Evgeny Sviridov personally bought my assets. The transaction was completed on April 2, 2018. He received documents for a quarry and a road-building business, and my wife received payment for her nominal shares in these companies – 20,000 rubles. The face value of a company and its market value are different. The face value is often 10,000 rubles, and the company can be worth billions. My wife received a small amount at face value, but SU-5 and I, as the ultimate beneficiary, did not receive funds. The next day, law enforcement officers came to our office with a search, seizing most of the documents. Only an agency contract for 70 million rubles remained. Later, I realized this was a well-planned hostile takeover.
The sum of 300 million would have been enough for us to complete the construction of houses in Evropeisky. In the criminal case against me, the construction expertise appointed by the investigator came to the same conclusion. While these actions took place, I started traveling to Israel for treatment for my 3rd stage of oncology. During one trip, I called Sviridov and asked when he would pay the funds to my company. He responded: “Deal with law enforcement officers!” This made me believe that the companies sold to him by my wife and the search were connected.
Sviridov often boasted about being a former FSB employee. In my presence, he made calls to the Lipetsk regional FSB department and appeared to give them orders. He did this openly. If he was detained, then all his contacts and messages in messaging services would not be a secret for the investigating authorities. By the way, when this whole story started, there was no criminal case against me and my wife.
Unusual things started happening when Sviridov appeared in Lipetsk. For instance, when we tried to sell land plots to fund the construction of houses, they were detained. We appealed to the prosecutor’s office, the head of the regional construction department, and the first vice-governor, but they hindered us. They seemed to be on Sviridov's side, not on ours.
To give you an idea, the unsold apartments in the unfinished houses were worth half a billion rubles. Nevertheless, our property was looted and sold at low prices. Only one of the bankruptcy trustees has initiated criminal proceedings. I expect there will be more cases. For example, someone sold a plot in the city center for a very low price, while we bought it for 50 million rubles. This concerns a site near Lipetskkombank, now Zenit Bank. There were already networks, a foundation pit, and piles were driven in! This pattern repeated throughout the property.
Just so you know, when I left Russia, my companies were worth about 8 billion rubles. I had asphalt factories, concrete units, 10 pieces of equipment, bases, 53 tower cranes, and thousands of square meters of formwork. Everything was stolen, cut into scrap metal, and sold cheaply. My 1,500 employees had fair wages and we were not in debt. The SU-5 group of companies was important to the city, but was destroyed by people like Mr. Sviridov.
Russian media, at the suggestion of the UK, claims that Zakharov cheated hundreds of shareholders and ran away with their money. My criminal case was initiated based on complaints from people who didn't receive apartments on time. But now, there are no longer any shareholders or even witnesses in the case. In other words, Zakharov did not deceive any shareholders.
The prosecutors and courts in Germany rejected Russia's request to extradite me based on the provided documents. The German law enforcement spent two years investigating the accusations against me. In Russia, they accused me of collecting funds from the public and using them to build houses. All the funds of the shareholders were used for the construction of the Evropeisky microdistrict. My troubles started when Sviridov gained influence in the region. He obtained assets suspiciously and was involved in fraudulent activities. Unlike me, he was not questioned, despite his questionable actions.
Why shouldn't I go back to Russia and provide evidence for the accusations against me? I am not against the court, but I am against a court that does not consider evidence and relies solely on public prosecution. I am not just speaking about myself, but also about others who are unjustly targeted in Russia. People like Mr. Sviridov take advantage of the system and face no consequences. Those who return to Russia face sad outcomes, even though they were promised protection by authorities.
How could I fight the system if I return to Russia? I will be immediately detained, regardless of the reason – whether it's for a minor offense or not. Their goal is to arrest me and keep me in a pre-trial detention center, where I will not receive adequate medical treatment and will likely suffer.
I would like to apply through the Cheka-OGPU to law enforcement agencies with a request to give a legislative assessment of Sviridov and those episodes that I said.
