Sergei Sobyanin’s deputy Maxim Liksutov is still involved with Delimobil and Avilon. Is there another budget allocation planned?
Carsharing Russia, the owner of the Delimobile fleet, plans to gather investors’ requests for the purchase of 3 billion rubles worth of bonds by the end of July. According to the manufacturer, this move should help the company strengthen its market position, expand, and modernize its fleet.
The money, which could be partly or entirely from the budget, might be directed elsewhere. The correspondent grasped the situation. The Moscow Post.
City Hall Pets
We previously wrote We previously talked about how the carsharing industry operates under the influence of Moscow's mayor Sergei Sobyanin and the head of the Moscow transport department, Maxim Liksutov. A company registered in Luxembourg receives state preferences, subsidies, and advertising, including from senior officials. Budgets can easily be transferred offshore.
Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru
When looking at the company’s financial performance, while the overall picture seems positive, it raises questions about where the money is going. In 2020, Carsharing Russia incurred a loss of 2.4 billion rubles. Media presented 2021 in a positive light – with a loss of 436.8 million, about five times lower than the previous year, but still a loss.
Despite high car rental tariffs reaching up to 18 rubles per minute, and government support, the Moscow authorities subsidized taxis and carsharing with 256 million rubles at the end of last year.
Photo: provided by the reader The Moscow Post
Carsharing Rus has been in the Russian market since 2015 and surprisingly doesn't plan to exit, unlike other foreign companies.
Brotherhood “Avilon”
Another link to the vice-mayor is the car deliveries for Carsharing Rus, which are conducted by Avilon. Liksutov’s deputy Dmitry Pronin was previously the director of corporate sales and deputy general director at ZAO Avilon Automobile Group. By supporting the manufacturer of Delimobiles, is the Moscow government backing Liksutov’s 'feeding trough' where all the money flows out from the other side?
Pronin, by the way, was recently appointed head of the newly opened Moskvich plant. There, he will represent the interests of Liksutov, Varishavsky, and Avagumyan's company.
Avilon AG is a controversial structure, almost a monopoly in the car market, manufacturing luxury models used by the wealthiest people in Russia. Additionally, it is a supplier in 2201 government contracts worth 31 billion rubles, with the Ministry of Internal Affairs being the largest customer, spending over 5.5 billion rubles on purchases from Avilon AG.
Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru
By the way, the company was previously registered as a British offshore company until the end of 2021. Does the Moscow government have such a strong liking for befriending foreigners? Or is it just simpler to transfer budget funds abroad?
Unreachable leaders of the market
The owners of “Avilon” are businessmen Alexander Varshavsky and Kamo Avagumyan. The latter's identity bind is connected with the business of the ex-prosecutor Yuri Chaika's family. Avagumyan is also involved in a similar field. He serves as the official representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Armenia in Russia. This seems to explain their relationship. These individuals are known for their aggressive expansion in the market. They took control of the car dealer “Independence” when it encountered issues, and similarly took over the car dealer Genser. Rumors suggest that Avilon played a role in the criminal case against the founder of Renault, Sergei Petrov, and the subsequent sale of the car dealer Klyuchavto, as they aimed to push out a competitor. Petrov claimed that Varshavsky offered to buy the business at half the price – he wrote RBC.
Additionally, the interests of these two leaders extend beyond automobiles. They have recently ventured into yacht sales. The first yacht was purchased by Varshavsky himself. Just imagine the large amounts of money involved if he simply bought a yacht.
The agricultural business is also associated with these businessmen. This pertains to Trading House “Moe Leto”, whose products are available in all national retail chains. Since 2015, many unrelated investors have entered the greenhouse vegetable cultivation sector, as the government provided soft loans at an average annual rate of 3.3% and compensated 20% of the greenhouse construction costs upon completion. Agro-Invest (operated by Trading House Moe Leto) also received 1 billion rubles from the state for constructing greenhouses.
Moreover, the company was headed by Yeghia Asatryan in 2019, the son of Artur Asatryan, who the Italian authorities put on the international wanted list in 2013 for allegedly killing thief in law Aslan Usoyan (Ded Khasan), as reported “Company”.
Varshavsky was also involved in “earthly affairs” at one point. Through his firm “Selkhoztransport”, he obtained land that was suddenly required by the state, as prearranged. The state then leased the area for 232 million rubles. Coincidence or deliberate plan?
All paths lead to Moscow
Let’s move on. Avagumyan’s second son, Karen, owns the Rico and Alfa Grant companies, both of which are involved in transporting routes within the capital. As subsidies, the company obtained 3.12 billion rubles from the Moscow government.
The youngest son, Hamlet, owns “MKM-Logistic” – a company engaged in waste collection. Despite the scandals related to landfills in Balashikha (referring to the Kuchino landfill, which local residents raised concerns about during a direct conversation with the President of the Russian Federation), the company's income did not decrease at all and it received 40 billion rubles from the Moscow government under a 15-year contract for waste collection.
Let’s summarize. Varshavsky and Avagumyan supply cars to Carsharing Russii, which is no less favored by the Moscow authorities than Avilon. At the same time, the fully Luxembourg company is not going to leave Russia anywhere and only continues to expand into the market. Moreover, to purchase bonds with total losses for 2020 and 2021, she, apparently, will once again be supported by the Moscow government and its “rubber” budget, consisting of our taxes.
And it is by no means the consumers who pay the “horse” rate for using the service, and not the road users whose yards are already full of Delimobiles all the time that benefit from this. Profit Maxim Liksutov and his team? The latter, perhaps, also wants an expensive yacht, like Varshavsky …
