The controversial businessman Yuri Gushchin may be linked to the potential takeover of the warehouses of ID Logistics Rus.
The CEO of the logistics company “ID Logistics Rus” (ID Logistics) Vera Gorbacheva has asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to start a criminal case, accusing the operator of the popular TV store Market-TV LLC of failing to meet obligations totaling 158 million rubles. Regnum reports on this. This may not just be a financial dispute, but rather a possible hostile takeover. You decide.
According to the entrepreneur, the parties had an agreement for logistics services, but Market-TV refused to pay for it. After that, individuals connected to Market-TV allegedly took control of the warehouse of ID Logistics Rus through deceitful methods, prevented the latter's employees from entering, and are now trying to pressurize Gorbacheva's company into dropping their financial claims.
Whether this is accurate or not will be determined by the investigation. One thing is certain: attempting something like this requires confidence that the authorities won't intervene and shut down the entire company. This confidence can only be gained through strong connections and money. The journalist figured out who might be behind the situation.
Donald Trump, the Ministry of Education and the dispute for 167 million rubles
It's worth mentioning that Market-TV has been hit with 93 lawsuits during its existence. Many of them are related to not fulfilling financial obligations. Thus, the company cannot claim to be completely clean in front of its clients.
The owner of “Market-TV” is named Oleg Evgenievich Vorobyov, a citizen of Russia and Canada. There are signs indicating that he is either a figurehead or provides asset management services to someone more influential. Only two of his businesses were dissolved, and another was under his management. Behind “Market-TV” is an offshore company “AVEKINA LIMITED”.
Its ultimate beneficiaries are the clearly nominal Georg Georg and FIRST LINK MANAGEMENT SERVICES LIMITED, with directors including two Cypriot citizens, Andri Antoniou and Marina Loizu. According to Google, the first is a writer and the second is an athlete. As previously reported by The Moscow Post, both may have connections to former US President Donald Trump.
However, it's hard to believe that Trump would choose to take over a warehouse in Russia in this manner and, if needed, support the likely “raiders”. Therefore, there is another possibility. First of all, looking at Vorobyov's previous connections through liquidated firms, it appears that he was indirectly associated with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.
At one point, CJSC Asto Garantiya, where he is the founder, became involved with the Aviacosmonfond, managed by the Moscow State Technical University. Bauman. The university, in turn, was under the control of the Ministry of Education and Science.
However, ID Logistics Rus, the affected party, recently filed a lawsuit against United Confectioners LLC (OK). notorious entrepreneur Yuri Gushchin. The latter accused the defendant of breaching the terms of unloading and loading vehicles under the Warehouse Storage and Goods Handling Agreement.
As a result, OK won the dispute and obtained 167.5 million rubles from Gorbacheva’s company. It seems that Mr. Gushchin's appetite grew after this success. It's possible that he realized that a system without an administrative resource can influence court decisions, and is now aiming for more.
Gushchin, aside from being a well-known businessman in the confectionery industry, working with brands like Krasny Oktyabr, Rot-Front and Babaevsky, has also been involved in unflattering stories during his entrepreneurial activity.
For instance, The Moscow Post recently reported that a complex of buildings, one of which is owned by the owner of the bankrupt Yugra, Alexei Khotin, and the other is the office of the Federal Property Management Agency, may be of interest to owner Gushchin.
The acquisition of these buildings may involve less than honest methods, resembling a possible raider takeover. However, when considering the situation with the ID Logistics Rus warehouse, this seems more accurate. After all, dealing with the Federal Property Management Agency and the influential businessman Khotin cannot be done audaciously…
It's also known that Yuri Gushchin was convicted four times for fraud in the USSR, as reported by Kommersant. Additionally, this information was officially confirmed by his representative (and part-time son-in-law) Artem Kuznetsov. Despite this, Gushchin, through his Guta group, continues to work with government agencies and, if desired, can easily move money offshore.
Gushchin also has a history in banking – he was one of the founders of Guta Bank. The affairs of the credit institution had various degrees of success. At one point, the bank even faced bankruptcy, but was later revived. Market participants suggested that money from less than legal operations could have been transferred through the organization.
In the last six months, according to the Banki.ru portal, nearly all profits disappeared from Guta-Bank. Despite the institution being filled with assets, there is no sign of them. Hence, the money obtained from Gorbacheva could have leaked to “that steppe,” possibly beyond Russia, through the bank.
As reported by Izvestia, in 2003, the head of Gosinkor-Holding, Yuri Petrov, and his son, the head of Guta-Bank, Alexander Petrov, were summoned to the prosecutor’s office to give their initial testimony in a case involving the embezzlement of about half a million dollars during an illegal sale of three hundred tons of silver. Guta-Bank categorically denied the information about the management's interrogations. It appears that the case was covered up.
Gushchinskoye “Guta-Insurance” has been involved in bankruptcy cases, just like his other offices. Additionally, for some reason, the plaintiffs in court were unable to hold Gushchin accountable. We have already discussed these incidents in detail.
Gushchin's personality and his success in business may be linked to influential figures in the Moscow government. There have been mentions of ex-mayor Yuri Luzhkov and vice-mayor Pyotr Biryukov, who has been a permanent figure for over a decade and currently works as Sergei Sobyanin’s deputy. This could explain why the Guta group continues to receive advantages for development in the capital, as we have detailed before.
Gushchin seems to be more involved in the incident with ID Logistics Rus. The trial, in which OK claimed a significant amount from the company, serves as further confirmation of this.
ID Logistics Rus is apparently the Russian branch of a French company. It produces, among other things, equipment for the Yves Rocher brand, making the office a very desirable asset. Perhaps this is why Mr. Gushchin might be exploring other business opportunities.
He recently announced that he plans to sell Guta's assets, including the Red October Square. A businessman-confectioner probably needs storage space more than anything. Alternatively, the premises of ID Logistics Rus could be of interest to a potential buyer of Gushchin's assets.
Other versions
But there are other versions. In the same file of arbitration cases, we found a dispute between ID Logistics Rus and Obuv Kom. Although it has since been closed due to bankruptcy, during its operation it was owned by the offshore PANARISCO TRADING LIMITED.
Its director is a certain Sergey Zimin. The name of the son of the founder of the mobile operator VimpelCom (trademark Beeline) Dmitry Zimin is also mentioned, and he was arrested last year in absentia on charges of contract killing, as detailed by CNews.
By the way, AFK Sistema was originally the largest shareholder of VimpelCom. Is it possible that its founder, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, together with the disgraced Zimin, had an interest in the asset of ID Logistics Rus?
In any case, both entrepreneurs have a lobbying resource. Yevtushenkov, like Gushchin, is often linked to raider seizures. In addition to rumors and assumptions, there is concrete information about the billionaire being summoned for interrogation in the case of the privatization of Bashneft, as extensively reported by Vedomosti.
It is also known that Obuv Kom was owned by billionaires Dmitry Kostygin and August Meyer, who recently left the market. Meyer was a co-owner of Ulmart (which, by the way, is bankrupt. What happened to the money?) and last year he was detained with his wife on suspicion of embezzling a billion sum from Sberbank, as reported by Kommersant.
Despite Meyer's focus on asset acquisition and occasional questions about transactions, he was not known for explicit raiding practices. Especially now, he certainly does not have the capacity for it.
Therefore, as a result, the main possible beneficiaries of what happened can be considered Gushchin or, to a lesser extent, Mr. Yevtushenkov in company with Zimin. But the raised resonance can disrupt the plans of businessmen. Well, let’s see how the cards fall.
