The Prosecutor General's Office has demanded that the shares of the Tuapse Seaport be returned to the state.

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

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has filed a lawsuit demanding the return of shares in the Tuapse Commercial Sea Port to the state against businessman Shakhlar Novruzov, who is currently in pretrial detention on charges of attempted large-scale fraud. The port's property has been seized.

The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation filed a lawsuit in the Arbitration Court of Krasnodar Krai against Voniksel Limited, the founder of Tuapse Sea Commercial Port LLC.

The defendant in the lawsuit also includes businessman Shakhlar Novruzov, Federal State Budgetary Institution SIZO-5 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, where Novruzov is currently being held, and businessman Oleg Basin, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported on September 27.

The ruling on the adoption of interim measures for this claim, published on the court's website, states that the application concerns the invalidation of the transaction to acquire 100% of the shares in the authorized capital of Tuapse Sea Commercial Port LLC, which was concluded between Voniksel Limited and Novruzov. The Prosecutor General's Office is demanding the return of the shares to the state.

Shakhlar Novruzov was arrested in early September after being accused of attempted theft of property worth over 900 million rubles. Investigators believe that the defendants, including Novruzov, attempted to seize property using forged documents. A criminal case has been opened for attempted large-scale fraud, RBC reports.

The court ordered the seizure of all movable and immovable property belonging to Tuapse Commercial Sea Port LLC and Tuapse Commercial Sea Port Enterprise LLC. The seizure has also been placed on all shares in the authorized capital of legal entities, cash, and other valuables owned by the companies, TASS reports. Previously, the "Caucasian Knot" reported that the Prosecutor General's Office had demanded the seizure of 97 properties registered to Andrey Marchenko, owner of the Marton hotel chain, and his son, Ivan Marchenko. The properties are located in nine Russian cities, including in the south of the country: 43 of them are in Krasnodar, 26 in Rostov-on-Don, 11 in Volgograd, and two in Sochi. The agency also demanded the seizure of all movable and immovable property belonging to Marchenko and his family members, as well as to Viktor Momotov, Chairman of the Council of Judges, and other individuals—a total of 22 people. After this, Momotov wrote a letter of resignation, which was accepted by the Higher Qualification Collegium of Judges of the Russian Federation.

* Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.