According to the buzz distributed in the Russian media, Swiss shareholders of Togliattiazot will held a press briefing at the airport in Zurich on October 27. They are probably holding the event to talk about raider attack, which allegedly they are under in Russia. The briefing will be held by the chairman of the board of directors of Ameropa AG Andreas Zivy who would probably say what steps they are taking to maintain control over Togliattiazot plant.
Ameropa in the beginning of this year publicly accused Russian company Uralchem, which is the minority shareholder in Togliattiazot, in attempts to seizure control over the asset and escalate the conflict of shareholders. It is noteworthy to mention that Andreas Tsivi is one of the most enigmatic and non-public figures of European business. He was oftenly connected by the media to a number of questionable projects in North Africa and Eastern Europe, which drew criticism from the United Nations and environmentalists. But in recent months he began to speak to the media.
This story began in December 2012 when Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case of fraud on a large scale regarding Togliattiazot’s main shareholders. According to the investigation, the company was selling its products at a decreased price to trader Nitrochem Distribution, a subsidiary of Ameropa. The trader then was selling the very same products at the market price. In January 2013, the general director of Togliattiazot Evgeny Korolev has left to London in alleged “business trip”, from which he never returned. Korolev was charged with fraud, the cause of plant damage at $ 550 million, and then the withdrawal of the company’s most liquid assets – methanol production, together with the land on which it is located.
Total damage caused by the unlawful actions of the company was estimated at $ 1.5 billion. Evgeny Korolev was arrested in absentia and put on the international wanted list. In December 2014 a court arrested in absentia the other leaders of Togliattiazot – Chairman of the Board Sergei Makhlai, who was recently stripped of office by a court decision, co-owner Vladimir Makhlai, Andreas Zivy and director of Nitrochem Beat Ruprecht.
All five defendants wanted by Interpol. Now Togliattiazot leaders facing the new criminal case in connection with the accident at the site of the ammonia pipeline “Togliatti – Odessa” in the Voronezh region, presumably occurred due to the technical state of equipment is common. As a result of the incident in the environment were several tons of toxic ammonia, and hundreds of local residents had to be evacuated.
Probably Zivy will have to state his explanations on all of this and find proper words to persuade the journalists that all of this happened because of bad Russian regime, which is hardly believable.