A high-profile trial of the Russian mafia continues in Spain, revealing more and more details of money laundering schemes by members of the Tambov-Malyshevskaya organized crime group. The Russians, as the state prosecution assures, created hundreds of companies for which real estate was registered. Then it was resold many times at increasing costs through companies controlled by the same people. The CrimeRussia also learned the opinion of opponents who insist on the political motive of Operation Troika.
Among figures with less famous names than Sergey Kuzmin or Vladislav Reznik, the Spanish prosecutor's office singles out Leonid Khristoforov and Yuri Salikov.
These are active members of the Tambov-Malyshevskaya organized crime group who participated in the creation and management of companies through which criminal proceeds were laundered, according to the preliminary investigation materials.
Leonid Khristoforov is known in criminal circles as the Fuhrer. In 2001, he was sentenced by the St. Petersburg City Court to an 11-year sentence for organizing the murder in 1996 of the commercial director of Krasny Khimik JSC, Alexander Egorov. Four years after the verdict, he was released on parole; before his new arrest in Spain, he served as an informal curator of Gennady Petrov’s St. Petersburg business, associated with the maritime transportation of fuel. During his last visit to the boss, Leonid Khristoforov was detained as part of.
Arrest of Gennady Petrov
Among those accused in the first lines is Yuri Salikov, one of the key members of the group, according to Spanish prosecutors. According to the arrest warrant signed by the judge of the National Court of Justice, Baltasar Garzon, Salikov was involved in arms smuggling in the past. He allegedly supplied Russian military aircraft to Angola.
Leonid Khristoforov
Leonid Khristoforov is called the right hand of Gennady Petrov, who carried out his orders and represented his interests in Russia, in particular managing his assets. He was his representative at “gatherings” with others, about which he kept Petrov informed.
Vladimir Barsukov - Kumarin in court
In addition, over the phone, Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov discussed the promotion of Nikolai Aulov (at that time the head of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate), whom the Spanish prosecutor’s office considers a member of the “Russian mafia”, responsible for relations with Russian security forces. At the same time, Aulov himself explained the recorded telephone conversations by saying that he used Gennady Petrov as an informant. He allegedly conveyed “useful information on a number of issues.”
Nikolai Aulov - Lieutenant General of Police. He was deputy head of the Northern and Northwestern Regional Department for Combating Organized Crime. Since November 2006 - Head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Central Federal District. In June 2008, he was appointed deputy director of the Federal Drug Control Service - head of the Operational Investigation Department. After the dissolution of the Federal Drug Control Service, there is no information about Aulov’s appointments. Under the pseudonym Nikolai Sofronov, he is a co-author of Andrei Konstantinov’s detective bestsellers “Gangster Petersburg”, “Lawyer”, etc.
Petrov's protection
As the investigation established, Leonid Khristoforov transferred funds to Spain in the amount of more than 400 thousand euros and purchased real estate worth about 1.9 million euros. In particular, he approached one of the branches of La Caixa Bank in Palma de Mallorca to open an account and apply for a loan. Despite the lack of work and confirmation of his income, the application was granted. The preliminary investigation materials note that the loan was approved thanks to Petrov’s patronage at the bank. However, details about connections in the credit institution are not disclosed. “A person who has just arrived in Spain, without a job and without assets, receives a loan of 1.9 million.
Using the loan provided, Leonid Khristoforov bought a house in Mallorca at Carrer Gran Via Eivissa, 7 (Calvia). This is a rather modest mansion, especially in comparison with the real estate of Petrov, Malyshev and Reznik. At the same time, he managed to maintain a high standard of living and expenses in Spain, using money of criminal origin, prosecutors say.
However, Khristoforov’s participation in dubious transactions in Spain ends here, since his main activities in the interests of the organized crime group were carried out in Russia. And since the Russian security forces were reluctant to cooperate with the Spanish prosecutor’s office, there is very little information about Khristoforov in the preliminary investigation materials.
At that time, some considered Yuri Salikov, who is now doing business in Sweden, to be the eminence grise of the criminal world in St. Petersburg. Yuri Salikov is also mentioned in his famous book “Gangster Petersburg” by the writer Andrei Konstantinov:
Yuri Salikov did not like to shine, but he worked a lot - he traded in antiques that went abroad in unknown ways, and oversaw underground denim factories. Yuri had a brother, Igor. Salikov constantly called on the gangster youth to “be realistic” and constantly reminded them that “they need to work hard.” They did not commit atrocities, working mainly against those who would not go to the police to complain - bartenders who were not getting enough beer for the proletariat, petty theft hotel administrators and waiters, prostitutes and slop taxi drivers.
When taking money from a client, the group often practiced the usual cheating game of cards. There were no traces of blood behind them; they were limited mainly to drunken fights with bruises and broken teeth. The range of their “business interests” was unusually wide: the group was engaged in everything from collecting gambling debts and buying up antiques to speculating in light bulbs, and the pinnacle of its technical equipment was a Lada car with a “radar detector.” I did not hear anything about him until the summer of 2008, when the media reported that Yuri Salikov had been arrested in Spain along with Alexander Malyshev, Gennady Petrov and other Malyshevskys as part of a high-profile special operation by Spanish law enforcement officers.
Money laundering companies
Subsequently, in the preliminary investigation materials, Yuri Salikov was named as an active and important member of the organized crime group, who, together with Sergei Kuzmin and Gennady Petrov, participated in the creation of companies for money laundering. In 2009, Yuri Salikov was convicted in Spain for illegal VAT refunds amounting to more than 20 million euros. The Central Court sentenced him to prison for 2.5 years. On this basis, the prosecutor's office is charging business partners associated with Salikov with violating Spanish tax laws.
His closest partners were the brothers Georgy and Peter Vasetsky, who are now fugitives from justice. The company used for the fraud was Ikstessav Investments SL (a palindrome from the surname “Vasetsky”), founded on March 1, 1996 with an authorized capital of 338 thousand euros. Its co-founders in equal shares were Petrov, Salikov, Vasetsky and.
An apartment at 33 la Avenida Gabriel Roca was sold through the company Ikstessav Investments SL. In 1997, the property and parking space were bought from a controlled company by Peter Vasetsky and Gennady Petrov for 210 thousand euros. In 1999, Vasetsky became the sole owner of the apartment, buying out Petrov’s share for 66 thousand euros. And in 2000, the apartment was bought by the company Sunstar Inversiones SL, whose legal address coincides with the address of the house where Yuri Salikov and his wife Barbara lived. Interestingly, the mansion is located directly opposite Gennady Petrov’s villa.
Through Ikstessav Investments SL and Sunstar Inversiones SL, many purchases of real estate were recorded, which were then resold to companies controlled by Petrov for the purpose of money laundering. In fact, "" bought the entire Sol de Mallorca area. The preliminary investigation materials mention about 10 real estate objects that passed through the companies of Petrov and Salikov. For some reason, one of the houses was sold on behalf of Yuri Salikov’s father, Russian citizen Mikhail Salikov.
In addition, Yuri Salikov took loans from his companies Ikstessav Investments SL and Sunstar Inversiones SL, and then returned them by contributing money to the company’s charter. During 2002, Yuri Salikov brought a total of 900 thousand euros into the company Sunstar Inversiones SL, the origin of which is unknown and which significantly exceeds the amount of income indicated in the tax return of the married couple.
At the same time, according to accounting reports, almost all of the funds of the Sunstar Inversiones SL company were spent on the construction of a residential building and the purchase of a BMW car. And after completion of construction, the company paid for the improvement of the house, expenses for its maintenance and bills (electricity, water, gardening, maintenance of swimming pools, etc.), as well as the maintenance of a luxury SUV.
The company's only expenses on its personnel were payments to director Yuri Salikov. Yuri Salikov did not have a single employee under his command and paid his own salary.
Salikov's testimony
In court, Yuri Salikov stated that he had been Gennady Petrov’s partner in two companies “for a short time,” and knew about Petrov’s criminal past only “from rumors.” They were neighbors and “walked the dogs together.”
Salikov said that he does not remember for what purpose the capital of Sunstar Inversiones SL was increased from 1,502 euros to 2.4 million euros in less than three years. The money to increase capitalization, according to him, was given to him by his father, and it was also obtained through tax evasion schemes in the amount of 20 million euros, for which he had previously been sentenced in 2009 to 2.5 years in prison.
Yuri Salikov said that he was not connected with the main suspects in the case in Spain - Alexander Malyshev, Olga Solovyova, Viktor Gavrilenkov and Sergei Kuzmin.
