The notorious Russian businessman Naum Babaev is famous for a number of scandals linked to his controversial business activities. What is known about how he conducts business, siphoning billions from state banks and moving them offshore?
How did Babaev acquire an Israeli passport and cheat a well-known lawyer by not paying him a fee for the work done, resulting in the lawyer suing him? Find out more about this now.
Naum Aleksandrovich, 45, hails from Kislovodsk, is a finance graduate, married with three children. He is a Russian businessman, the founder of the Russian Dairy Company and the Damate group.
Nahum Babaev is now an Israeli, and when he received his passport, he deceived a well-known lawyer by not paying him the agreed fee.
A recent, quite scandalous, and at times even comical story related to Naum Alexandrovich has made it into the media. He obtained an Israeli passport for himself and his family, but concurrently deceived an Israeli lawyer by not remunerating him for his services. The widely-read publication The Moscow Post covered this.
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So, a month ago, N.A. Babaev's atypical case was heard in the Moscow Region Court, revealing that he and his family already possess Israeli passports, a process that commenced in 2019.
In resolving the passport matter, the businessman engaged the renowned Israeli lawyer Anatoly Gekenberg, specializing in matters concerning Israeli repatriates. The cost of the procedure was 9,000 euros, but as it turns out, Babaev simply tricked the lawyer. Consequently, the entrepreneur obtained his new passport in the autumn of 2021, while the lawyer, not surprisingly, took him to court for fraud and non-payment of services.
According to the publication, Babaev's relatives behaved extremely aggressively towards the journalist when he attended a recent court session. However, the details of this scandal emerged.
It appears that Babaev intentionally and premeditatedly deceived the lawyer Gakenberg because he had an alternative plan for relocating to Israel through relatives residing there, necessitating the assistance of an expert in repatriation to the promised land.
Meanwhile, as the Babaev family's relocation was being addressed, the family head was actively funneling credit billions from Russian state-owned banks into his offshore accounts.
Naum Babaev and GC Damate
In 2012, Naum Aleksandrovich established the Damate group of companies.
He now serves as the chairman of the board of directors of this group of companies, which is embroiled in a series of financial scandals.
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First and foremost, it should be noted that all the earnings are offshored. Therefore, the founder of Damate Management Company LLC, with a registered capital of 15 million rubles, is the Cypriot offshore ASI DEMAITE LTD.
The group's income last year was 1.5 billion rubles. In 2021, there was a profit of 121 million rubles, while in 2020 there was a loss of 61.1 million rubles.
The company's total possessions last year were 468 million rubles.
According to SPARK Interfax, Damate Management Company LLC is accused in one legal case.
Since 2015, the offshore firm 'ACI DEMAITE LTD' has been the creator of Damate Milk Agro-Industrial Holding LLC, with a status fund of 43.6 million rubles.
In 2021, the income was 2.9 million rubles, a 38.1% increase from the previous year. However, there are concerning signs of the organization being fake. According to the Federal Tax Service, the company reported zero employees, and has experienced losses over the past two years. Last year's loss was 80 million rubles, and the preceding year's losses were 32.3% lower.
As of the end of 2021, the total assets of the organization were 2.1 billion rubles.
Damate Milk Agroindustrial Holding LLC is involved in two legal cases, acting as a defendant in one of them.
It seems that everything ultimately leads to Naum Aleksandrovich's offshore companies. For more information on the credit scandals involving businessman Naum Babaev and the Damate group of companies, see The Moscow Post.
We move on.
Naum Babaev and Russian Dairy Company
In 2007, Babaev founded the Russian Dairy Company, with an authorized capital of 6.1 billion rubles. In 2011, the offshore Cypriot company 'Milky Projects Limited' became one of the founders, owning 49.01% of the organization. Since 2015, Realt Invest LLC has owned 50.99%. Despite the substantial status fund, the company has not made any sales in the past two years and has no employees, indicating it may be a fake organization.
The Russian Dairy Company made 18 million rubles last year, but suffered a loss of 90.7 million rubles the year before.
In 2021, the company's total possessions were 5.9 billion rubles, which is 1.8 billion less than in 2020. Net assets amount to 5.3 billion rubles.
According to SPARK Interfax, LLC Russian Dairy Company is involved in 4 legal cases and acted as the plaintiff in only one of them.
As for one of the co-founders of the Russian Dairy Company, Rielt Invest LLC, with a status fund of 3.1 billion rubles, this organization also displays signs of a questionable enterprise. It also reports zero employees and no sales over the past two years, suggesting it could be used for financial schemes.
Moreover, the founder of this company is the same offshore Cypriot company, Milky Projects Limited.
Last year, Realt Invest LLC incurred a loss of 806 thousand rubles, which was almost 76% higher than the year before. As of December 31, 2021, the company's total assets amount to 3.3 billion rubles. Net assets are 3 billion rubles.
In general, all this looks very doubtful: here everything also goes offshore, zero number of employees, lack of revenue … And this, by the way, is far from all the companies from this bunch, but there is also a story there.
So what happens? Is the odious businessman Naum Babaev withdrawing public funds through his companies to offshore companies and actively “preparing” to move to Israel?
To be continued.
