Russia Seeks To Seize Power Assets Belonging To One Of Nation's Richest Individuals

By RFE/RL's Russian Service August 20, 2023

Russia's Prosecutor General has filed a lawsuit to confiscate a power asset belonging to one of the country's richest men, claiming his purchase of the company five years ago was corrupt, local media reported.

The Prosecutor General is seeking to nationalize Siberian Energy Company (SIBECO) from Andrei Melnichenko, an energy and fertilizer tycoon whom Forbes named Russia's richest man, media reported.

Melnichenko in 2018 bought SIBECO, which owns thermal power plants in Siberia, for 36 billion rubles ($571 million at the time) from former minister Mikhail Abyzov. The prosecutor general called the transaction "antisocial."

Abyzov, who worked as a minister from 2012 to 2018 following a lucrative career in the power industry, was arrested in 2019 on charges of embezzling 4 billion rubles from SIBECO and moving the money offshore. He denies the charges and remains jailed as his trial continues.

Abyzov and Melnichenko, both natives of Belarus, briefly studied together in Moscow in the 1990s and later became influential players in Russia's newly privatized power industry.

Melnichenko snapped up thermal coal assets and power plants, creating a vertically integrated company. The purchase of SIBECO, which owns coal-fired plants, expanded his energy empire.

Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the state confiscation of power assets still owned by Abyzov.

Abyzov served as Minister of Open Government under then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Abyzov was seen as close to his former boss and his arrest in 2019 was interpreted as an indirect attack on Medvedev and a sign of his weakening stature within the ruling elite.

It is unclear what prompted the Russian Prosecutor General to seek to seize SIBECO now. The case is the latest in a series of confiscation attempts filed this year.

Melnichenko catapulted to the top of Forbes's list of richest Russian this year for the first time, edging out metals and oil tycoons on the back of the strength of his fertilizer empire.

Melnichenko is among the Russian tycoons sanctioned by the West.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-power-assets- siberian-energy-company-melnichenko/32556157.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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