The CrimeRussia was able to contact the above-mentioned brother of Yuri Salikov, Igor. He said that the whole story with the “Russian mafia” lies only in the political plane. According to Igor Salikov, Spain, experiencing a crisis, made concessions for foreign investors, which Russian entrepreneurs took advantage of. They started running a legal real estate business in Spain. However, then, in 2006–2008, Russia’s role in the international arena began to strengthen and Western intelligence agencies passed on tips to Spanish law enforcement agencies about supposedly fraudulent businessmen who could be accused of having connections with the Russian authorities and thereby undermine the authority of the Kremlin in the face of foreign partners. It is for this reason that influential politicians, deputies and officials were included in the list of suspects. And the trial, which had been in preparation for 10 years, began precisely on the eve of the Russian presidential elections.
ALL PHOTOS
In St. Petersburg, disturbing details of the shooting and murder that occurred last weekend near the Music bar 11 nightclub became known. As it turned out, the deceased was a Chechen, and his fellow countrymen, according to some reports, had already arrived in the Northern capital for retribution. The city can expect a bloody continuation of the conflict.
In addition, 42-year-old crime boss from the Tambov gang Leonid Khristoforov, who was among the visitors, was involved in the events at Music bar 11, Fontanka writes. He is currently wanted by Interpol as a member of the “Russian mafia” who escaped from the Spanish prosecutor’s office. However, Russian authorities refuse to extradite Khristoforov.
Shots were fired at the doors of Music bar 11, located at house number 11 on Malaya Morskaya Street, on the night of December 16. Another message about the murder of a club visitor was drowned in a series of similar news and did not cause much resonance. However, as it now turns out, there were interesting characters among the guests of Music bar 11 that night.
Among the well-known people in St. Petersburg who were present at the ill-fated party at the karaoke club, the waiters identified Leonid Khristoforov. 41-year-old Saliy Kuzgov and a certain “fixer in the field of Azerbaijani business” were vacationing with him.
According to Fontanka, this Azerbaijani authority enjoys special influence among people from the Shamkhor region of Azerbaijan, who have already committed serious crimes in the Northern capital.
Thus, on October 11, in a cafe on Rabfakovsky Lane, a 33-year-old native of the Shamkhor district, Garadzha Zamanov, fired five bullets at 31-year-old Adam Kuliev, with whom he did not share the counterfeit alcohol market. The murder was preceded by a shootout in the Nevsky Forest Park, which took place on October 8. Then five people from Azerbaijan received gunshot wounds.
What happened at Music bar 11, and why the Azerbaijanis quarreled with the Vainakhs who were there, is not known for certain. However, at about 3:00, when Chechen Adam Dashaev and his friend from Ingushetia left the club, four Azerbaijani guests followed them. This was recorded by security cameras. A couple of minutes later shots rang out.
According to eyewitnesses, a fight broke out between the parties to the conflict and, despite their numerical superiority, the Azerbaijanis were unable to defeat the natives of the North Caucasus in a fist fight. Then three of them took out combat pistols and shot 26-year-old Adam Dashaev at point-blank range, who died on the spot.
According to preliminary data, the killers used TT, PM and weapons converted to fire cartridges for a Makarov pistol.
The very next day, December 17, a flight landed at Pulkovo, on which friends and relatives of the deceased arrived from Chechnya. One can only guess how events will turn out next. It is possible that the murder of a Chechen who went to a karaoke club could provoke a large-scale criminal war.
The Azerbaijani side is convinced that it is right, while the Chechen side is meaningfully silent, aware of the irreconcilable position of its opponents. At the same time, both sides hinted that the presence of arbitrators in uniform was considered unnecessary.
The criminal investigation department seems to have become accustomed to the role of an outside observer. “Operatives are trying to control the situation, but most likely there will be a response. We are waiting,” the department said.
"Russian mafia" under the protection of the homeland
According to Spanish investigators, Leonid Khristoforov, who was spotted at Music bar 11, is the closest assistant of 65-year-old Gennady Petrov, who is considered one of the leaders of the Tambov organized crime group.
Petrov was arrested in Spain back in 2008, when a large-scale special operation "Troika" was carried out, in which 400 police officers carried out raids throughout the country - in Alicante, Mallorca, Madrid, Marbella, Valencia, Barcelona and the Balearic Islands.
According to Spanish investigators, Russian gangsters actively invested large sums in real estate and business in European resorts. In this way, they laundered funds received from arms and drug trafficking, contract killings, extortion and cobalt smuggling. The detainees were charged with Articles 301, 302, 305, 390, 392 of the Spanish Criminal Code (laundering of funds obtained by criminal means).
According to sources close to the investigation, Gennady Petrov was mainly involved in laundering money coming to Spain from Swiss banks. The value of the real estate he bought in Spain reaches 30 million euros, not counting current bills worth millions of euros.
On January 31, 2010, by decision of the National Court of Justice, Petrov was released on bail of 1 million euros. In October 2011, he asked permission to travel to Russia to see his mother: he was allowed, and after the trip he returned to Spain.
In 2012, Gennady Petrov again expressed a desire to go to St. Petersburg, but for treatment. On April 1, he left Spain with an order to return back before the 15th, but the defendant never appeared in the Pyrenees.
At first, the Spanish prosecutor's office could not contact either Petrov or his lawyers. The latter showed up only at the beginning of May and submitted a certificate to the court stating that Gennady unexpectedly became seriously ill in St. Petersburg and required long-term treatment in a hospital. On this basis, they asked to postpone the money laundering process. The defenders were required to present the entire set of medical documents that would confirm their words. They brought him to court on May 24.
The prosecutor's office, having studied these documents, came to the conclusion that they constitute a "set of lies." Thus, on one of the doctors’ certificates, which the lawyers showed on May 24, the date was June 4, 2012.
In a similar way, the arrested Leonid Khristoforov outwitted the Spanish Themis. He also received permission to travel to Russia on the same dates and did not return to Spain. As a result, the entire high-profile trial in the case of criminal capital, which casts a shadow on the Kremlin, was under threat.
It is noteworthy that it was St. Petersburg, where the defendants hid, that was considered the main stronghold of the “Tambov” group, which had great influence there in the criminal sphere. In particular, the port was under the control of the Tambov gang.
In the summer of 2012, Spanish judge Santiago Pedraz issued an arrest warrant for Russian fugitives. A few months later, Russian police found the suspects in the same place as expected - in St. Petersburg. Apparently, they did not even try to hide, being confident of impunity before the Spanish authorities.
The mafia's calculation turned out to be correct. “Khristoforov is a citizen of the Russian Federation and is not subject to detention on the territory of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. The initiator of the search has been informed,” noted a source in law enforcement agencies. The Petrovs are also protected by Russian law.
In November 2012, Leonid Khristoforov even talked with Interpol employees, who were “assured of his decency,” the publication concludes.
In the Spanish Supreme Court, they are mastering the unfamiliar concepts of “vor v zakone” (thief in law), “autoritievti” (authorities) and “hermanos de Tambov” (brothers from Tambov). These words appear in the indictment brought by the famous investigative judge Baltasar Garzon against twelve Russians and three local lawyers.
Those arrested are suspected not only of being leaders or accomplices of the Tambov-Malyshevskaya criminal group and laundering money. They are accused of tax evasion. This old but effective method allowed the American authorities to send the leader of the Chicago mafia, the famous Al Capone, to prison back in 1931.
According to the materials of the Spanish preliminary investigation, the arrested Russians underpaid several million euros, and the sources of their income were very vague, which allowed the justice to become interested:
where did the yachts, villas, Mercedes and Jaguars come from, as well as the 11 million euros that one of the defendants tried to invest in a Russian bank?
The Spanish indictment names Alexander Malyshev, Gennady Petrov and Vitaly Izgilov as the leaders of the group. They were arrested at luxury villas in resort towns in Spain during Operation Troika, in which more than 400 Spanish police took part.
Companions of Russian businessmen were also arrested State corporations and banks
Sources close to the Spanish investigation told Novaya that,
According to the case materials, Malyshev and Petrov’s plans included receiving contracts from the United Shipbuilding Corporation, recently created in Russia.
This state corporation appeared last year and is still in its infancy. The initiator was First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, the board of directors was headed for some time Sergey Naryshkin(now head of the presidential administration), whom he replaced Igor Sechin- Deputy Prime Minister of the Government in charge of industry and energy.
