Billions in schemes and a killer for Andrey Burlakov: Igor and Vitaly Yusufov’s shadow stakes in offshore crimes

«Igor Yusufov and his son Vitaly, who have already become controversial figures, continue to seize the most profitable objects», — journalists wrote earlier, whose materials were received by the editorial office.

Igor Yusufov — a bureaucratic demiurge of the Yeltsin and Medvedev eras, and his son — Vitaly, moved to the West and became laden with passports and incomes. Now almost nothing frightens them. Strangely enough, in the fight against corruption, a tireless ally can be considered the NACP, where sanctions have been imposed against them.

Our readers are asking to continue investigating the activities of the Yusufov family and associated individuals.

The media were reporting that Igor Yusufov and Vitaly Yusufov were «continuing to carve up Moscow like a Prague cake»

One of the pieces of the freshly baked cake at an auction went to structures closely associated with the notoriously infamous businessman Vitaly Yusufov, the son of the equally notorious former Russian Energy Minister Igor Yusufov.

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It’s about a land plot of 1.36 hectares and a dozen buildings with a total area of almost 8,000 square meters near Red Square and the Kremlin. The winner at the auction was the LLC "Citizen". The owner of the LLC is a certain Aleksandr Leonov, a business partner of Vitaly Yusufov. Another curious detail: with a starting bid of 1.25 billion rubles, the buyer intended to pay a «mere trifle» — 2.37 billion rubles.

It’s amazing in connection with this new mega-project: both Igor Yusufov and Vitaly Yusufov in law enforcement agencies — are long-known figures, folders with compromising material on the Yusufovs weigh unseemly much. But why are these businessmen still at large and taking the most expensive «lots»? A correspondent reports on this, who tried to peek into the «dark corners» of the Yusufovs.

Igor Yusufov — the inventor of ruinous barter

The name of the retired Energy Minister Igor Yusufov immediately comes to mind if we talk about a scandalous deal not so distant in the past: when rare-earth metals were exchanged for baby food. The prosecutor’s check then accused several officials of transferring 14.5 million dollars from the budget to Swiss accounts for baby food, while purchases of infant formula, cereals, and juices amounted to only 1.7 million dollars. But the investigation was eventually trampled down.

Later, baby food was replaced by other goods, including, weapons.

The convoluted business paths of Mr. Igor Yusufov were extensively covered in one of the publications by Forbes magazine.

«Igor Yusufov could then kick open the door to a high office in the Kremlin, » shared with envy former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov.

And the main springboard — the rise of Igor Yusufov and Vitaly Yusufov took place when Dmitry Medvedev was the President of the Russian Federation. It was Medvedev who opened the most coveted door to the father and son Yusufovs into some dark labyrinths, the one that neither investigators, nor prosecutors, nor auditors dare to knock on.

11 suitcases of Rutskoy’s compromising evidence

But before meeting and closely interacting with Medvedev, Igor Yusufov had time to work side by side with Boris Yeltsin and retired General Rutskoy. And this occurred through the "Revival" Fund. Recall that this curious fund was initially headed by Boris Yeltsin himself, and after Yeltsin was elected President of the Russian Federation, the fund went under the leadership of Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoy. This Fund was exempt from customs duties and income tax (recall that in 1995 Yusufov tried to obtain a deputy mandate from the State Duma from Aleksandr Rutskoy’s electoral bloc with the pompous name "Derzhava").

It was supposed to earn money on export-import operations. The money in this Fund was nuclear hot. And then a scandal broke out when Vice President Rutskoy, having quarreled with Boris Yeltsin, promised to reveal eleven suitcases of compromising evidence on government members. However, Rutskoy himself could have had a scratched-up face: the hot-headed general was suspected of opening bank accounts in Switzerland. The Fund was also accused of currency embezzlement.

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And all this happened not without the participation of the Yusufov family. Igor’s older brother, Gennady Yusufov, through the "Revival" fund, became a stockbroker. Igor Yusufov himself, by Yeltsin’s personal order – since he supposedly competently advised Yeltsin on the work of the "Revival" Fund, became Deputy Chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Economic Interests of Russia. Later, the committee was disbanded, and employees relocated to the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations (MFER). Igor Yusufov became Deputy Minister.

35 criminal cases against Igor Yusufov and Vitaly Yusufov

Recall that the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations then supervised and the arms trade. But many countries paid for arms shipments with barter: China supplied electronics and fur coats to Russia, Malaysia — palm oil.

In 1993, a proposal to create a monopoly company "Rosvooruzhenie" was made to Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. For the implementation of barter goods, Rosvooruzhenie established a subsidiary "Rosvooruzhenie Trading" (RVT).

Igor Yusufov supervised not only the signing of contracts for the supply of barter goods but also customs clearance and currency transactions. Over three years, the total turnover reached $4 billion!

The company’s commission fees ranged from 2-3%. And RVT’s profit for three years amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars. With the support of Igor Yusufov, many foreign trade organizations became RVT shareholders. Igor Yusufov also had his little packet. Over three years, he amassed a huge fortune.

But in 1996, RVT was liquidated. And Viktor Chernomyrdin suggested Yusufov return to the civil service.

Chernomyrdin appointed him Deputy Minister of Industry. But a year later, Yusufov moved to a more lucrative position. That lucrative position became the State Committee for Reserves (later the Federal Agency for State Reserves, Rosrezerv), and its numerous «chests»: strategic reserves of the homeland in case of war and natural disasters. It’s not only grain, canned meat, flour, but also oil, coal, and also panel assembly houses and other. "Miracles" with these storages were indescribable.

State Duma deputy Boris Reznik, a member of the Commission for Combating Corruption, reported at State Duma meetings that a system of "their own" was created in Rosrezerv, to whom goods were given away for pennies, but for huge kickbacks.

These goods were sold at exorbitant market prices. This was before Igor Yusufov’s arrival. But under Igor Yusufov, allegedly, operations took an unprecedented scale. However, deputies of the State Duma failed to achieve a large-scale investigation of Rosrezerv’s activities.

Criminal cases were opened against Igor Yusufov and easily closed. A total of 35 criminal cases were initiated by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office following a parliamentary inquiry. But mostly scapegoats suffered. This was reported by the portal "Chel.pro".

Igor Yusufov remained untouched in this story.

Murder in the restaurant «Khutorok»: Igor Yusufov and Andrey Burlakov

In 2001, Igor Yusufov took the chair of the Minister of Energy. And became a member of the board of directors of Gazprom. It was then that Yusufov met the chairman of the board of directors of Gazprom, Dmitry Medvedev. But warmer relations between them arose when they found out that Igor Yusufov’s younger son — Maksim Yusufov — was a classmate of Dmitry Medvedev’s son at the Moscow Economic School.

A few years later, from the minister’s chair, Yusufov moved to Staraya Square: he received a new position, becoming the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for international energy cooperation. Soon, an SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) officer, an old acquaintance of Yusufov, Aleksey Korotaev, brought with him Andrey Burlakov, deputy director of the state Financial Leasing Company (FLC). Brought for a serious conversation.

Burlakov’s company was engaged in leasing aircraft and also created a shipbuilding group. Shortly before visiting Yusufov, Burlakov learned from one of the group’s employees, a manager of a Swedish shipping company, that the Norwegian company Aker Yards was selling some assets, including German shipyards. Burlakov started looking for money to buy out the assets. The selling company «PriceWaterhouseCoopers» estimated the assets at 250 million euros. Burlakov had only 50 million euros in reserve.

The old fox Igor Yusufov immediately realized the attractiveness of Burlakov’s offer. He quickly arranged a 200 million euro loan with the Swiss bank Credit Suisse. But the main owner of the shipyards became the Luxembourg company FLC West. 75% of this firm belonged to the British Virgin Islands offshore Templestowe. This Templestowe transferred the first payment of 80 million euros, and Burlakov signed the purchase documents. Six months later, Igor Yusufov opened the Moscow office of the German shipyards. The company was called Wadan Yards.

But in the fall of 2008, the global financial crisis hit. As a result, Wadan Yards came under the control of German municipal authorities. And Igor Yusufov’s son, Vitaly Yusufov, became the official owner of the shipyards for 40 million euros. He claimed that he won the competition for the shipyards because he promised to keep 1,200 jobs and return more than 370 million euros in credits. The calendar showed 2009.

But then strange things began to happen with Andrey Burlakov and his wife, financial vice-president Anna Etkina.

They were charged with developing a scheme for exporting FLC money to controlled firms. And arrested, sent to Butyrka. But just a few months later, the couple was released on bail. After being released, Andrey Burlakov decided to give an interview to the press. A meeting was scheduled in the «Khutorskaya» restaurant on Leningradsky Prospekt. But the interview did not happen: shooting started in the restaurant. The killer shot Burlakov point blank. Anna Etkina was severely wounded. The journalist invited to the meeting was only frightened. Burlakov was buried.

Etkina emigrated to Israel. By the murder of Burlakov, both father and son Yusufovs were witnesses.

The confession of «Bloody Jacko» and Vitaly Yusufov

Four years passed. In January 2015, Aslan Gagiyev was detained in Vienna, known as Bloody Jacko. He was one of Russia’s most wanted gangsters. The Jacko gang was responsible for more than 60 murders! During the investigation, it was revealed that a member of the Jacko gang killed Andrey Burlakov in September 2011.

By the way, Aslan Gagiyev himself told investigators that he owned 25% of the German shipyards’ shares. And he was not the only bandit who owned a share in the business. Could Igor Yusufov have acted in the interests of criminal authorities? How did Bloody Jacko end up owning 25% of the German shipyards’ shares?

