The Prosecutor General's Office demanded that Rostovvodokanal shares be returned to the state

THIS MATERIAL (INFORMATION) WAS PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED BY FOREIGN AGENT OOO "MEMO" OR CONCERNING THE ACTIVITIES OF FOREIGN AGENT OOO "MEMO".

The Rostov Region Prosecutor General's Office demanded that the assets of former Deputy Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia Stanislav Svetlitsky and former Mayor of Rostov-on-Don Mikhail Chernyshev be seized, and that the shares of Rostovvodokanal be returned to the state.

As "Caucasian Knot" wrote, in June 2016, former Deputy Minister of Fuel and Energy of the Russian Federation Stanislav Svetlitsky was detained at his workplace, and several offices of the company AO "Eurasian" were sealed. Svetlitsky was taken into custody. He was accused of fraud on an especially large scale. On October 28, 2020, a court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced him to 12 years in prison, and five other defendants in the case received prison terms ranging from two to eight years. In December 2021, the sentence was upheld.

The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation filed a lawsuit demanding the seizure of the assets of the former Deputy Minister of Energy, head of JSC Eurasian Stanislav Svetlitsky, former Mayor of Rostov-on-Don Mikhail Chernyshev, and the return of Rostovvodokanal shares to the state, Kommersant reported on September 8.

According to the department, Svetlitsky, with the help of Chernyshev, illegally received Rostovvodokanal, the market value of whose assets exceeded 4.6 billion rubles, under his control. It is alleged that Svetlitsky, being a high-ranking employee of Rostekhnadzor, decided to take over Rostovvodokanal between 2004 and 2006. Since October 2006, the Eurasian holding has gained control over the municipal enterprise, the ultimate beneficiary of which, through foreign companies, is Svetlitsky.

Mikhail Chernyshev, who was the head of Rostov-on-Don from 1993 to 2014, in 2005 transformed the Rostovvodokanal Municipal Unitary Enterprise into a joint-stock company and created on its basis the Rostov-on-Don Vodokanal Production Association OJSC, the municipality owned 100% of its shares.

However, already in January 2006, Chernyshev, according to the Prosecutor General's Office, in the interests of Svetlitsky, under the pretext of attracting investments for the modernization of water supply networks, put these 100% of shares up for sale.

A competition was held, the winner of which was Eurasian JSC, and the resource supply company Rostov Water OJSC was created with with an authorized capital of 1.5 billion rubles. The municipality contributed the aforementioned 100% of shares of Vodokanal OJSC worth almost 390 million rubles to this capital, and Eurasian JSC contributed the remaining amount of 1.16 billion rubles. However, according to the department, Svetlitsky withdrew this money through affiliated organizations.

Thus, the Prosecutor General's Office believes that Chernyshev, as the head of the city, abused his official position by assisting Svetlitsky in establishing control over the property of Vodokanal OJSC. In November 2008, Svetlitsky, having already become Deputy Minister of Energy, initiated the reorganization of Vodokanal OJSC, merging Voda Rostova OJSC with it, and in 2014 the organization was renamed Rostovvodokanal OJSC.

The department notes that the company's annual revenue is 1.5 billion rubles, while in the period from 2006 to 2025, the company was allocated 22.4 billion rubles for reconstruction, compensation for losses and construction of a water supply system with treatment facilities in Rostov-on-Don and the Dugino farm. At the same time, federal funds were not used for their intended purpose.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" also wrote that in August 2021, the chairman of the board of directors of Rostovvodokanal, Georgy Svetlitsky, was arrested for two months in a fraud case. According to the investigation, he used his official position to steal 204.2 million rubles belonging to Rostovvodokanal. In 2023, he was sentenced to five years in a general regime penal colony.

At the end of June, Rostovvodokanal CEO Evgeny Yurkin, who is suspected of disclosing state secrets, was taken into custody.

* Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.