Rosprom, which, in particular, oversees the shipbuilding industry, told Novaya that they cannot yet comment on the situation, and the press service has not yet been formed at the United Shipbuilding Corporation. They explained to us that the process of changing the president of the state corporation and the corporatization of state unitary enterprises that will be part of it are currently underway.
According to the indictment, Alexander Malyshev has a common business with entrepreneur Sergei Kuzmin. Kuzmin's wife Svetlana is also accused of knowingly taking part in the activities of the community and having contact with Gennady Petrov.
Kuzmin owns 80% of the Spanish company Inversiones Finanzas Inmuebles SL, translated as “financial investment in real estate”. 20% of the company is owned by businessman Leonid Khazin, who is also involved in the criminal case.
In the resort town of Marbella, the company is located at the same address and has the same telephone number as the World of Marbella company (MYR Marbella SL). Khazin is its leader, as well as a representative of the Swiss MYR SA. The World of Marbella website says that the firm has been operating since the 1980s and is part of the World group, which unites nine companies involved in marketing, financial planning, real estate, and research and development of industrial technologies. The group claims that during its existence it has implemented investment projects in Europe worth 500 million euros. Industrial facilities, residential complexes and prestigious villas worth several million euros each are listed. In 2006, the Mir group planned to invest 70 million euros. Among the completed projects on the company's website, in particular, are listed: a health complex in the south of Spain, apartments and a restaurant in Marbella and a villa in the Sierra Blanca area.
One of the projects of Leonid Khazin’s World of Marbella company is a villa in the Sierra Blanca area worth $3,053,000 As we managed to find out, in the early nineties, Leonid Khazin from Sverdlovsk was a co-founder of the German company Globus-Elektronik Import-Export Handels GmbH, the leader and founder of which was an emigrant from the USSR, Yakov Lipovetsky. He supplied coffee to Russia, and is now involved in nutritional supplements.
Lipovetsky told Novaya that he met Leonid Khazin and his acquaintance Alexander Kostinsky in the early nineties, because they had good connections in the state-owned Vnesheconombank (currently the state corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs) and provided expedited posting and conversion of money. Subsequently they became his partners. Since 1993, according to Lipovetsky, he has no business with Khazin and Kostinsky; the entrepreneurs left Germany. Lipovetsky is also familiar with Mikhail Rebo, who appears in the criminal case and was recently arrested in Germany at the request of Spain. Yakov Lipovetsky is perplexed about this; in his opinion, these people could hardly occupy any serious position in the criminal hierarchy, as the Spaniards report.
We managed to contact Leonid Khazin, who was in the Marbella World office. He perceives the Spanish criminal case as a misunderstanding and is confident that the authorities will sort everything out.
“I’ve worked here for over twenty years and haven’t had any problems with the law,” he says, without discussing details. When asked what connects him with the arrested, Khazin replies that he is no less interested in this than we are. Khazin refrained from explanations, citing that he continued to work and that clients were waiting for him.
One of the arrested, whom the Spaniards included in the top three leaders of the criminal community, shortly before his arrest negotiated with representatives of a Russian bank. According to the indictment, on April 3, a certain Koba told Vitaly Izgilov that he could receive a serious interest if he transferred 11 million euros from a Swiss bank to a Russian bank, where he would become a major shareholder. As stated in the Spanish document, a meeting was subsequently held in Puerto Banus, which was attended by Izgilov, Malyshev and the chairman of the board of directors of the Baltic Development Bank Denis Gordeev.
A week ago, we contacted the Baltic Development Bank and sent the bank’s representatives the text of the indictment. However, Denis Gordeev did not comment on the situation.
The Baltic Development Bank was created in 1994 in Kaliningrad. By 2000 he moved to Moscow. According to one of the bank’s former affiliates, its origins seemed to be the Korean citizen Cho, who had good contacts with representatives of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in the Kaliningrad region.
Before joining the Baltic Development Bank, Denis Gordeev was the head of a department at MDM Bank. An affiliate of the Baltic Development Bank, Sergei Medvedev, was formerly the head of the cash operations department of MDM Bank; the former chairman of the board of directors of the Baltic Development Bank, Igor Nizovtsev, was also an employee of MDM Bank. The press service of MDM Bank reported that the Baltic Development Bank has never been part of the ownership structure of MDM Bank.
Temptation by real estate
The scale of the Spanish operation is wide. Not only Russian businessmen were arrested in Marbella. The high-profile Operation Troika was preceded by a police action, which overnight brought down almost all the officials of the resort town. In 2006, the mayor of Marbella, Marisol Yague, was arrested on suspicion of corruption along with assistants, notaries, lawyers and the local police chief, and the city council was dissolved. A total of 23 people were arrested. They are accused of financial fraud, inflating prices, money laundering and abuse of official position.
It can be assumed that the Russians arrested in 2008, whom Spanish law enforcement agencies suspected for several years of the same money laundering, settled in Marbella on very fertile soil. And after Spanish justice took on its own regional civil servants, Russian cases also surfaced.
Spanish real estate has long attracted Russians. Russian officials also have an indirect relationship with it (indirect, since rarely do any high-ranking Russians register expensive property in their name). Investing in Spanish real estate was partly connected with the high-profile Russian criminal case No. 144128 of the St. Petersburg corporation “Twentieth Trust” (for more details: Novaya Gazeta No. 73 for 2005). Since 1992, St. Petersburg officials transferred budget money to the corporation in the form of loans, although the company was almost bankrupt.
From the Twentieth Trust and its subsidiaries, funds flowed to eight countries of the world, mainly to Spain and Finland. More than $1 million and 12 million Spanish pesetas went to five Spanish companies. In Spain, two apartment hotels of the La Paloma tourist complex were built in the resort town of Torrevieja. There is also a restaurant there. Villa Dona Pepa was purchased and renovated in the resort town of Rojales.
The case was dropped in August 2000 “for lack of evidence of a crime.”
One of the former leaders of the investigation team, Andrei Zykov, told Novaya that the investigators were under pressure; after being forced to quit, Oleg Kalinichenko, an operative of the anti-corruption department of the St. Petersburg police department, became disillusioned with his work and went to a monastery.
Reference
Alexander Malyshev Alexander Malyshev- a well-known St. Petersburg “authority” who has repeatedly come to the attention of law enforcement agencies in different countries. At home, he was convicted of premeditated murder in 1977 and negligent murder in 1984. In 1992 he was arrested, and by 1995 he received two and a half years for illegal possession of weapons. Released because he had already spent time in pre-trial detention. In 2002, he was detained in Germany on suspicion of forging documents to obtain Estonian citizenship. The founder of the group, named after him “Malyshevskaya”, which since 1987 was considered a competitor to the Tambov group. Leader of the "Tambov" - Vladimir Kumarin (Barsukov) arrested in Russia in August 2007.
Gennady Petrov Gennady Petrov was the ward of Kumarin, and then Malyshev, although in Spain he continues to be associated with Kumarin. It is possible that the groups that have been at war in St. Petersburg since 1987 found a common language in Spain, where their representatives retrained as businessmen and established business ties with each other.
Vitaly Izgilov, who is credited with the nicknames Beast and Vitalik Makhachkalasky, was already under arrest in Spain in 2005, but was released on bail. He was called a member of the “Bauman” and “Vidnov” groups. In Spain they suspect that he is a thief in law who settled in their country and took a leading position in the new criminal hierarchy.
Closing indictment
Preliminary investigation 321/06 J.
The named individuals are known as a criminal community and are part of a criminal structure, divided into groups and units. They are accused of moving to Spain in 1996 because Spain was unaware of their activities at the time, and developing a criminal activity that allowed them to obtain substantial funds and real estate in the country. To achieve this, they used lawyers who became advisers to the criminal group.
1. Gennadios Petrov,
2. Yuri Salikov,
3. Yulia Ermolenko,
4. Leonid Khristoforov,
5. Alexander Malyshev,
6. Svetlana Kuzmina,
7. Leonid Khazin,
8. Olga Solovyova,
9. Ildar Mustafin,
10. Juan Antonio Untoria Agustin,
11. Juan Jesus Angulo Perez,
12. Ignacio Pedro de Urquijo Sierra,
13. Zhanna Gavrilenkova,
14. Vitaly Izgilov,
15. Vadim Romanyuk.
According to materials from law enforcement agencies of Russia, the European Union and the United States, the leaders of this structure are of Russian origin, they are from St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Arriving in Spain, they settled in the Costa del Sol (Malaga), the Levant and the Balearic Islands and from there, through intermediaries and subordinates, controlled illegal activities including murders, beatings, threats, smuggling, fraud, falsification of documents, "influence trading", bribery, drug trafficking.
