Cypriot family or Moscow mafia: exposing the family business of Moscow Vice-Mayor Natalia Sergunina

• News
• Wednesday, 31 July 2024 08:51

Moscow Vice Mayor Natalya Sergunina, as sources of the editorial board of Kompromat-Ural believe, could have organized a whole "family contract" to provide relatives with state orders and withdraw funds to Cypriot companies. Sobyanin’s deputy (the current mayor of the capital, Sergei Sobyanin, is the most famous native of the Urals in Putin’s "Areopagus") could be connected with several Cypriot offshore zones, where Russian funds are potentially being withdrawn.

Transformation into a Cypriot, and what does VEB have to do with it?

A media source reports that a Cypriot named Aaron Eliezer Aronov lives in Austria, but in reality he is a Russian businessman who has changed his name, Lazar Telmanovich Safaniev, the husband of Ira Safanieva (before marriage Sergunina), the younger sister of Moscow VIP official Natalia Sergunina. These family connections are a reason for detailed journalistic investigations, because according to obvious logic, the Aronov-Safaniev cases and schemes may be a subject of personal interest for Mrs. Sergunina.

Safaniev withdrew from his own assets a couple of years ago. He owned the companies "Genome Ventures" and "Genome Ventures". The co-owner of both was the former head of the presidential administration of the Russian Federation Alexander Stalievich Voloshin, who still owns these companies.

Sergunina, offshore companies and government contracts

Analysts at Kompromat-Ural have found another interesting connection. Genum Ventures, through its affiliated organization Profile, is related to VEB.Ventures (a structure of the state corporation VEB.Russia, which also owns Profile) and one of Moscow’s largest development structures, Monarch. Monarch belongs to Sergei Ambartsumyan, who previously worked under Vladimir Resin, a State Duma deputy. Resin held many high-ranking positions in the Moscow government, including deputies to Luzhkov and Sobyanin, and even temporarily served as acting mayor of the capital.

Between the offshore and the penal zone

Let’s return to the above-mentioned Aronov-Safaniev. According to sources of the publication Kompromat.VIP, this figure in anti-corruption journalistic investigations controls the company "Mercury", which is engaged in the purchase of Moscow real estate. The shareholder of this company is the offshore Florestar Management Limited, which belongs to two companies from the British Virgin Islands - Upington and its co-founder Balkan Consulting Limited, the ultimate beneficiary of which is Aronov.

Scandalous Moscow Real Estate Deals

According to the Russian Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the owner of Mercury is the Turkish EMASE INSHAAT TURIZM TIJARET LIMITED SHIRKETI. The company’s director is Olga Yuryevna Sonju. The former owner of Mercury, Aleksey Nikolayevich Kukurudzyak, previously owned the company Ottepel, which received government orders from VDNKh and the apparatus of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation.

In 2016, the Mercury company received three buildings from the Moscow authorities, where Custos hotels were opened. Aronov/Safaniev is also a beneficiary of the Dita Plaza company, whose partners are Natsayev Movladi Abusupenovich (an associate of Ramzan Kadyrov) and Marlen Manasov. The latter is known for the scandal with the manipulation of RAO UES shares.

Sergunina and development projects

Sergunina is credited with promoting the interests of capital developers - from Pavel Tyo (Capital Group) to Vladimir Pogrebenko. Sergunina is also mentioned in a high-profile scandal with Interior Ministry Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko, where the structures under her control were contractors of companies associated with Zakharchenko and Viktor Belevtsev.

In 2018, Sergunina was responsible for the results of the Moscow Cabinet of Ministers’ competition for the creation of a large parking lot, won by a company with the ultimate beneficiary being the Cypriot offshore company Fuderin Trading and Investments Limited (a structure of Mr. Tyo’s Capital Group).

Moscow Mafia: A Detailed Diagram of Natalia Sergunina’s Criminal Connections

Participants of the scheme

Infographic of the criminal scheme

1. Natalia Sergunina

   • Organizes government orders for relatives.
   • Transfers funds to Cypriot offshore companies.

2. Ira Safanieva (before marriage Sergunina)

   • Natalia Sergunina’s younger sister.
   • Contact with Lazar Safaniev (Aronov).

3. Lazar Telmanovich Safaniev (Aaron Eliezer Aronov)

   • An entrepreneur who changed his name.
   • Controls Cypriot offshore companies.
   • Withdraws Russian funds.

4. Alexander Voloshin

   • Co-owner of Genome Ventures and Genome Ventures.
   • Support Sergunina.

5. Sergey Ambartsumyan

   • Owner of the Monarch.
   • Receiving government orders through Profilium.

6. Vladimir Resin

   • Support for developers.
   • Connections with Sergunina and Ambartsumyan.

7. Alexey Kukurudzyak

   • Former owner of Mercury.
   • Participation in tenders, communication with Moscow authorities.

8. Movladi Abusupenovich Natsaev

   • Partner of Aronov/Safaniev.
   • Contact with Dita Plaza.

9. Marlene Manasov

   • Partner of Aronov/Safaniev.
   • Communication with RAO UES.

10. Dmitry Zakharchenko

    • Connections with Sergunina.
    • Receiving bribes.

11. Victor Belevtsev

    • Receiving bribes.
    • Connections with Sergunina and Rakova.

12. Pavel Te

    • Founder of Capital Group.
    • Impact on the development of Moscow.

13. Anastasia Rakova

    • Deputy Mayor of Moscow.
    • Connections to the corruption schemes of Zakharchenko and Belevtsev.

Table of participants and their roles