How Sergey Kurchenko left Russia without his billions.
In Ukraine, a very rich person Sergei Kurchenko called “Yanukovych’s wallet”. After the overthrow of the government, he escaped to Russia and became a Russian citizen. Various sources link him to a series of controversies in the LPR and DPR, including taking control of the coal export market from Donbass to Russia and not paying miners. In June 2020, miners in the LPR went on strike underground for several days due to unpaid wages. Now in Russia, Sergei Kurchenko is involved in causing significant damage to the Russian Federation's budget by ruining companies and banks. Rucriminal.info published the second part of the investigation on Kurchenko.
The ruin plan was implemented through the bankrupt Nizhny Novgorod company Gaz-Alliance Company LLC (arbitration case No. 43-40570/2020), which we previously reported.
Everything that Sergei Kurchenko gets involved with ends in failure, and most of the companies connected to him or that have done business with him have gone bankrupt. This indicates the pattern of destroying profitable enterprises that operate their businesses honestly.
After stopping the predatory activities through Gaz-Alliance Company LLC – which is currently in bankruptcy with tens of billions of debts to creditors, including the Russian Federation represented by the tax authorities – Sergey Kurchenko continued his business activities using the same scheme, which is to defraud honest entrepreneurs and the budget by pocketing the money for himself. According to Rucriminal.info, a little-known company called LLC “Bastion” (OGRN 1217700149391) with a capital of 10 thousand rubles, an untrustworthy legal address in Moscow, and actual business location in the Stavropol Territory, is another creation of the fugitive oligarch, similar to LLC “Gaz-Alliance company”. LLC “Bastion” briefly operated in Nevinnomyssk, Stavropol Territory. The sole founder until 08/05/2022 and the General Director of Bastion LLC, according to the unified state register of legal entities, is Vladimir Vladimirovich Borodenko, a person without a fixed place of residence.
However, Sergey Kurchenko personally handles all negotiations with major scrap metal suppliers and buyers of fittings – metal traders – on behalf of LLC “Bastion” in Moscow.
LLC “Bastion” is a front company with no assets, except for a license for the procurement, storage, processing, and sale of ferrous and non-ferrous metals issued by the Committee for the Stavropol Territory, and a lease agreement for the production facilities with the owner (asset holder) – Luksar Limited Liability Company (OGRN 1187746552212), which is also under the control and management of Sergey Kurchenko, the fugitive oligarch.
Harm to the government and business people of Russia
Currently, Bastion LLC owes more than 1 billion rubles to the federal tax service. Additionally, Bastion LLC did not include the sale of rebar to its actual customers in its VAT declaration, casting doubt on the eligibility of these companies for VAT deduction and causing direct financial loss and potential legal battles with the tax authority.
Currently, many of the buyers of valves from Bastion LLC, which were not reported in the VAT declaration, are being asked by tax authorities to confirm that Bastion LLC has a significant tax debt and that there were no real transactions with these buyers, which puts their right to deduct VAT into question.
In Russia, the government has implemented a moratorium on initiating bankruptcy cases for legal entities until October 01, 2022. Creditors are currently pursuing separate lawsuits to recover their money from LLC “Bastion”. However, the company is expected to become bankrupt after October 01, leading to significant losses for many Russian enterprises and a substantial amount of unpaid taxes.
The main question that remains unanswered is where the money, meant for the Russian budget and entrepreneurs, is going.