Profits derived from criminal activities were sent to Spain thanks to the assistance of financial consultants serving this structure and becoming part of the “Tambov-Malyshevsky” community, which is characterized by a number of temporary connections between individual groups.
The community integrated into the legal economy through equity and shares in companies, as well as investments in countries such as Germany. Various individuals made investments through companies and numerous bank transactions that masked the real origin of the money from the criminal organization. To assimilate into legal economic activities, they used the creation of false companies and imaginary incomes, as well as individuals who falsified documentation.
Each of the leaders (Petrov, Malyshev, Kuzmin and Izgilov) had his own subordinates and his own area of activity.
- Gennadios Petrov
Arrest of Gennady Petrov in Spain. Photo: EPA Petrov is known in the criminal community as one of the “authorities” of the Tambov group, and the Russian authorities have information about him as the creator of a rigid hierarchical structure. Petrov was in a Russian pre-trial detention center at the same time as Sergei Kuzmin. To hide his Russian origin, Petrov obtained documents about his Greek origin, and Spain turned to Greece with a request to provide information about him.
Petrov is associated with Vladimir Kumarin, another leader of the Tambov group, who has been in pre-trial detention in Russia since August 22, 2007.
Petrov helped free his subordinate Yuri Mikhailovich Salikov, who was in pre-trial detention in Spain in a case of VAT (value added tax) fraud - the so-called “VAT carousel”.
Petrov created companies together with Yuri Salikov, Viktor Gavrilenkov and Sergei Kuzmin, and is also associated with Georgy and Peter Vasetsky. Submission to Petrov was unconditional; for example, Leonid Khristoforov, addressing him, called him “boss.” And one day he was asked to use his influence and prevent a murder. Petrov also took advantage of his influence and sought the removal of data from the archives of law enforcement agencies in Russia and Greece.
Constantly communicating with other members of the community, Petrov gave orders for bribes and punishments if they did not obey him.
An analysis of companies associated with Petrov showed that since 1998 they have accumulated movable and immovable property worth 30 million euros. The last acquisition was a property in Mallorca for 7 million euros. This money came from five companies in the Virgin Islands.
During the preliminary investigation, the accounts of companies containing more than 10,300,000 euros were frozen. These incomes are not verified because the firms did not conduct commercial activities.
Gennady Petrov settled in Calvia in Mallorca and was a tax resident in Spain. He is accused of major tax evasion: for 1999, Petrov and his wife did not declare income in the amount of 2,270,000 euros, without paying approximately 880,000 euros. For 2000, they did not indicate 52 million pesetas, without paying 120,000 euros; for 2001, they forgot to remember 985,000 euros, without paying 350,000; for 2003, they did not pay 180,000 euros to the treasury.
On May 30, 2001, the company (“Inversiones Gudimar SL”), the sole administrator of which was Petrov, bought the yacht “Sasha” (registration number 6-PM-1-01111-01) in Italy for 3.5 million euros, and in Spain indicated that the yacht was not worth even 700,000 euros, having underpaid 530,000 euros in tax.
Finally, for 2005, Petrov did not report any income, but on June 22, 2005, he allocated a plot of land as a contribution to Inmobiliare Calvia 2001 SL and received 4,156,900 shares of the company, each worth 1 euro, thus not paying more than 1 million euros taxes.
- Yuri Salikov
Salikov is accused of being an active member of the Tambov group. He created companies together with Kuzmin and Petrov, and profits from illegal activities could also flow to him.
In 2005, after a Spanish preliminary investigation (protocol No. 376/05), a sentence of 12 years in prison was demanded for Salikov. He was accused of VAT fraud amounting to over 28.5 million euros. He contacted other members of the group and asked for bail. He was released in March 2008 and, despite having his accounts frozen, enjoys a wealthy lifestyle with a high income.
Yuri Salikov and his wife Marlena Barbara Salikova live in Calvia. For 2000, the couple provided a declaration of only 12,000 euros, hiding 1,502,531 euros of income and not paying 600,000 euros. For 2002, the couple declared 41,000 euros, although in reality the income was 900,298 euros.
- Yulia Ermolenko
Accused of active participation in the community under Petrov's leadership, she had ongoing personal and professional relationships with other members of the group, which was established through telephone monitoring. Her telephone number was found in the address book of a certain “Schulish”, who was arrested in Mallorca at the request of the German authorities for bribery, threats and causing bodily harm. Ermolenko controlled bank accounts and knew about the financial flows of the community. She was the administrator of the companies that served as fronts, and together with lawyer Felix Untoria Agustin and manager Julián Jesús Angulo Pérez, she made decisions about the activities of the companies. Ermolenko is related to several episodes of the case. The point is that money received from criminal activities was transferred to the legal economy.
- Leonid Khristoforov
Member of the “Tambov” group, has constant stable connections with Petrov. Together with Petrov, they arranged the supply of cement from Russia, hiding the origin of the products. Khristoforov addresses Petrov like a subordinate to a boss. In conversations they discussed meetings with thieves in law. Although Khristoforov's legal declared income did not exceed 100,000 euros per year, he was able to purchase a boat for 400,000 euros and 1.9 million euros in real estate.
- Alexander Malyshev
Aka Alexander Lagnaz Gonzalez. Accused of the following crimes committed from 1996 to the present. Malyshev is the leader of the Malyshevskaya organized criminal group, partly associated with the Tambov gang. In 1990, the police operation “Malyshevskaya” was carried out against him. The group headed by Malyshev has a clear hierarchy. The next place in the hierarchy is occupied by Mikhail Rebo and Pavel Chelyuskin, who share business with Malyshev. Next come Eldar Mustafin, Ruslan Tarkovsky and Suren Zotov, who manage Malyshev’s assets in Russia, obey his instructions and manage the money. They are minority shareholders in some businesses and provide protection and security for Malyshev, such as Alexander Yakov, who is the head of Malyshev’s “security service.”
In Russia, at least three times they tried to bring Malyshev to justice for illegally carrying weapons and premeditated murder. In Berlin, he was arrested for false documents provided in order to obtain Estonian citizenship.
In 1996, Malyshev moved to Spain together with Olga Solovyova. He is also in contact with other accused: Sergei Kuzmin (they have common businesses), Vitaly Izgilov (telephone conversations with Malyshev were recorded. Izgilov was arrested in 2005 during Operation Ogro (Beast), Viktor Gavrilenkov (issues about Greek documents were discussed with him) , Gennady Petrov (business partners, have a common consultant on economic issues), Juan Jesus Angulo Perez, Cypriot lawyer Nikolai Egorov, Olga Solovyova (community finance).Malyshev also had telephone conversations with Ildar Mustafin, Mikhail Rebo, Nikolai Aulov, Ruslan Tarkovsky and Suren Zotov. The conversations reflected the economic ties and activities of the group.
Malyshev uses the “brothers from Tambov” (“hermanos de Tambov”) to solve problems and as a means of influence. He gives direct instructions to fund managers about what money should be open and what money should be hidden. Over the period approximately 2001-2008, the volume of money laundered amounted to more than 10 million euros.
Malyshev shares the highest place in the hierarchy with Petrov and Kuzmin; they are “authorities” and tried to stay aloof, not hold any funds and not leave signatures.
- Olga Solovyova
Partner of Alexander Malyshev, had indirect connections with other defendants. Malyshev does not have an economic education and Solovyova’s knowledge helps him manage the community’s finances. With the help of lawyers Juan Jesus Angulo Perez and Ignacio Pedro Erquijo Sierra, they laundered proceeds from criminal activities.
Collaborating with Solovyova were her mother and daughter - Tatyana Solovyova and Irina Usova, lawyer Nikolai Egorovich, who managed businesses in Cyprus, as well as a certain Armand, who represented their interests in Switzerland.
As for the connections between Malyshev, Solovyova and Petrov, for example, on July 31, 2001, a company owned by Petrov (Inmobiliaria Balear 2001 S.L.) made an imaginary transaction to sell the boat “Standing Ovations” for 100,000 euros to a company (Peresvet S.L.) , the only leader of which was Solovyova.
