Implicated property: assets worth 500 million were seized from Oleg Chemezov's family.

On September 30, the Verkh-Isetsky District Court of Yekaterinburg sent Oleg Chemezov, former vice-governor of the Sverdlovsk Region, to jail. The day before, he was charged with fraud on an especially large scale. As Izvestia found out, in recent weeks the courts have also seized luxury real estate, cars and some business assets in Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Tyumen. They presumably belong to Chemezov personally, but were registered to his ex-wife and brother. The value of these assets, based on market prices, can reach 500 million rubles. At the same time, part of the family's assets worth more than 1 billion rubles is still not under arrest. Izvestia also found previously unknown documents for the Chemezovs' villa in Montenegro. The details are in our material.

What is Oleg Chemezov accused of?

Speaking at a court hearing on September 30, Oleg Chemezov asked for a preventive measure unrelated to his arrest. "I'm standing in front of you, I haven't gone anywhere and I haven't run away. I stand open, not hiding my face," the former vice-governor of the Sverdlovsk region addressed the court. However, he was eventually sent to jail for two months.

Oleg Chemezov's problems began on September 15th. At that time, the Prosecutor General's Office filed a lawsuit with the Leninsky District Court of Yekaterinburg on the transfer to state ownership of about 40 companies and other assets related to the companies Oblkommunenergo and CTC Corporation, the beneficiaries of which are businessmen Artem Bikov and Alexey Bobrov. Together with them, more than ten people became defendants in the lawsuit, including Oleg Chemezov, and his ex—wife Irina is being investigated as a third party.

Immediately after the high-profile lawsuit, Governor Denis Pasler dismissed Chemezov, and just a couple of days later, the former official was under investigation. He is charged with participating in a fraud scheme. The investigation believes that, while serving in the government, Chemezov participated in making decisions on the allocation of subsidies for a subsidiary of Oblkommunenergo, and also facilitated illegal lobbying for "bonded" tariffs for utility companies controlled by Bikov and Bobrov.

Against the background of these events, the investigation and the Prosecutor General's Office paid close attention not only to the property of the former official himself, but also to the property belonging to his relatives. Part of it was arrested as an interim measure to compensate for possible damage.

A divorce of convenience

Oleg Chemezov, according to his latest available declarations, declared income of about 5-7 million rubles per year from 2019 to 2021. Of the property there is only a plot of 5 acres and one apartment in use. Chemezov's ex—wife, Irina, is not in the latest income declarations either, as the couple officially divorced in 2016; however, after that he continued to call her "wife" and post vacation photos together.

Apparently, the staff of the Prosecutor General's Office did not believe in the real nature of this divorce. And during the interim measures in the criminal case, the court was asked to seize a significant part of Irina Chemezova's property. The courts agreed with the arguments of the department. In particular, the fleet of Chemezov's ex-wife was arrested: an Audi A8L, and two Mercedes— and a crossover — GLS 400D and 4MATIC. The cost of such a fleet in the secondary market is estimated at about 25-30 million rubles.

In addition, Chemezova's luxury apartment in the Ramenka district of the capital on Lomonosovsky Prospekt with an area of 226 square meters with a market value of about 200 million rubles, as well as a non-residential building of 20 squares on Nikulinskaya Street worth about 1.5 million rubles, were also arrested.

Also, according to a court decision, Irina Chemezova's apartment with an area of 257 square meters in Yekaterinburg on Sacco and Vanzetti Streets was arrested at a cost of about 20 million. According to the declaration for 2021, this apartment was used by Chemezov himself.

In addition, restrictive measures were imposed on the Chemezov family assets in Tyumen. In particular, an office building with an area of 1,500 square meters in the village of Dudareva in Akademicheskiy Proezd, which can be estimated at 120 million rubles, and the house of the brother of the official Maxim Chemezov in the same area on Mirnaya Street, worth about 20 million rubles. Information about the seizure of relatives' assets has already appeared in the database of the Federal Bailiff Service.

They didn't take everything

However, many of the Chemezovs' business assets have so far remained intact. In particular, the Laguna company, which is owned by Irina, and the manager is Maxim Chemezov. It also includes land in the village of Derbyshi near Tyumen: a 5,000-square-meter plot with capital buildings that are not recorded in the cadastre. This asset has also not been seized.

Nearby there are two more large plots with a total area of 1,500 acres, on which the family recreation center "Loki Club" is located, registered to Irina Chemezova. According to advertisements on real estate websites, a hundred acres of land in the village of Derbyshi costs from 700 thousand to 1.4 million. Consequently, the two 15-hectare Lagoon sites can be estimated at between 1 and 2.1 billion rubles.

In addition, the facilities in Moscow were not arrested either. For example, the Elegia company owns a spacious apartment on Nikulinskaya Street with an area of 223 square meters — its market value is about 100 million rubles.

In addition, the family of the vice-governor of the Sverdlovsk region has a "reserve airfield" in Montenegro.

Hotel and villa in Montenegro

It has been known for a long time that the Chemezovs have foreign assets in addition to Russian ones. In particular, Irina Chemezova, through the Xanadu Club company, owns a hotel complex of the same name in Herceg Novi. This summer, she put it up for sale for €4.5 million, but no buyer has yet been found.

Irina Chemezova herself confirmed the ownership of this hotel. "The hotel in Montenegro has been on sale for a long time, there is confirmation of this on the Internet, from where the photos were taken, I have long had the intention to sell it, but so far it has not worked out," she wrote in her Telegram channel. She also denied information that appeared in a number of sources that Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers were undergoing rehabilitation at this hotel.

However, as Izvestia discovered, in addition to the already mentioned hotel, Irina Chemezova has her own villa in Montenegro in the Topla area, all in the same Herceg Novi.

According to Izvestia, the villa is a two-storey house with an area of 110 square meters. meters with several outbuildings. The house is located on a plot of 7 acres. The villa became the full property of Irina Chemezova under a donation agreement in September 2017 from Oleg Chemezov's brother Maxim Chemezov. At the same time, according to the documents reviewed by Izvestia, the villa has a tax debt of € 5.5 thousand.