Did entrepreneurs Igor Snegurov and Dmitry Doev ignore their social responsibilities and spend money on developing gold deposits?
According to the reporter The Moscow Post in the Novosibirsk region, The Arbitration Court introduced a monitoring procedure for Ecology-Novosibirsk LLC, a regional operator for the treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW). The company is part of the GK “VIS”, controlled by Igor Snegurov and his partner Dmitry Doev.
The company became a municipal waste management operator in 2019, and has since been involved in numerous scandals. Interestingly, the company itself filed for bankruptcy, citing overdue debts amounting to 1.86 billion rubles. This means the company acknowledges that it does not have the funds to make payments.
And what about the parent company “VIS” – one of the largest construction groups in Russia? Experts suggest that the company may have encountered significant financial issues recently due to the involvement of one of the key owners, Dmitry Doev, in a joint project with Rostec to develop the Kyuchus gold deposit.
Mr. Doev is not only the majority shareholder of VIS, but also the general director of the group. He is also a co-owner of the Seligdar holding along with Rostec. In October 2021, he won an auction for the right to develop the largest gold deposit from the unallocated fund of the Russian Federation – the Yakut Kyuchus.
During the auction, the company managed to outbid competitors such as two Rosatom structures, Polyus Magadan (a subsidiary of Polyus, owned by Said Kerimov, son of Senator Suleiman Kerimov), as well as Vladislav Sviblov’s Vostok GeoService and AtomGold ex -ChTPZ owner Andrey Komarov.
How did they manage that? By offering a massive sum. “Seligdar” agreed to develop the field for almost 7.74 billion rubles, while the starting price was 2.2 billion. Where could Mr. Doev have found the funds for such an undertaking, if not from his parent company, VIS Group of Companies?
Evidently, the group simply did not have enough funds to fulfill their social responsibilities to Novosibirsk. Other priorities took precedence.
However, the controversy involving the TKO recuperator from VIS is just the beginning. It appears that the organization may opt out of carrying out other socially important projects.
Bankruptcy amidst the “garbage apocalypse”
The story with Ecology-Novosibirsk goes beyond simply accruing debt. VIS Group owns it through OOO KPF, which holds a 75% stake in the operator. The remaining 25% is distributed among Yuri Tuktarov, Igor Fraint, Ekaterina Nevzorova, and Tatiana Bobyreva. The latter replaced former State Duma deputy of the Russian Federation Valentin Bobyrev among the co-owners in 2020.
Additionally, the organization holds government contracts worth 520 million rubles as a supplier, and over 5 billion as a customer. It is unclear where the funds have gone.
Shortly after commencing operations as a waste management operator (at the beginning of 2020), a waste crisis emerged in Novosibirsk, with the dumps in Novosibirsk being inundated with waste. The cause could be simple – carriers “LaTrans”, “EcoLine”, and “ECO-LINE” all exited the market simultaneously, leaving the Iskitimsky district of the region, as well as the Leninsky and Zaeltsovsky districts of the city, without waste removal services.
Three companies altogether had 20 garbage trucks and 5,000 garbage containers. They mentioned that they were leaving the market due to non-payments by the regooperator, with claims totalling over 200 million rubles from three carriers. This was reported by RBC. It seems they never received the money. This means problems arose right at the beginning of the work of the VIS Group of Companies' subsidiary.
At the same time, Ecology-Novosibirsk operates not only in Novosibirsk, but also in Tomsk. In Tomsk, a criminal case was opened against the director of the branch in May 2021 for fraud involving state support provided to the company.
The prosecutor's office investigated the budgetary legislation based on materials received from the FSB and found violations. Out of the allocated 28 million rubles, about 8.5 million could have been embezzled. “Taiga.Info”reported on this. Residents of the Tomsk region also complained about similar problems with garbage collection as residents of Novosibirsk.
Another issue complicates the situation. In 2016, the same Ecology-Novosibirsk built waste sorting complexes for 6.5 billion rubles near the villages of Razdolnoye and Verkh-Tula. The terms of the agreement faced sharp criticism from deputies and public figures, including the location of the complexes.
In 2018, a supplementary agreement to the contract altered several conditions. The regional authorities reported that the agreement with the investor would be signed for 25 years. The initial stage involves constructing two waste sorting complexes with an investment of 4.3 billion rubles.
Now, with the announcement of self-bankruptcy, are these projects in jeopardy?