Accounts associated with Solovyova and Usova received money from Switzerland, Russia, Hungary, Estonia and Latvia. 970,972 euros were transferred to Boris Pevzner and sent to the company (SBZ Investments Ltd). This Cypriot company returned the money to Spain to Peresvet S. L., which invested it in real estate.
Money transferred from Cyprus was either cashed or invested. Thus, 3,100,000 euros were cashed out and 5,100,000 were invested. Cyprus SBZ Investment is the largest recipient of funds and hides Solovyova and Malysheva behind it. In reality, the money of this company returns to Spain, goes to deposits that guarantee Solovyova’s income, goes back to Cyprus and again returns to the name of another person. Thus, the inflation of the Cypriot company's capital is artificial and necessary in order to justify the presence of large funds.
- Ildar Mustafin
He is accused of participating in money laundering. Between 2001 and 2008, approximately 10 million euros were laundered. He received direct instructions from Malyshev and demonstrated obedience in telephone conversations with him. Mustafin is fully aware of the criminal structure and its leaders, although he denies knowing about it. He is associated with Mikhail Rebo, with whom he shares financial transactions, is familiar with Vitaly Izgilov, met with Petrov several times, and is also aware of the management of Cypriot companies that are part of a criminal structure.
Ildar Mustafin plays the role of a liaison between Malyshev and Russian government officials in order to use the officials' influence. Having such connections, he obtained information about government contracts, and also received advance warnings about the beginning of investigations into the group. Telephone conversations between Malyshev indicate that Mustafin, Mikhail Rebo, Suren Zotov, Ruslan Tarkovsky and Pavel Chelyuskin are involved in a common business, and that they all recognize Alexander Malyshev as the “boss”.
Regarding the group's restaurant business, Malyshev ordered Ruslan Tarkovsky that he should receive $10,000 a month from Mustafin until he paid $80,000 for the “bad” months.
German authorities confirmed that on April 12, 2008, Mustafin, Malyshev and other members of the former community gathered for the birthday of Mikhail Rebo, but in fact it was an occasion for a visit to Berlin to discuss business.
- Vitaly Izgilov
I was already in pre-trial detention in Spain once; I was arrested on suspicion of criminal activity in 2005. His participation in the current case can be traced through telephone conversations that he had with Viktor Gavrilenkov. From these conversations it can be understood that Izgilov is a “thief in law” and that he has created a new hierarchical system in which Gavrilenkov is his subordinate. From the recorded conversations, it can be understood that Izgilov is involved in money laundering, and that the money comes from illegal activities controlled by him in Russia.
When Izgilov was placed in pre-trial detention in Spain, he was promoted to the top of the criminal hierarchy.
On March 4, 2008, a conversation took place between Izgilov and an unidentified person, Arkady. Arkady said that a body was found in the forest, he used the expression “a piece of meat abandoned in the forest.” At the same time, Izgilov had a telephone conversation with another person, Vadim, who said that a tablecloth from Izgilov’s restaurant had been found next to the corpse, this could “create problems” and it all depended on the district prosecutor.
Since 2005, Izgilov has received large sums of money of unknown origin to cover his expenses in Spain. After visiting his home, investigators discovered that over the past few months he had purchased expensive cars, one of which cost at least 40,000 euros, and another, ordered in the United States, cost 115,000 euros.
On April 3, 2008, Izgilov had a conversation with an unidentified person whom he called “Koba.” He told him about the possibility of receiving a 25 percent commission on 11 million euros, which Izgilov would transfer from a Swiss bank to a Russian bank, where he would become a major shareholder. This bank is the Baltic Development Bank, the chairman of the board of directors of which is Denis Gordeev. Izgilov met with Gordeev in Puerto Banus. Malyshev was present at the meeting.
During a search in Izgilov’s house in Alicante, five cars were found: a Mercedes S-500, a Mercedes S-55, a Maserati Cuatroporte, a Ferrari 550 Maranello, and a historical rare car “Clinet” (worth 40,000 euros), as well as various jewelry, 20,000 euros and 10,000 dollars.
- Vadim Romanyuk
He is accused of being a member of a criminal community, being a subordinate of Gavrilenkov and participating in business management, as well as money laundering.
- Zhanna Gavrilenkova
She is accused of assisting a criminal structure and advising her husband Viktor Gavrilenkov, who sought to take a leading position in the criminal community, including in St. Petersburg. Her husband’s illegal income and funds allowed her to lead a wealthy lifestyle. During a search at an address in Alicante, two Jaguar cars (Jaguar S-type, Jaguar XJ8) and a Mercedes A-160 were seized.
- Leonid Khazin
Accused of being an active member of the criminal community. Owns 20 percent in a Spanish company (Inversiones Finanzas Inmuebles S.L.), in which Sergey Kuzmin owns 80 percent. Khazin is a representative of the Swiss company MYR S.A. and Spanish MYR Marbella S.L. and the sole administrator of Ayurvida S.L., registered at the same address as many of Kuzmin’s companies in Marbella - business cover structures that allow Sergei Kuzmin to be called a successful businessman.
- Svetlana Kuzmina
The wife of Sergei Kuzmin is accused of being an active member of a criminal community and knowingly taking part in money laundering. Maintains constant contacts with Alena Boyko and Gennady Petrov, as well as other representatives of the community.
Lives in Spain, is well informed about the activities of the companies and knows that they are just a cover for receiving illegal money and purchasing real estate. Svetlana Kuzmina is the administrator of several Spanish companies, as well as the director and chief accountant of Panamanian companies (Banff Investment and Kost De Inversiones).
The company (Ken Espanola De Inversiones), in which Kuzmina was the only administrator, acquired the Mercedes S-500, increasing the capital to 20,000,000 pesetas thanks to the contribution of Sergei Kuzmin, who on August 12, 1999 formalized a contribution to the company, transferring real estate to it.
The imaginary sale of company shares between 2004 and 20006 allowed the legalization of 4,463,044.7 euros (...).
The Spanish Tax Office requests the pre-trial detention of the mentioned persons without the right to release on bail and with the right to release Leonid Khazin on bail of 6,000 euros and Zhanna Gavrilenkova on bail of 100,000 euros.
The indictment was signed by investigating judge Baltasar Garzon.
(None of those listed in the indictment can be named guilty until a court verdict).
We thank Paul Lauener for his help in preparing the material.
14.07.2008 14:23
In the Spanish Supreme Court, they are mastering the unfamiliar concepts of “vor v zakone” (thief in law), “autoritievti” (authorities) and “hermanos de Tambov” (brothers from Tambov). These words appear in the indictment brought by the famous investigative judge Baltasar Garzon against twelve Russians and three local lawyers.
Those arrested are suspected not only of being leaders or accomplices of the Tambov-Malyshevskaya criminal group and laundering money. They are accused of tax evasion. This old but effective method allowed the American authorities to send the leader of the Chicago mafia, the famous Al Capone, to prison back in 1931.
According to the materials of the Spanish preliminary investigation, the arrested Russians underpaid several million euros, and the sources of their income were very vague, which allowed the justice to become interested: where did the yachts, villas, Mercedes and Jaguars come from, as well as 11 million euros, which one of the defendants tried to invest in a Russian bank?
The Spanish indictment names Alexander Malyshev, Gennady Petrov and Vitaly Izgilov as the leaders of the group. They were arrested at luxury villas in resort towns in Spain during Operation Troika, in which more than 400 Spanish police took part.
State corporations and banks
Sources close to the Spanish investigation told Novaya that, according to the case materials, Malyshev and Petrov’s plans included receiving contracts from the United Shipbuilding Corporation, recently created in Russia. This state corporation appeared last year and is still in its infancy. The initiator was First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, the board of directors was headed for some time by Sergei Naryshkin (now the head of the presidential administration), who was replaced by Igor Sechin, the deputy prime minister of the government in charge of industry and energy.
Rosprom, which, in particular, oversees the shipbuilding industry, told Novaya that they cannot yet comment on the situation, and the press service has not yet been formed at the United Shipbuilding Corporation. They explained to us that the process of changing the president of the state corporation and the corporatization of state unitary enterprises that will be part of it are currently underway.
According to the indictment, Alexander Malyshev has a common business with entrepreneur Sergei Kuzmin. Kuzmin's wife Svetlana is also accused of knowingly taking part in the activities of the community and having contact with Gennady Petrov.
Kuzmin owns 80% of the Spanish company Inversiones Finanzas Inmuebles SL, translated as “financial investment in real estate”. 20% of the company is owned by businessman Leonid Khazin, who is also involved in the criminal case.
