The problematic airline VIM-Avia, due to fraudulent actions of its management, about 38 thousand passengers were stuck at foreign resorts, and accounts payable exceeded 7 billion rubles, lost its management and owners.
General Director of VIM-Avia Alexander Kochnev and chief accountant Ekaterina Panteleeva were detained as part of a case of major fraud, according to a message on the website of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. In the near future, both defendants will be charged, after which the investigation plans to petition the court to impose a preventive measure against them.
And the co-owners of VIM-Avia, Rashid and Svetlana Mursekaev, “hastily left the country, and, according to the information available to the investigation, are abroad,” the Investigative Committee noted. In this regard, measures are being taken to establish their whereabouts. “Currently, investigative actions are ongoing aimed at identifying all persons involved in the theft of funds and the circumstances of the crime,” the press service said in a statement.
The Mursekaevs will be put on the wanted list in a criminal case of fraud, law enforcement agencies told TASS. “Their whereabouts have not yet been established. They will be put on the federal wanted list first, and then, possibly, on the international wanted list,” the agency’s interlocutor said. According to him, Rashid Mursekaev was supposed to appear for questioning by the investigator on Thursday; the day before, he was sent a summons.
As part of compensation for damages to victims of this fraud, a security lien will be imposed on the property of the co-owners and management of the company. Soon they may be charged in absentia and issued a warrant for arrest in absentia.
The day before, TASS was reported by law enforcement agencies that investigators interrogated Alexander Kochnev as a witness in the case, and then he was summoned again for questioning. The source clarified on Thursday that the general director was detained following interrogation by the Investigative Committee. “This was a repeated interrogation, the day before he was interrogated as a witness, he appeared before the investigators himself,” the agency’s interlocutor said.
After massive delays and cancellations of VIM-Avia airline flights, a criminal case was opened under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Fraud on an especially large scale”). The official representative of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Svetlana Petrenko, said that on behalf of the head of the department, Alexander Bastrykin, the case was transferred to the central office of the Investigative Committee.
According to the investigation, from September 22, airline officials, knowing that there were not enough funds to purchase fuel, including at Domodedovo Airport, without having contracts with other suppliers and, thus, not having the ability to transport passengers, continued to sell tickets for flights. As a result, management received more than 1 million rubles.
VIM-Avia admitted this week that it does not have the funds to continue operating after massive flight delays due to fuel debts of approximately 500 million rubles. The airline asked the Ministry of Transport to “consider the possibility of urgently providing state guarantees” for 800-840 million rubles to pay for fuel and organize the removal of passengers from abroad. The owner of the company, Rashid Mursekaev, published a video message in which he apologized to passengers for flight delays due to lack of funds.
VIM-Avia planes were detained at airports for debts in Russia and abroad - in particular, in Spain, Belgium, Turkey and France. Only four out of 29 aircraft flew to Vnukovo from Domodedovo. During Tuesday-Wednesday, VIM-Avia performed only about 10 flights.
Russian citizens who turned out to be "defectors", who are mainly in resorts in Turkey and Greece, are now only hoping for help from other airlines.
Greek EllinAir will return 245 VIM-Avia passengers from Heraklion to Moscow, TASS reports. In addition, it is planned to involve Yamal and Sibir airlines in the removal of passengers.
To transport tourists from Antalya on September 28, three VIM-Avia aircraft will be used, which were released the day before from Domodedovo Airport with refueling at Vnukovo. They will make two return flights to deliver about 1.5 thousand passengers from Turkey.
The Federal Air Transport Agency reports that Russian airlines that transport passengers on VIM-Avia regular flights will be allocated about 200 million rubles from the federal budget for 2018. However, this is only about domestic flights"VIM-Avia".
VIM-Avia itself, which the Ministry of Transport restored for half a month passenger air transportation under its own guarantees, it will also receive half a billion rubles in air transportation subsidies from the state. However, experts are confident that such injections will not save the company and this is just a delay in its inevitable end of existence.
Currently, VIM-Avia, which closes the top 10 airlines in the Russian Federation in terms of volume passenger transportation, there are six creditor banks, and its debt is approximately 7 billion rubles.
On Thursday night it was announced that VIM-Avia aircraft would operate flights until mid-October. Passengers with scheduled flight dates from October 16 and later are recommended to return their tickets at the place of purchase for a refund.