Gagiyev’s gang was not just a ruthless killing machine. They prepared for their bloody operations long and thoroughly, as most businessmen they attempted on had their own offshore accounts in «quiet harbors». And how to seize offshore money? That is why the Jacko gang had not only hardened thugs but also quite peaceful computer specialists, economists, and lawyers.

And as investigators discovered, Andrey Burlakov, who was shot dead in the Moscow eatery «Khutorok», was also part of the Jacko gang as an economist knowledgeable in financial operations. Then Russian investigators were unexpectedly helped by the Spanish police, who concluded from wiretap evidence that it was the notorious Russian crime lord Gennady Petrov who was bankrupting the German shipyards.

This was reported to The Insider portal by the prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organised Crime, Jose Grinda:

We have recordings of Petrov’s conversations with several individuals indicating that Petrov was the owner of part of the shares in the FLC. And there was a conspiracy between Petrov and the director of the Federal Leasing Company Nail Malyutin. They made a profit by speculating in stocks and then funneled this profit, transferring FLC money to the Luxembourg company.

Only one company figures in the investigation — FLC West of Luxembourg. It supposedly belongs to the Yusufov family. It turns out that they could well have participated in the «splitting of money» with criminal authority Petrov? Nail Malyutin was extradited to Russia from Austria in 2016. And Aslan Gagiyev has been awaiting extradition since 2015. Why so long? Apparently, someone does not really want Jacko to testify at home. And one of these people might be Igor Yusufov. This was reported by the «Ensita.net» portal.

Recall that the German shipyards planned to sell to the state. But they went to the leaders of Russian criminal organized crime groups.

The shipyards were supposed to be sold for 249 million to the Luxembourg company FLC West, 50% of which belonged to the FLC. But the state’s participation was the main condition for the sale.

The FLC Board of Directors included representatives of the Presidential Administration, Ministry of Finance, Transport, Federal Agencies for Industry and Federal Property Management. However, no one was going to give the shipyards to the state.

Just a few days after negotiations with the Norwegians, Andrey Burlakov bought 49% of FLC West. And transferred them to the Blackstead Holdings Limited offshore (Cyprus). The other half of FLC West was owned by a Cypriot company Almiar Investments Limited, most likely controlled by friendly FLC structures. Here, too, a curious detail: even before signing the agreement with the Norwegians, Almiar gave its 50% FLC West, which is registered on the British Virgin Islands Templestowe Trading Corp. This company is also allegedly under the control of Igor and Vitaly Yusufov. As a result of all these operations, the FLC had 1% left. The state received a pentagon with a hole in it!

Anna Etkina’s Confessions

As it turned out, shortly before the attempt on her life, Anna Etkina informed law enforcement agencies that in July 2008, an agreement was concluded on the acquisition by FLC-West Holding (Luxembourg) of 70% of the shares of the Norwegian company Aker Yards (later renamed Wadan Yards Group — Wygas), which owns two shipyards in Germany and one in Ukraine. The deal amount was 291.6 million euros! Anna Etkina and Andrey Burlakov claimed that the deal was financed from two sources.

Firstly, in the form of a loan under loan agreements from OJSC Financial Leasing Company (FLC), of which Burlakov was the deputy general director. 200 million euros were allocated by Tamplestowe, represented by Igor Yusufov. As a result, according to Etkina, Tamplestowe, controlled by the Yusufovs at 74%, the Cypriot offshore companies Blakstead (25%), and FLC (1%) were the owners of FLC-West at the time of buying the shipyards. Anna Etkina told security officials that Yusufov Sr. allegedly asked not to publicize his participation in the project. And also — to introduce his representative into the Board of Directors. And what is also very important — to coordinate each step with his son, Vitaly Yusufov.

According to Anna Etkina, there was an argument between Vitaly Yusufov and Burlakov.

It was after this quarrel that the criminal case against Burlakov and Etkina surfaced. But soon Andrey Burlakov was released. He allegedly began to seek the arrest of Yusufov’s shares. And then was shot dead by a killer in a restaurant. It seems all the puzzles fell into place?

Igor Yusufov is personally guilty of the accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Station

Note that Igor Yusufov left the civil service in 2011. The post of special representative was abolished. More brushwood was added to the fire by Rostekhnadzor, which, some time after the tragedy at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Station, which claimed the lives of 75 people, named the culprits. The list of six names included the former Russian Minister of Energy Igor Yusufov. It remains to ask one single question: when will the law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation pay attention to the business of the father and son Yusufovs? When will investigators be able to peek into the large «dark chest» of the Yusufovs, in which, without a doubt, they will find a lot of interesting things for themselves»? End of the quote from the publication «Yusufovs’ Criminal Chest».