In the resort town of Marbella, the company is located at the same address and has the same telephone number as the World of Marbella company (MYR Marbella SL). Khazin is its leader, as well as a representative of the Swiss MYR SA. The World of Marbella website says that the firm has been operating since the 1980s and is part of the World group, which unites nine companies involved in marketing, financial planning, real estate, and research and development of industrial technologies. The group claims that during its existence it has implemented investment projects in Europe worth 500 million euros. Industrial facilities, residential complexes and prestigious villas worth several million euros each are listed. In 2006, the Mir group planned to invest 70 million euros. Among the completed projects on the company's website, in particular, are listed: a health complex in the south of Spain, apartments and a restaurant in Marbella and a villa in the Sierra Blanca area.
As we managed to find out, in the early nineties, Leonid Khazin from Sverdlovsk was a co-founder of the German company Globus-Elektronik Import-Export Handels GmbH, the leader and founder of which was an emigrant from the USSR, Yakov Lipovetsky. He supplied coffee to Russia, and is now involved in nutritional supplements.
Lipovetsky told Novaya that he met Leonid Khazin and his acquaintance Alexander Kostinsky in the early nineties, because they had good connections in the state-owned Vnesheconombank (currently the state corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs) and provided expedited posting and conversion of money. Subsequently they became his partners. Since 1993, according to Lipovetsky, he has no business with Khazin and Kostinsky; the entrepreneurs left Germany. Lipovetsky is also familiar with Mikhail Rebo, who appears in the criminal case and was recently arrested in Germany at the request of Spain. Yakov Lipovetsky is perplexed about this; in his opinion, these people could hardly occupy any serious position in the criminal hierarchy, as the Spaniards report.
We managed to contact Leonid Khazin, who was in the Marbella World office. He perceives the Spanish criminal case as a misunderstanding and is confident that the authorities will sort everything out.
I've been working here for over twenty years and haven't had any problems with the law,” he says, without discussing details. When asked what connects him with the arrested, Khazin replies that he is no less interested in this than we are. Khazin refrained from explanations, citing that he continued to work and that clients were waiting for him.
One of the arrested, whom the Spaniards included in the top three leaders of the criminal community, shortly before his arrest negotiated with representatives of a Russian bank. According to the indictment, on April 3, a certain Koba told Vitaly Izgilov that he could receive a serious interest if he transferred 11 million euros from a Swiss bank to a Russian bank, where he would become a major shareholder. As stated in the Spanish document, a meeting was subsequently held in Puerto Banus, which was attended by Izgilov, Malyshev and the chairman of the board of directors of the Baltic Development Bank Denis Gordeev.
A week ago, we contacted the Baltic Development Bank and sent the bank’s representatives the text of the indictment. However, Denis Gordeev did not comment on the situation.
The Baltic Development Bank was created in 1994 in Kaliningrad. By 2000 he moved to Moscow. According to one of the bank’s former affiliates, its origins seemed to be the Korean citizen Cho, who had good contacts with representatives of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in the Kaliningrad region.
Before joining the Baltic Development Bank, Denis Gordeev was the head of a department at MDM Bank. An affiliate of the Baltic Development Bank, Sergei Medvedev, was formerly the head of the cash operations department of MDM Bank; the former chairman of the board of directors of the Baltic Development Bank, Igor Nizovtsev, was also an employee of MDM Bank. The press service of MDM Bank reported that the Baltic Development Bank has never been part of the ownership structure of MDM Bank.
Temptation by real estate
The scale of the Spanish operation is wide. Not only Russian businessmen were arrested in Marbella. The high-profile Operation Troika was preceded by a police action, which overnight brought down almost all the officials of the resort town. In 2006, the mayor of Marbella, Marisol Yague, was arrested on suspicion of corruption along with assistants, notaries, lawyers and the local police chief, and the city council was dissolved. A total of 23 people were arrested. They are accused of financial fraud, inflating prices, money laundering and abuse of official position.
It can be assumed that the Russians arrested in 2008, whom Spanish law enforcement agencies suspected for several years of the same money laundering, settled in Marbella on very fertile soil. And after Spanish justice took on its own regional civil servants, Russian cases also surfaced.
Spanish real estate has long attracted Russians. Russian officials also have an indirect relationship with it (indirect, since rarely do any high-ranking Russians register expensive property in their name). Investing in Spanish real estate was partly connected with the high-profile Russian criminal case No. 144128 of the St. Petersburg corporation “Twentieth Trust” (for more details: Novaya Gazeta No. 73 for 2005). Since 1992, St. Petersburg officials transferred budget money to the corporation in the form of loans, although the company was almost bankrupt.
From the Twentieth Trust and its subsidiaries, funds flowed to eight countries of the world, mainly to Spain and Finland. More than $1 million and 12 million Spanish pesetas went to five Spanish companies. In Spain, two apartment hotels of the La Paloma tourist complex were built in the resort town of Torrevieja. There is also a restaurant there. Villa Dona Pepa was purchased and renovated in the resort town of Rojales.
The materials of the criminal case mentioned Vladimir Putin (currently Prime Minister), Alexei Kudrin (Minister of Finance), Dmitry Pankin (Deputy Minister of Finance) and other famous persons. The case was dropped in August 2000 “for lack of evidence of a crime.”
One of the former leaders of the investigation team, Andrei Zykov, told Novaya that the investigators were under pressure; after being forced to quit, Oleg Kalinichenko, an operative of the anti-corruption department of the St. Petersburg police department, became disillusioned with his work and went to a monastery.
* Brothers from Tambov - (translation from Spanish).
Reference
Alexander Malyshev is a well-known St. Petersburg “authority” who has more than once come to the attention of law enforcement agencies in different countries. At home, he was convicted of premeditated murder in 1977 and negligent murder in 1984. In 1992 he was arrested, and by 1995 he received two and a half years for illegal possession of weapons. Released because he had already spent time in pre-trial detention. In 2002, he was detained in Germany on suspicion of forging documents to obtain Estonian citizenship. The founder of the group, named after him “Malyshevskaya”, which since 1987 was considered a competitor to the Tambov group. The leader of the Tambov gang, Vladimir Kumarin (Barsukov), was arrested in Russia in August 2007.
Gennady Petrov was the ward of Kumarin, and then Malyshev, although in Spain he continues to be associated with Kumarin. It is possible that the groups that have been at war in St. Petersburg since 1987 found a common language in Spain, where their representatives retrained as businessmen and established business ties with each other.
Vitaly Izgilov, who is credited with the nicknames Beast and Vitalik Makhachkalinsky, was already under arrest in Spain in 2005, but was released on bail. He was called a member of the “Bauman” and “Vidnov” groups. In Spain they suspect that he is a thief in law who settled in their country and took a leading position in the new criminal hierarchy.
Closing indictment
(main points)
Preliminary investigation 321/06 J.
The named individuals are known as a criminal community and are part of a criminal structure, divided into groups and units. They are accused of moving to Spain in 1996 because Spain was unaware of their activities at the time, and developing a criminal activity that allowed them to obtain substantial funds and real estate in the country. To achieve this, they used lawyers who became advisers to the criminal group.
1. Gennadios Petrov,
2. Yuri Salikov,
3. Yulia Ermolenko,
4. Leonid Khristoforov,
5. Alexander Malyshev,
6. Svetlana Kuzmina,
7. Leonid Khazin,
8. Olga Solovyova,
9. Ildar Mustafin,
10. Juan Antonio Untoria Agustin,
11. Juan Jesus Angulo Perez,
12. Ignacio Pedro de Urquijo Sierra,
13. Zhanna Gavrilenkova,
14. Vitaly Izgilov,
15. Vadim Romanyuk.
According to materials from law enforcement agencies of Russia, the European Union and the United States, the leaders of this structure are of Russian origin, they are from St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Arriving in Spain, they settled in the Costa del Sol (Malaga), the Levant and the Balearic Islands and from there, through intermediaries and subordinates, controlled illegal activities including murders, beatings, threats, smuggling, fraud, falsification of documents, "influence trading", bribery, drug trafficking.
Profits derived from criminal activities were sent to Spain thanks to the assistance of financial consultants serving this structure and becoming part of the “Tambov-Malyshevsky” community, which is characterized by a number of temporary connections between individual groups.
The community integrated into the legal economy through equity and shares in companies, as well as investments in countries such as Germany. Various individuals made investments through companies and numerous bank transactions that masked the real origin of the money from the criminal organization. To assimilate into legal economic activities, they used the creation of false companies and imaginary incomes, as well as individuals who falsified documentation.