On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with members of the government, announced to the head of the Ministry of Transport Maxim Sokolov about incomplete official compliance due to the situation with VIM-Avia, and accused Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who oversees transport issues, of insufficient attention to the industry.
The owners of VIM-Avia are Svetlana and Rashid Mursekaev. According to the SPARK-Interfax system, the company's revenue in 2016 amounted to 17.17 billion rubles, while the company reported a small profit in its reporting under RAS - 89 million rubles. According to SPARK, Svetlana Mursekaeva recently pledged part of her share of VIM-Avia Airlines LLC - 5% of the authorized capital - in Zenit Bank.
Full name of the company: Limited Liability Company "Airline" VIM-Avia" is a Russian company with headquarters in Moscow and a base airfield in Domodedovo. 100% of the shares belong to the spouses Rashid and Svetlana Mursekaev. Airline specialization " VIM-Avia» - charter and regular domestic and international passenger transportation. In 2010, the company's fleet consisted of 11 foreign-made aircraft; old domestic aircraft were removed from flight operations.
Contact Information
The site of the company: www.vim-avia.com
contact number for advice, ordering and booking tickets: 8-800-700-0-757 (for calls within Russia)
The central office of the VIM-Avia company is located at: Moscow, st. Novokhokhlovskaya, 23 building 1.
International company designations
IATA code: NN
ICAO code: MOV
Internal code: NN
Company management
Airline CEO: Kochnev Alexander Yakovlevich
History of the airline
The history of the company begins in 2002; it was named in honor of its first leader, Viktor Ivanovich Merkulov (died in 2006). Airline « VIM-Avia"is considered one of the largest charter companies in Russia; the part of regular flights in 2010 was only 32.4% of the total passenger traffic. Over the past years, the company's management has been paying great attention to domestic flights. In 2011, the company opened flights to many cities of the Russian Federation, including Petropavlosk-Kamchatsky, Magadan, Barnaul, Novosibirsk and others settlements. During 2009, the number of passengers transported exceeded 1,200 thousand people. In some big cities the number of regular departures was increased to twice a day. VIM-Avia airline operates regular and charter flights to Barcelona, Basel, Rimini and Thessaloniki.
Alena Panarina, an employee of the VIM-Avia press service, told RBC that she does not comment on the movements of the owners.
According to SPARK-Interfax, Svetlana Mursekaeva owns 99% of VIM-Avia, Rashid Mursekaev - 1% (previously 20% of the airline belonged to the Liechtenstein Hercules Partners Fund Gemini-Gemini II).
On September 25, after massive delays of VIM-Avia flights and information appeared that the airline did not have the funds to pay for fuel, Mursekaev admitted that “the airline has a difficult economic situation, working capital has run out and financing has been frozen.” “Since the airline cannot operate flights without additional funding, we are exploring the possibilities of introducing external crisis management,” Mursekaev said in an interview with Rossiya 24.
On Monday, September 25, against unnamed officials of VIM-Avia under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of Russia (fraud). They are suspected of receiving 1 million rubles. through the sale of tickets, knowing at the same time that the airline does not have money to purchase fuel and operate flights.
On the evening of September 27, an investigation against VIM-Avia officials was carried out on behalf of the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, for the investigation of particularly important cases.
The situation with VIM-Avia on Wednesday with members of the government, which was chaired by President Vladimir Putin. The head of state expressed bewilderment at the fact that the airline, according to officials, meets all the criteria, but at the same time cannot operate.
In the early 1990s, Rashid Mursekaev was involved in the supply of food products from Asia to pay off debts for the supply of Russian weapons, together with Sergei Nedoroslev (now the chairman of the board of directors of the Kaskol group of companies). The partners established the Belukha company, which bought shares of defense and aviation enterprises. Subsequently, Mursekaev went into independent business - he consolidated 68% of the shares of the Far Eastern Shipping Company, which he sold to Sergei Generalov for $60 million in 2002. In 2002, Mursekaev became a partner with the founder of VIM-Avia, Viktor Merkulov, and in 2003 bought 75% from him. in an air carrier. In 2003, as Forbes wrote, Mursekaev spent $160 million on the purchase of 12 used Boeing aircraft.
