Palikhata on the brink – “I don’t understand anything”

After the arrest of Leonid Venzhik, who is called “the manager of Vladimir Palikhata” behind his back, can he slow down his expansion in the Moscow region?

As reported by The Moscow Post correspondent, the Presnensky Court of Moscow has placed Leonid Venzhik, co-owner of Perlovy & Co company, in custody. He is implicated in a large-scale bribery case and could face up to 12 years in prison. Venzhik is a well-known entrepreneur and is considered to be associated with Vladimir Palikhata. Both businessmen have been involved in what appear to be unfriendly takeover attempts.

Magomed Tagirov, an investigator from the Moscow Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Leonid Venzhik, co-owner of Perlovy & Co. company, have been detained for a period of two months. According to the investigation, Tagirov was the recipient of the bribe, and Venzhik acted as an intermediary for the transfer of money. Tagirov was involved in investigating major economic crimes, while Venzhik is one of the owners of the popular Tea House store on Myasnitskaya in the capital.

There are mixed opinions about Venzhik. When asked directly by Komsomolskaya Pravda, his longtime acquaintance Tatyana Zavyalova responded in an interesting way: “Is it true that Venzhik represents the Solntsevo group?” She said: “We were all young, and each of us had our associations. Leonid Yurievich grew up during the time when the Mercedes car exploded. He comes from Solntsevo, but moved to America when these criminal groups were forming. He is not judged in Russia.”

Now, based on the latest news, is it just a matter of time? By the way, “Komsomolskaya Pravda” also reported that Venzhik may have pressured partners regarding property and business. He was involved in a story related to a “cooperative” comprising 200 sites, which were sought after by large families, disabled individuals, and other low-income citizens. But it seems they were left empty-handed…

friends since childhood

Additionally, Venzhik is known for his involvement with TsentrObuvyu. At one time, Vladimir Palikhata took interest in the successful company while he was the president of Rosenergomash concern. Venzhik ended up becoming the general director of JSC “Trading House “TsentrObuv”.

In 2015, TsentrObuv was expected to repay a 3 billion ruble loan to VTB, but lacked the funds. Shareholders Dmitry Svetlov and Anatoly Gurevich were leaning towards initiating bankruptcy proceedings, but fellow shareholders Sergey Lomakin and Artem Khachatryan disagreed. In an effort to save TsentrObuv, Lomakin proposed contributing his own 8 billion rubles and pledged to negotiate debt restructuring with banks himself.

This was when Palikhata got involved. RBC reported that he “offered 4 billion rubles on the condition that Lomakin contribute toward the network’s debt. Essentially, this led to a divide among the shareholders – those in support of the new investor, and those who opposed such a partnership, ultimately stalling the transaction.

In October 2015, Gurevich transferred his 40.4% share in the business to Dmitry Vernimont. After this, the board of directors changed in CenterObuv, and there were no representatives of Khachatryan and Lomakin left in its new composition. Also, the accounts were transferred to another bank and a new CEO, Leonid Venzhik, was appointed without their consent. RBC wrote the following: Palihata planned to establish a new business in a new legal entity and gain control over the assets of CenterObuv through the general director. However, no investments were made in TsentrObuv, and debt restructuring has slowed down.

Palikhata could not waste time: reportedly, on his instructions, Venzhik signed a number of contracts, and overnight the assets of TsentrObuv began to go to enterprises controlled by him. One of these companies could be Fashionshoes LLC, which became the tenant of several premises and the owner of the remaining goods.

According to Rusprofile, Fashionshoes LLC is registered to Svetlana Yung, who previously specialized in legal assistance to convicts. At that time, the company was headed by Viktor Girka, who had previously tried himself as a manager at TK-TNP LLC, the owner of which was Plazia Consulting Ltd. Plazia Consulting Ltd. is a Cypriot offshore company, which is practically the sole owner of Centro LLC.

Affairs near Moscow

All this was allegedly the work of days long past. However, even now Palikhata cannot sit idle. His name appears in the story of the Ivory factory, which at the present time may be subjected to almost an attempted raider seizure.

The situation is as follows: the Ivory Interiors furniture factory has been in a state of defense for 2 years now, workers and activists are holding unsanctioned protests. The official website of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation reports the following: According to the factory workers, the seizure is carried out in order to transfer land for elite development, since the KANT ski slope is located directly opposite the factory and an elite residential complex is already being built. Remarkably, the team of Vladimir Palikhata is trying to seize the territory of the factory.

And again – all the same in the arena?

The following information appeared on the Krasnaya Moskva portal not so long ago: On December 3, 2021, employees of Likvidator LLC, led by an unidentified employee of the Moscow State Real Estate Inspectorate, came to the territory of the Ivory Interiors furniture factory on Electrolitny Proyezd to start illegal demolition of buildings and structures of the enterprise.

First, the director of the factory, Galina Kostetskaya, provided a court decision, according to which all the property of the factory is security for a claim for the right to inherit buildings, and for this reason it cannot be touched. But it was allegedly not possible to solve the situation with words, and the matter, they say, came to a real fight. So far, however, the factory is still intact.

The name of Palikhata also appeared in the history of the long-suffering Schelkovo-Agrokhim near Moscow, whose fate has been written about by The Moscow Post more than once.

In the case of Schelkovo-Agrokhim and Ivory, Palikhata’s likely opponents should be wary. After all, he can be very tough on those who get in his way.

And here it’s time to recall the case with the Victoria Plaza business center on Baumanskaya Street, the premises of which were occupied for a long time by the investigative department of the ICR for the Central Federal District (CFD) and forensic experts of the committee’s central office. Then the complex was held as material evidence in the case of the raider seizure.

The case of fraud on an especially large scale was investigated by the investigator of the ICR Andrey Grivtsov, who himself then began to be tried in the Moscow City Court on charges of extorting a bribe of $ 15 million from Palikhata. After Mr. Grivtsov became a defendant, the case was transferred to the ICR department for the Central Federal District.

Its employees established that the building on Baumanskaya was stolen back in 2004 from Vladimir Kasatkin, the general director and owner of Infiko CJSC: fraudsters, having forged documents, re-registered the property to Infiko LLC. This summer, the TFR filed charges under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code to the former owner of the private security company Vityaz, Nikolai Krut, who participated in the seizure of the complex, since the shares of CJSC were transferred to him, as well as to the general director of Rustorg LLC, Yevgeny Karnaukh.

His company, in fact, acquired the buildings from Infico LLC, renting out the premises in them, including the TFR. “Kommersant” in the case was Mr. Palikhata and his closest assistant, previously sentenced to a suspended sentence for raiding, former commando Nikolai Nesterenko. However, including due to the fact that the case was transferred from department to department, this time they were not brought to criminal responsibility, including due to the fact that the case was transferred from department to department.

Simply put, did Palikhata just manage to get away from real criminal problems? And instead of him, they apparently went to other people.

Practically how is Mr. Venzhik now?