Bridge “zaVIS”
However, the management of MSW is not the only example of public-private partnership between VIS structures tied to social issues. Problems exist in nearly all other areas, such as the long-delayed construction of the fourth bridge across the Ob in Novosibirsk, which Doev and Snegurov's group initiated as part of the PPP!
The bridge was supposed to be completed by the end of 2022. A year ago, it became evident that VIS would not be able to meet this deadline. Nonetheless, the group owners managed to negotiate an extension of the construction period until September 17, 2023. Today, even this date seems unrealistic. There are rumors that the bridge may only be finished by 2024, turning it into a prolonged construction causing numerous traffic jams and inconveniences for the public.
VIS is funding the construction of the bridge, and tolls will be charged for its use, as Doev and Snegurov likely planned to profit from this within the framework of the PPP. However, it appears they attempted to cut costs during the construction, sparking a scandal.
Alexander Burmistrov, a deputy of the city council of Novosibirsk, disclosed VIS's cost-cutting measures. In May 2021, he requested law enforcement to scrutinize the project's implementation. This was also reported by “Taiga.Info”.
As per Burmistrov, the bridge builders could have saved around 500 million rubles by using inexpensive Turkish pipes instead of the German ones specified in the project. The deputy director of the Siberian Concession Company, Yevgeny Firsov, was unable to explain where the money went.
Additionally, the city administration confirmed that the Turkish pipes used in the storm sewer portion of the project had sunk by nearly a meter. Burmistrov also had information that the company might swap out the locking equipment for cheaper alternatives. He concluded that problems arise whenever a concessionaire is involved, referencing the issues with Ecology-Novosibirsk.
Traffic in this part of Novosibirsk has been limited since 2020, and there is no projected completion date for the bridge construction.
If this is accurate, it leads to the conclusion that VIS either has very little money or is extremely eager to save funds for other projects, without regard for their commitments. Do they even care about the ongoing traffic issues since 2020? Not to mention that using lower-quality materials in construction could result in a major disaster.
Illnesses will continue to be a cause for concern.
Indeed, when this scandal broke out, neither Alexander Burmistrov nor other deputies and politicians of Novosibirsk were aware that this was only the beginning of the troubles this “partner” could bring to the city.
In June 2020, the National Medical Holding LLC was established, which is a part of the VIS Group. The holding also includes the Seventh Concession Company, which became the concessionaire for the construction of seven clinics simultaneously in different parts of the city. These facilities are greatly needed, especially during a pandemic.
It was expected that the investor would contribute 1.4 billion rubles, and an additional 1.6 billion rubles would be provided as a grant from the region. The remaining amount was planned to be borrowed. According to the agreement, from 2023, significant payments were supposed to be made to the concessionaire from the regional budget every three months. However, although it was initially mentioned as 260 million rubles, the payments somehow increased to 1 billion in 2023, and then to 3.1 billion.
What actually happened? The construction timeline for the polyclinics has been disrupted. When the contracts were being finalized, it was anticipated that the facilities would be completed in 2021, then in 2022. It is now evident that they will not be ready before 2023, and this timeline may need to be adjusted.
The authorities also admitted the delay. Local deputies even indicated that the facilities may never be completed. This was reported by “Taiga.Info”.
So, this is how the polyclinics in Novosibirsk currently stand. And this is happening in the midst of a pandemic.
Given the lawsuit concerning the self-bankruptcy of Ecology-Novosibirsk, this prediction seems plausible. How did VIS explain such schedule changes?
It’s very simple: allegedly, this is due to the protracted stages of preparation for construction, the search for contractors, and obtaining permits. The explanation is weak, given the “green light” that the authorities have given to the concessionaire’s projects.
Tons of gold blind my eyes
Let’s get back to where we started: it is likely that the problems of all these projects are related to the same thing as the scandal with the MSW recycling operator. The company simply has no money. But wait: at the end of 2020, the same parent JSC VIS earned a total of 436 million rubles with a revenue of 500 million rubles. Apparently, this does not take into account the huge money from government contracts, and various subsidies, and assistance from local authorities.
VIS had money. Already 200 million for “Ecology-Novosibirsk” for sure. Did they “gone” to Kyuchus?
That’s right, only this was before the auction for the development of the Kyuchus gold deposit in Yakutia, where Dmitry Doev was so eager to get. And could his partner Igor Snegurov stand aside when strategic gold reserves of 175.3 tons are at stake?