Airline "VIM-Avia"
VIM-Avia airline was founded in October 2002. The carrier operated its first flights mainly in the Asian direction (Vietnam, China, Thailand). The airline's fleet consists of Boeing 777-300, 777-200, 767-300, 757-200 and Airbus 319-111, 330-200. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the founders of VIM-Avia LLC are Rashid (1%) and Svetlana (99%) Mursekaevs. They are also listed as the founders of Invest Holding PJSC, which was declared bankrupt in July 2017.
Financial indicators
In 2016, the company showed a net profit of 89 million rubles. with revenue of 17.174 billion rubles. The value of assets as of December 31, 2016 was 10.481 billion rubles, and net financial debt was 7.007 billion rubles. (source: GMC Rosstat).
Transportation volumes
According to the Federal Air Transport Agency, in 2016 the VIM-Avia company transported 2.076 million passengers, showing an increase in this indicator by 30% and taking ninth place in the industry. The company itself associated this growth with the introduction of new aircraft(four Boeing 737-500, two Boeing 767-300, six Boeing 777-200 and one Airbus A330-200). From January to August 2017, the number of passengers carried continued to grow compared to the same period last year - by 31.4%. However, the company dropped to tenth place, behind " North wind».
Airline problems
In 2016, the company had problems with passenger transportation. VIM-Avia allowed massive flight delays of many hours. In July 2016, Rosaviatsia warned VIM-Avia about the possibility of limiting its air operator certificate due to massive delays and gave it a week to resolve all problems. The carrier's spokeswoman noted that the delays were due to the high season and the attempted coup in Turkey. The day after the warning was issued, the company announced that the transportation situation had stabilized and reported that the problems had been resolved thanks to the introduction of new ships.
The company ran into problems again in 2017 when dozens of flights were canceled after delays in early June. A representative of Rostransnadzor then explained the failure of the charter program by delays in aircraft repairs. The number of victims due to problems at VIM-Avia in June 2017 was estimated at approximately 30 thousand people. As a result, the airline's share of delayed flights this month was 13.56%. In July-August, problems remained: in July the share of delayed flights was 13.83%, and in August - 19.45%. In September, the airline delayed more than 40% of its flights.
In January-September 2017, the department of state aviation supervision and supervision of transport safety in the Volga Federal District conducted seven inspections of the airline, mainly at the request of citizens.
The founder of VIM-avia, Rashid Mursekaev, left Russia after the Investigative Committee announced the beginning of an audit of the airline’s activities. The entrepreneur did not appear at the meeting of the Federal Air Transport Agency and is not in contact with law enforcement agencies, although he previously promised to invest his own money to partially repay VIM-avia’s debt. Meanwhile, it turned out that in last years The businessman's finances are not going so well - two months ago his company Invest Holding, which provided consulting and intermediary services, went bankrupt.
Bankruptcy of non-flying assets
The next scandal with VIM-avia was preceded by a non-public, but interesting story bankruptcy, which characterizes the financial position of Mursekaev’s structures.
In 2006, Mursekaev and his wife Svetlana founded PJSC Invest Holding, which was supposed to provide transportation and consulting services for business. Probably, the company was created “in support” of VIM-avia, which was then just spreading its wings. According to the Kartoteka.ru database, last year Invest Holding showed a net profit of 9 million rubles. However, for some reason he did not have enough million to pay off certain obligations to the Technopolis company on time.
Technopolis filed a bankruptcy petition with the Moscow Arbitration Court, including in the register of creditors' claims an amount of exactly 1 million rubles. The court materials do not say what exactly Invest Holding owes for.
Be that as it may, in July 2017, the court granted the claim, and Invest Holding was declared bankrupt.
It is interesting that several years ago Mursekaev himself was a co-owner of Technopolis. No later than 2015, he withdrew from the Technopolis membership (it was then that the first alarm bells rang at VIM-Avia. It is noteworthy that the current main owner of Technopolis is the fuel company Premier Oil. It bought (or received otherwise) a share in Technopolis, which previously belonged to VIM-avia. It is possible that back in 2015, Mursekaev had problems paying for fuel and he paid with the airline’s share in the company.
Look for me on the globe
At one time, Mursekaev actively developed business in different parts globe- in Germany, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan. