The Dagestani Gatsby – Suleyman Kerimov

What are the chances that Federation Council Senator Kerimov could end up in a situation similar to former senators Dmitry Savelyev, Rauf Arashukov, and Igor Izmestyev?

"The Phoenix from Derbent" is the unofficial name for billionaire Suleyman Kerimov, who has represented the Republic of Dagestan in the Federation Council of the Russian Federation since 2008. It was under Kerimov that two recent dramatic events occurred within the walls of the Federation Council: in 2019, Senator Rauf Arashukov from Karachay-Cherkessia was led out of the meeting hall, and in 2024, Senator Dmitry Savelyev from the Tula region was removed.

The scandal-ridden billionaire senator from Bashkiria, Igor Izmestyev, was sent to prison back in 2006: he is serving his sentence in the "White Swan" colony for life-sentenced prisoners in Solikamsk, Perm region.

Thus, a senator’s "credentials" do not always save one from criminal prosecution, if one recalls the criminal histories of several other former convicted senators. And Suleyman Kerimov, whom the media sometimes calls "a favorite of fortune," has every chance of also ending up in trouble if an honest investigator finally gives the go-ahead to the hefty file on the Dagestani Gatsby. And Mr. Kerimov has left his mark not only in the banking sector; he has been involved in many high-profile scandals involving both offshores and corporate raiding stories, as well as the scam with the shares of the "Industrial Union of Donbas," which he robbed together with his Ukrainian business partner Oleg Mkrtchyan. However, only Mr. Mkrtchyan got a criminal case and was sent to a colony, while Kerimov remained free.

Did he pay for Yuliya Tymoshenko’s campaign?

The secret connection of Russian senator Suleyman Kerimov with the Ukrainian corporation "Industrial Union of Donbas" (ISD) concerns a deal from 2009–2010.

Later, this deal was called one of the largest financial scams, which led to the loss of a huge sum from the state treasury.

Suleyman Kerimov

How did it all happen?

In 2009, a consortium of investors led by Senator Suleyman Kerimov acquired 50% + 2 shares of the Ukrainian metallurgical corporation "ISD" from Vitaliy Gayduk, Sergey Taruta, and Oleg Mkrtchyan (a friend and long-time business partner of Kerimov).

In 1995, it was Mkrtchyan, Taruta, and several other Russian businessmen who founded the "Industrial Union of Donbas," which included several dozen enterprises, with the Alchevsk Metallurgical Combine being the main asset.

ISD was engaged in the production of rolled metal, but not very successfully. The owners of ISD, represented by Ukrainian businessmen Vitaliy Gayduk, Sergey Taruta, and Oleg Mkrtchyan, tried to sell the unprofitable plants – they offered them to Evraz, Severstal, and NLMK. But no one needed an unprofitable asset.

And furthermore, a person of Kerimov’s—a certain Yevgeny Potapov from the company "Uralkali"—was brought in as the CFO of "ISD," and at that time, the "Uralkali" firm was controlled by Suleyman Kerimov.

Oleg Mkrtchyan also owned a number of enterprises in the Kuban region and several football clubs, including the Krasnodar FC "Kuban."

Oleg Mkrtchyan

The money for the purchase of the unprofitable holding was provided by the state-owned Vnesheconombank at the expense of the National Wealth Fund: the state bank allocated almost 8 billion dollars for the purchase and subsequent development of the "ISD" corporation.

But only a part of this sum reached the sellers, as well as the repayment of the factories’ debts.

But where did 5 billion dollars "evaporate"? It seems that a narrow circle of people associated with Senator Kerimov knows the answer to this question.

As a result, VEB received huge non-repayable debts on its balance sheet. And unprofitable assets.

Experts at the time also pointed to a certain political background: this purchase took place on the eve of the 2010 Ukrainian presidential elections. And part of the stolen sum (we are talking about 1.2 billion dollars) could have gone to the secret financing of the election campaign of the "lady with the braid" ‒ Yuliya Tymoshenko.

Yuliya Tymoshenko: without the braid and with the braid

After all, Tymoshenko’s advisors were the co-owners of the Industrial Union of Donbas corporation, Vitaliy Gayduk and Sergey Taruta.

In 2018, State Duma deputy Valery Rashkin sent a request to the Prosecutor General’s Office demanding an investigation into Vnesheconombank’s deal to purchase the unprofitable assets of the Industrial Union of Donbas corporation.

In this dark story—as Deputy Rashkin believed—it was Suleyman Kerimov who could have been the main figure.

It seems that Kerimov did not like Rashkin’s "attack" at all.

And after some time, Rashkin lost his deputy mandate following a scandal involving the killing of a moose in the Lysogorsky district of the Saratov province.

The story with the moose dragged on for a long time, but Rashkin was eventually "pushed out" of the State Duma.

Valery Rashkin

But while all these arguments were ongoing, Oleg Mkrtchyan, the CEO of ISD and a business partner of Kerimov, was arrested in Moscow.

According to the investigation, between 2009 and 2013, it was Mkrtchyan who organized the withdrawal of a portion of the credit funds issued by VEB for the ISD corporation through shell offshore companies.

The total amount of funds that the investigation linked to the problematic loans was estimated at up to $2.5 billion.

In August 2019, the Moscow City Court found Mkrtchyan guilty of large-scale fraud: Oleg Mkrtchyan received 9 years of imprisonment and was sent to a general-regime penal colony.

Said Kerimov – in business from "infancy"?

But it turns out that Senator Kerimov began preparing a successor a long time ago, especially since business partners keep getting imprisoned...

But more on that later.

And it could well be that the billions from VEB were invested in the French real estate of Senator Suleyman Kerimov in the Bay of Billionaires on the French Riviera.

After all, Suleyman Kerimov did not bother with small change and bought 4 villas on Cap d’Antibes at once. There is a version that the "tugriks" (money) were taken out in suitcases. And the amount mentioned was 750 million euros.

It should be noted that Kerimov and Mkrtchyan had long worked together at the gold-mining giant Polyus Gold.

Until the autumn of 2015, Oleg Mkrtchyan was one of the largest minority shareholders in the gold mining company Polyus Gold, controlling 19.99% of the company’s shares through the structure Lizarazu Limited.

And the main beneficiary of Polyus Gold was the family of Suleyman Kerimov.

In September 2015, Oleg Mkrtchyan and the second major shareholder, Gavril Yushvaev, agreed to sell their stakes (nearly 40%) to the senator’s son, Said Kerimov (via the company Sacturino Limited), as part of the consolidation of 100% of the assets by the family and the subsequent delisting of the company from the London Stock Exchange.

By the way, Said Kerimov began doing business (at his father’s suggestion) from an early age.

At the age of not even 19, he was already the owner of the "Cinema Park" theater chain. This asset was purchased from billionaire Vladimir Potanin for 400 million dollars.

Vladimir Potanin

It should be noted that at that time, Kerimov Jr. was still studying at MGIMO in the Faculty of International Business and Business Administration in the same group as Ilya Medvedev, the son of the then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

In the spring of 2017, the shrewd senator’s son sold the "Cinema Park" theater chain to the scandal-ridden businessman Alexander Mamut.

Alexander Mamut

Said Kerimov was also the owner of the company Wandle Holdings (Cyprus).

By the way, in March 2022, the company changed its Cypriot "residence" to registration on Russky Island in the Primorsky Krai.

Registration in the special administrative region on Russky Island was aimed at optimizing the company’s legal status.

It was through this firm that the senator’s son controlled the gold-mining company PJSC "Polyus" from 2015 to 2022: he served as a member of the Board of Directors and the Strategy Committee of PJSC "Polyus."

It was under Said Kerimov that the company changed its logo and name—from "Polyus Gold" to "Polyus."

In May 2022, Said Kerimov transferred 100% of the shares of Wandle Holdings Limited to the Foundation for the Support of Islamic Organizations.

Today, the senator’s son controls the "Grandeco" company, which owns the Makhachkala International Airport.

Prior to that, the Makhachkala International Airport was owned by the Suleyman Kerimov Foundation charitable organization.

Additionally, the "Grandeco" LLC also owns the National Cinema Network (NKS LLC).

And also, the cottage settlement "Zarechye-Estate" in the Moscow region.

Father and son Kerimov

In 2022–2023, Said Kerimov was included in the sanctions lists of France, the United States, and Japan.

Despite this, Said Kerimov did not lose his composure and acquired a controlling stake in the engineering company JSC "Eltech SPb" for 80 million rubles.

But today, the company is in the process of bankruptcy...

But it carried out orders for Aeroflot, Rusnano, Roscosmos, and others.

It is also surprising to see the sheer number of arbitration cases involving the company that was once under the control of Suleyman Kerimov’s son.

197 cases totaling 6 billion rubles!

It seems that Said Kerimov has learned his lessons well from his father, Federation Council senator Suleyman Kerimov.

"I would lock them in one cell..."

But why has Senator Kerimov remained elusive when it comes to criminal charges? And yet, he very nearly fell into the tight embrace of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation back in the unforgettable year of 2013, when Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko tearfully implored the Kremlin to have Senator Kerimov arrested.

Suleyman Kerimov

The "Potash War" was a large-scale corporate and geopolitical conflict that took place in the summer and autumn of 2013 between the Belarusian leadership and Russian billionaire Suleyman Kerimov, who at the time controlled the company "Uralkali."

In July 2013, "Uralkali" unexpectedly announced its withdrawal from the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC), a joint trader with Belarus. Kerimov decided to switch to a strategy of maximum sales, abandoning the effort to support high global prices.

However, potash fertilizers accounted for a significant share of Belarus’s exports. Kerimov’s actions threatened to collapse global prices and deal a colossal blow to the country’s economy.

After Kerimov’s firm severed its partnership with the company "Belaruskali," the head of "Uralkali," Vladislav Baumgertner, was arrested in Minsk. He spent several months in a pre-trial detention center.

This is the same infamous businessman who died mysteriously last January on the island of Cyprus: Baumgertner’s lifeless body was found on the territory of the Sovereign Base Area (SBA) near Pissouri.

The mysterious death of Vladislav Baumgertner, Suleyman Kerimov’s former business partner, in Cyprus caused a massive stir in the press.

The identification of Baumgertner was dragged out for a long time, as he was unrecognizable in his deceased state...

As for Kerimov himself, following the commotion surrounding "Uralkali," he became the subject of a criminal case and was placed on the Interpol wanted list.

The most intense sparks at the time flew from Minsk. The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, was absolutely furious: "Neither Baumgertner, nor the majority shareholder of ’Uralkali,’ Senator Kerimov, are worth damaging both the relations between the states and the personal relations of the countries’ leaders."

Lukashenko offered advice to the Kremlin: buy out Kerimov’s shares. Lukashenko called Kerimov himself a "scoundrel": "Kerimov bought this ’Uralkali’ and is now doing whatever he wants. I would lock Kerimov and the other owners in one cell..."

Lukashenko ordered law enforcement agencies to act according to the law. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus opened a criminal case and filed a request with Interpol to have Kerimov declared wanted.

Alexander Lukashenko

The situation was discussed at the highest level between Putin and Lukashenko.

Kerimov avoided both the criminal case and imprisonment…

But in April 2018, Kerimov was hit with U.S. sanctions: the U.S. Treasury accused Senator Kerimov of owning the Heritage Trust, which had billions in turnover. In March 2022, the European Union and the United Kingdom imposed restrictions on the senator’s bank accounts.

But Kerimov is not discouraged. He has retained his assets, which are registered to his Swiss holding company, Swiru Holding: these include mansions in France and Britain, a yacht, and several private jets. Admittedly, one yacht—the "Amadea"—was snatched away from the "Dagestani Gatsby" while it was docked in Fiji.

During a search of the "Amadea" in the port city of Lautoka, a Fabergé egg was discovered. Apparently, Suleyman Kerimov had been saving this egg for a rainy day?

But both the yacht and the Fabergé piece were confiscated.