Mikhail Fridman
Russian sanctioned oligarch Mikhail Fridman is trying to avoid losing assets in Ukraine. Consequently, he tried to resort to fraud, because of which the court seized his assets.
This time, the corporate rights of enterprises that are one of the largest producers of mineral water in Ukraine on a total amount of more than 53.4 million hryvnia. These are securities and cash that are part of the authorized capital of enterprises whose beneficial owner is a Russian oligarch.
Neither the Office of the Prosecutor General nor the Bureau of Economic Security released the name of the Russian oligarch whose assets were seized. According to Economic Truth, this is Mikhail Fridman, a Russian oligarch who is under US, European Union and UK sanctions.
Mikhail Fridman, although born in Lvov, went to Russia in Soviet times. There he managed to start his own business. Fridman is the founder and main shareholder of Letter One and Alfa Group, which owns Russia's largest private bank, Alfa-Bank. At the same time, LetterOne includes the Dutch company Veon, which is a shareholder of the Kyivstar mobile operator. Back in 2021, his fortune was estimated at $15.5 billion. Now Forbes estimates his assets at $11.8 billion.
In Ukraine, Fridman, among other things, owns IDS Group Ukraine with partners German Khan and Petr Aven. In Ukraine, it is engaged in the production of popular brands of mineral water “Morshinska” and “Mirgorodska”. Also, this company is a subsidiary of IDS Borjomi International and is the exclusive importer of Borjomi water to Ukraine.
“According to the investigation, Russian businessmen tried to avoid possible sanctions and seizure of property rights provided for by Ukrainian legislation. In particular, under fictitious agreements, they planned to withdraw assets located on the territory of Ukraine from their property,” the Bureau of Economic Security reported.
Thus, an attempt to withdraw assets from the property of the Russian oligarch was prevented.
According to open data from one of the consulting agencies, the estimated market value of the brand in 2021 amounted to more than 10 billion hryvnias in equivalent.
Friedman under sanctions
This is not the first time that assets owned by oligarch Mikhail Fridman have been seized in Ukraine.
At the end of April, the court made a decision to seize assets in the amount of almost UAH 470 million on accounts in Alfa-Bank. These are the funds that remained from the amount of 1.1 billion hryvnia. Mikhail Fridman and his partners tried to legalize them and withdraw them from Ukraine through Cypriot companies. They did this after the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine. They managed to withdraw part of the funds.
Subsequently, in May, Mikhail Fridman's assets in Alfa-Bank were seized in the amount of more than 12.4 billion hryvnias. These are securities of Cypriot companies affiliated with the businessman, which were in bank accounts. It was these companies that helped Fridman legalize 1.1 billion hryvnias.
At the same time, since the imposition of sanctions on him, Fridman has constantly complained about how bad his life is. And he declares that he does not influence the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and the decisions he makes.
At the same time, the head of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, Alexander Novikov, said that Fridman had already consulted with the Ukrainian authorities on obtaining citizenship . Alfa Group denies this information.