Each of the leaders (Petrov, Malyshev, Kuzmin and Izgilov) had his own subordinates and his own area of activity.
Gennadios Petrov
Petrov is known in the criminal community as one of the “authorities” of the Tambov group, and the Russian authorities have information about him as the creator of a rigid hierarchical structure. Petrov was in a Russian pre-trial detention center at the same time as Sergei Kuzmin. To hide his Russian origin, Petrov obtained documents about his Greek origin, and Spain turned to Greece with a request to provide information about him.
Petrov is associated with Vladimir Kumarin, another leader of the Tambov group, who has been in pre-trial detention in Russia since August 22, 2007.
Petrov helped free his subordinate Yuri Mikhailovich Salikov, who was in pre-trial detention in Spain in a case of VAT (value added tax) fraud - the so-called “VAT carousel”.
Petrov created companies together with Yuri Salikov, Viktor Gavrilenkov and Sergei Kuzmin, and is also associated with Georgy and Peter Vasetsky. Submission to Petrov was unconditional; for example, Leonid Khristoforov, addressing him, called him “boss.” And one day he was asked to use his influence and prevent a murder. Petrov also took advantage of his influence and sought the removal of data from the archives of law enforcement agencies in Russia and Greece.
Constantly communicating with other members of the community, Petrov gave orders for bribes and punishments if they did not obey him.
An analysis of companies associated with Petrov showed that since 1998 they have accumulated movable and immovable property worth 30 million euros. The last acquisition was a property in Mallorca for 7 million euros. This money came from five companies in the Virgin Islands.
During the preliminary investigation, the accounts of companies containing more than 10,300,000 euros were frozen. These incomes are not verified because the firms did not conduct commercial activities.
Gennady Petrov settled in Calvia in Mallorca and was a tax resident in Spain. He is accused of major tax evasion: for 1999, Petrov and his wife did not declare income in the amount of 2,270,000 euros, without paying approximately 880,000 euros. For 2000, they did not indicate 52 million pesetas, without paying 120,000 euros; for 2001, they forgot to remember 985,000 euros, without paying 350,000; for 2003, they did not pay 180,000 euros to the treasury.
On May 30, 2001, the company (“Inversiones Gudimar SL”), the sole administrator of which was Petrov, bought the yacht “Sasha” (registration number 6-PM-1-01111-01) in Italy for 3.5 million euros, and in Spain indicated that the yacht was not worth even 700,000 euros, having underpaid 530,000 euros in tax.
Finally, for 2005, Petrov did not report any income, but on June 22, 2005, he allocated a plot of land as a contribution to Inmobiliare Calvia 2001 SL and received 4,156,900 shares of the company, each worth 1 euro, thus not paying more than 1 million euros taxes.
Yuri Salikov
Salikov is accused of being an active member of the Tambov group. He created companies together with Kuzmin and Petrov, and profits from illegal activities could also flow to him.
In 2005, after a Spanish preliminary investigation (protocol No. 376/05), a sentence of 12 years in prison was demanded for Salikov. He was accused of VAT fraud amounting to over 28.5 million euros. He contacted other members of the group and asked for bail. He was released in March 2008 and, despite having his accounts frozen, enjoys a wealthy lifestyle with a high income.
Yuri Salikov and his wife Marlena Barbara Salikova live in Calvia. For 2000, the couple provided a declaration of only 12,000 euros, hiding 1,502,531 euros of income and not paying 600,000 euros. For 2002, the couple declared 41,000 euros, although in reality the income was 900,298 euros.
Yulia Ermolenko
Accused of active participation in the community under Petrov's leadership, she had ongoing personal and professional relationships with other members of the group, which was established through telephone monitoring. Her telephone number was found in the address book of a certain “Schulish”, who was arrested in Mallorca at the request of the German authorities for bribery, threats and causing bodily harm. Ermolenko controlled bank accounts and knew about the financial flows of the community. She was the administrator of the companies that served as fronts, and together with lawyer Felix Untoria Agustin and manager Julián Jesús Angulo Pérez, she made decisions about the activities of the companies. Ermolenko is related to several episodes of the case. The point is that money received from criminal activities was transferred to the legal economy.
Leonid Khristoforov
Member of the “Tambov” group, has constant stable connections with Petrov. Together with Petrov, they arranged the supply of cement from Russia, hiding the origin of the products. Khristoforov addresses Petrov like a subordinate to a boss. In conversations they discussed meetings with thieves in law. Although Khristoforov's legal declared income did not exceed 100,000 euros per year, he was able to purchase a boat for 400,000 euros and 1.9 million euros in real estate.
Alexander Malyshev
He is also Alexander Lagnaz Gonzalez. Accused of the following crimes committed from 1996 to the present. Malyshev is the leader of the Malyshevskaya organized criminal group, partly associated with the Tambov gang. In 1990, the police operation “Malyshevskaya” was carried out against him. The group headed by Malyshev has a clear hierarchy. The next place in the hierarchy is occupied by Mikhail Rebo and Pavel Chelyuskin, who share business with Malyshev. Next come Eldar Mustafin, Ruslan Tarkovsky and Suren Zotov, who manage Malyshev’s assets in Russia, obey his instructions and manage the money. They are minority shareholders in some businesses and provide protection and security for Malyshev, such as Alexander Yakov, who is the head of Malyshev’s “security service.”
In Russia, at least three times they tried to bring Malyshev to justice for illegally carrying weapons and premeditated murder. In Berlin, he was arrested for false documents provided in order to obtain Estonian citizenship.
In 1996, Malyshev moved to Spain together with Olga Solovyova. He is also in contact with other accused: Sergei Kuzmin (they have common businesses), Vitaly Izgilov (telephone conversations with Malyshev were recorded. Izgilov was arrested in 2005 during Operation Ogro (Beast), Viktor Gavrilenkov (issues about Greek documents were discussed with him) , Gennady Petrov (business partners, have a common consultant on economic issues), Juan Jesus Angulo Perez, Cypriot lawyer Nikolai Egorov, Olga Solovyova (community finance).Malyshev also had telephone conversations with Ildar Mustafin, Mikhail Rebo, Nikolai Aulov, Ruslan Tarkovsky and Suren Zotov. The conversations reflected the economic ties and activities of the group.
Malyshev uses the “brothers from Tambov” (“hermanos de Tambov”) to solve problems and as a means of influence. He gives direct instructions to fund managers about what money should be open and what money should be hidden. Over the period approximately 2001-2008, the volume of money laundered amounted to more than 10 million euros.
Malyshev shares the highest place in the hierarchy with Petrov and Kuzmin; they are “authorities” and tried to stay aloof, not hold any funds and not leave signatures.
Olga Solovyova
Partner of Alexander Malyshev, had indirect connections with other defendants. Malyshev does not have an economic education and Solovyova’s knowledge helps him manage the community’s finances. With the help of lawyers Juan Jesus Angulo Perez and Ignacio Pedro Erquijo Sierra, they laundered proceeds from criminal activities.
Collaborating with Solovyova were her mother and daughter - Tatyana Solovyova and Irina Usova, lawyer Nikolai Egorovich, who managed businesses in Cyprus, as well as a certain Armand, who represented their interests in Switzerland.
As for the connections between Malyshev, Solovyova and Petrov, for example, on July 31, 2001, a company owned by Petrov (Inmobiliaria Balear 2001 S.L.) made an imaginary transaction to sell the boat “Standing Ovations” for 100,000 euros to a company (Peresvet S.L.) , the only leader of which was Solovyova.
Accounts associated with Solovyova and Usova received money from Switzerland, Russia, Hungary, Estonia and Latvia. 970,972 euros were transferred to Boris Pevzner and sent to the company (SBZ Investments Ltd). This Cypriot company returned the money to Spain to Peresvet S. L., which invested it in real estate.
Money transferred from Cyprus was either cashed or invested. Thus, 3,100,000 euros were cashed out and 5,100,000 were invested. Cyprus SBZ Investment is the largest recipient of funds and hides Solovyova and Malysheva behind it. In reality, the money of this company returns to Spain, goes to deposits that guarantee Solovyova’s income, goes back to Cyprus and again returns to the name of another person. Thus, the inflation of the Cypriot company's capital is artificial and necessary in order to justify the presence of large funds.
