Russia files claim against billionaire as Putin tightens screws on ultra-rich industrialists

MOSCOW – Russian prosecutors have filed a lawsuit against sanctioned billionaire Andrey Melnichenko, as President Vladimir Putin increases pressure on wealthy Russians to repatriate their assets from abroad.

The claim against Mr Melnichenko, the founder of Russia’s biggest steam coal miner, Suek JSK, and fertiliser maker EuroChem Group, was filed on Aug 17 in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.

It targets Mr Melnichenko, Suek and two other companies, according to the filing on the court’s website, which did not provide further details.

Following

Mr Putin’s invasion of Ukraine

and sanctions that have hit the economy, the Russian President has slammed industrialists and other rich Russians who maintain wealth abroad and called for them to repatriate assets.

Last week, Mr Putin asked the government and lobby groups to accelerate the transfer of businesses to Russian jurisdiction.

While Suek is based in Russia, EuroChem, which is not involved in the case, is registered in Switzerland while holding major assets in Russia.

The case relates to energy assets that companies linked to Mr Melnichenko purchased in 2018 from businesses connected to former government minister Mikhail Abyzov, who was arrested and charged in 2019 in an alleged embezzlement case, the RBC newswire reported.

Mr Melnichenko received the claim, his spokesman said. A hearing is scheduled for Sept 7.

Worth an estimated US$13 billion (S$18 billion) according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Mr Melnichenko now resides in the United Arab Emirates after living for many years in Europe.

He was sanctioned by the European Union and the United States following Russia’s attack on Ukraine. He then withdrew as a beneficiary of a trust that controls stakes in the companies he founded.

That left his wife – Serbian singer Sandra Nikolic, an EU citizen – as the beneficiary, but she was later sanctioned too.

According to Mr Putin, Russian businessmen who have moved their assets and families abroad must realise that they will remain “second-class strangers” despite having acquired the titles of “earls, peers and mayors”, he told lawmakers in February. BLOOMBERG