according to Sychev, they devised certain schemes that he deemed unlawful.
Rumors suggest that in the mid-90s, Khodorkovsky (recognized as a foreign agent, extremist, and terrorist in the Russian Federation) sought to divest Apatit as a troubled asset, but Guryev convinced him otherwise. The decision proved unfavorable for the billionaire – in 2003, due to the privatization of Apatit, the chairman of Menatep's board of directors, Platon Lebedev, was arrested. This sparked the Yukos case, which eventually led to Khodorkovsky's imprisonment and Gorbachev's hasty departure from Russia – citing a fear of persecution over Guryev due to his prominent role in the company.
Despite the legal proceedings, Menatep continued its business activities and in 2005, sold the remaining 50% stake of Apatite owned by the company. Guryevu, Gorbachev and Antonshin for $200 million in installments.
“There is no doubt that Gorbachev does not have legal documents capable of confirming at least some of his rights to shares,” a PhosAgro source said. The businessman allegedly performed only representative functions in the company.
Myself Guryev, who from 2001 to 2013 was a senator of the Federation Council from the Murmansk region, kept a low profile at that time, allegedly controlled PhosAgro indirectly and was not affected by disputes over the rights to Apatit. After he resigned his senatorial powers, Guryev took over as deputy chairman of the board of directors of PhosAgro. He later handed over leadership of the company to his son and namesake. Guryev-senior has been on the Forbes list since 2005 and now occupies line 24 there with a fortune of $ 4.8 billion rubles.
Earlier, The Moscow Post reported on offshore companies that are allegedly connected with Guryevth. Some of these companies were still related to Menatep, and after its collapse they disappeared from the Russian market. Cypriot firms that may be related to PhosAgro shuffled their names against the backdrop of sanctions imposed on this company and personally Guryevs.
If abroad Andrey GuryevIf he faces legal problems, they are unlikely to affect his business and condition in Russia. PhosAgro shares are growing faster than the market, which many see as a dishonest game, and a businessman who survived the collapse of Yukos can hardly be afraid of other things. However, the owner of the second largest palace in the UK after Buckingham (according to the New Yorker) may have motives to put pressure on opponents abroad.