Ildar Mustafin
He is accused of participating in money laundering. Between 2001 and 2008, approximately 10 million euros were laundered. He received direct instructions from Malyshev and demonstrated obedience in telephone conversations with him. Mustafin is fully aware of the criminal structure and its leaders, although he denies knowing about it. He is associated with Mikhail Rebo, with whom he shares financial transactions, is familiar with Vitaly Izgilov, met with Petrov several times, and is also aware of the management of Cypriot companies that are part of a criminal structure.
Ildar Mustafin plays the role of a liaison between Malyshev and Russian government officials in order to use the officials' influence. Having such connections, he obtained information about government contracts, and also received advance warnings about the beginning of investigations into the group. Telephone conversations between Malyshev indicate that Mustafin, Mikhail Rebo, Suren Zotov, Ruslan Tarkovsky and Pavel Chelyuskin are involved in a common business, and that they all recognize Alexander Malyshev as the “boss”.
Regarding the group's restaurant business, Malyshev ordered Ruslan Tarkovsky that he should receive $10,000 a month from Mustafin until he paid $80,000 for the “bad” months.
German authorities confirmed that on April 12, 2008, Mustafin, Malyshev and other members of the former community gathered for the birthday of Mikhail Rebo, but in fact it was an occasion for a visit to Berlin to discuss business.
Vitaly Izgilov
I was already in pre-trial detention in Spain once; I was arrested on suspicion of criminal activity in 2005. His participation in the current case can be traced through telephone conversations that he had with Viktor Gavrilenkov. From these conversations it can be understood that Izgilov is a “thief in law” and that he has created a new hierarchical system in which Gavrilenkov is his subordinate. From the recorded conversations, it can be understood that Izgilov is involved in money laundering, and that the money comes from illegal activities controlled by him in Russia.
When Izgilov was placed in pre-trial detention in Spain, he was promoted to the top of the criminal hierarchy.
On March 4, 2008, a conversation took place between Izgilov and an unidentified person, Arkady. Arkady said that a body was found in the forest, he used the expression “a piece of meat abandoned in the forest.” At the same time, Izgilov had a telephone conversation with another person, Vadim, who said that a tablecloth from Izgilov’s restaurant had been found next to the corpse, this could “create problems” and it all depended on the district prosecutor.
Since 2005, Izgilov has received large sums of money of unknown origin to cover his expenses in Spain. After visiting his home, investigators discovered that over the past few months he had purchased expensive cars, one of which cost at least 40,000 euros, and another, ordered in the United States, cost 115,000 euros.
On April 3, 2008, Izgilov had a conversation with an unidentified person whom he called “Koba.” He told him about the possibility of receiving a 25 percent commission on 11 million euros, which Izgilov would transfer from a Swiss bank to a Russian bank, where he would become a major shareholder. This bank is the Baltic Development Bank, the chairman of the board of directors of which is Denis Gordeev. Izgilov met with Gordeev in Puerto Banus. Malyshev was present at the meeting.
During a search in Izgilov’s house in Alicante, five cars were found: a Mercedes S-500, a Mercedes S-55, a Maserati Cuatroporte, a Ferrari 550 Maranello, and a historical rare car “Clinet” (worth 40,000 euros), as well as various jewelry, 20,000 euros and 10,000 dollars.
Vadim Romanyuk
He is accused of being a member of a criminal community, being a subordinate of Gavrilenkov and participating in business management, as well as money laundering.
Zhanna Gavrilenkova
She is accused of assisting a criminal structure and advising her husband Viktor Gavrilenkov, who sought to take a leading position in the criminal community, including in St. Petersburg. Her husband’s illegal income and funds allowed her to lead a wealthy lifestyle. During a search at an address in Alicante, two Jaguar cars (Jaguar S-type, Jaguar XJ8) and a Mercedes A-160 were seized.
Leonid Khazin
Accused of being an active member of the criminal community. Owns 20 percent in a Spanish company (Inversiones Finanzas Inmuebles S.L.), in which Sergey Kuzmin owns 80 percent. Khazin is a representative of the Swiss company MYR S.A. and Spanish MYR Marbella S.L. and the sole administrator of Ayurvida S.L., registered at the same address as many of Kuzmin’s companies in Marbella - business cover structures that allow Sergei Kuzmin to be called a successful businessman.
Svetlana Kuzmina
The wife of Sergei Kuzmin is accused of being an active member of a criminal community and knowingly taking part in money laundering. Maintains constant contacts with Alena Boyko and Gennady Petrov, as well as other representatives of the community.
Lives in Spain, is well informed about the activities of the companies and knows that they are just a cover for receiving illegal money and purchasing real estate. Svetlana Kuzmina is the administrator of several Spanish companies, as well as the director and chief accountant of Panamanian companies (Banff Investment and Kost De Inversiones).
The company (Ken Espanola De Inversiones), in which Kuzmina was the only administrator, acquired the Mercedes S-500, increasing the capital to 20,000,000 pesetas thanks to the contribution of Sergei Kuzmin, who on August 12, 1999 formalized a contribution to the company, transferring real estate to it.
The imaginary sale of company shares between 2004 and 20006 allowed the legalization of 4,463,044.7 euros (...).
The Spanish Tax Office requests the pre-trial detention of the mentioned persons without the right to release on bail and with the right to release Leonid Khazin on bail of 6,000 euros and Zhanna Gavrilenkova on bail of 100,000 euros.
The indictment was signed by investigating judge Baltasar Garzon.
(None of those listed in the indictment can be named guilty until a court verdict).
Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov put on the international wanted list
Dmitry MarakulinThe National Court of Spain has put a Russian businessman with Greek citizenship on the international wanted list. Gennady Petrov, his wife and his acquaintance Leonid Khristoforov, whom Spanish authorities suspect of involvement in money laundering and membership in the Tambov criminal community. Now Gennady Petrov, according to media reports, may be in St. Petersburg. The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region is not yet ready to confirm or deny information about the search for Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov.
In the summer of 2008, Spanish law enforcement agencies carried out a large-scale Operation Troika, during which a reputable businessman was detained Alexander Malyshev and people from his close circle, including businessman Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov. This operation, led by Judge Baltasar Garzón, was presented by the Spanish authorities as the liquidation of members Tambov criminal community. Immigrants from Russia were suspected of involvement in money laundering, document falsification and tax evasion. This operation began with an audit of the activities of Gennady Petrov’s enterprises, through which, according to the Spanish police, money was laundered.
In 2010, Leonid Khristoforov and Gennady Petrov were released on bail in the amount of €300 thousand and €600 thousand, respectively. The following year, Spanish authorities gave Gennady Petrov permission to visit Russia to meet his mother. After this visit, the businessman returned. In April of this year, Gennady Petrov and his wife, as well as Leonid Khristoforov, received permission to travel to Russia for treatment. However didn't come back. According to the St. Petersburg online newspaper Fontanka.ru, Petrov and Khristoforov notified the Spanish authorities of their poor health, confirming their words with medical documents.
Three months later, the national court of Spain, as reported by the Spanish ACB, issued an international warrant for the search and arrest of Gennady Petrov, his wife and Leonid Khristoforov.
The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region told Kommersant that the local Interpol office has a number of information requests from law enforcement agencies in Spain. However, St. Petersburg police are not yet ready to say that it is Leonid Khristoforov or Gennady Petrov who are wanted. Security officials explain this by the fact that, as practice shows, people on the international wanted list often change their personal data. Therefore, it is possible that Leonid Khristoforov or Gennady Petrov may appear in the requests of the Spanish authorities, but under different names.
Lawyer Sergei Afanasyev, representing the interests of a reputable businessman Vladimir Barsukov (Kumarin), whom Russian law enforcement agencies consider the organizer and leader of the Tambov criminal community, told Kommersant that businessman Gennady Petrov is not involved in any criminal case related to his client. “It’s not the first time for Spanish justice to come up with different stories, just as it’s not the first time to arrest someone and then release them,” this is how the lawyer commented on the Spanish media’s version of Gennady Petrov’s membership in the Tambov organized crime group.
In Russia, Gennady Petrov became widely known only after Operation Troika, when European media began writing about the Russian mafia. Leonid Khristoforov gained fame back in the early 2000s during the trial of murder of State Duma deputy Galina Starovoytova. He testified against the group Yuri Kolchin, convicted by the St. Petersburg City Court for the technical organization of a crime. Leonid Khristoforov told how he sold one of the members of Yuri Kolchin’s group the Agram submachine gun, which was used to kill Galina Starovoitova.
