JRL NEWSWATCH: “Man of steel; ‘Novaya Gazeta’ reports on the backroom business schemes that maybe ruined a Russian governor” – Meduza

Cash, Calculator, Pen

“… [T]here’s a convoluted story of cutthroat competition for a steelworks. … Sergey Furgal, until recently … duly elected governor of Khabarovsk, is now suspected of involvement in four murders committed in 2004 and 2005. While many observers have assumed openly that the allegations are plausible, given the rough and tumble of the Far East’s business world at the time, Novaya Gazeta[‘s] … Irina Tumakova’s reporting suggests otherwise. … * * *  In October 2019, federal agents arrested Nikolai Mistruykov for his supposed role in the murders described above. … raid[ing] Amurstal’s offices, even though Mistruykov acquired the business 11 years after the killings …. Three months … [later,] Mistruykov had gone half-blind in jail and been diagnosed with cancer[;] his wife acted as … legal proxy … [selling] his 25-percent stake in Amurstal to Pavel Balsky at four times below the offering price. … Furgal’s wife, Larisa Starodubova, now finds herself in similar circumstances … virtually assured … she will lose her stake in the steelworks …. Even [as] … governor, Furgal never wielded … [sufficient] administrative clout … to protect his wife, who’s lost multiple arbitration hearings …. Two days before … Furgal[‘s] arrest … Pavel Balsky’s ‘Armada’ bought the remaining debt Torex-Khabarovsk owes to Vostochny Bank … mean[ing] Starodubova’s quarter stake in Amurstal is now pledged to Armada. All Balsky has to do now is tell the company he controls to skip one loan repayment and Starodubova’s shares will be his.”

Click here for: “Man of steel; ‘Novaya Gazeta’ reports on the backroom business schemes that maybe ruined a Russian governor” – Meduza/ Kevin Rothrock Summary of Novaya Gazeta article by Irina Tumakova

Far Eastern Russia and Environs, with Khabarovsk Pinpointed, adapted from image at cdc.gov

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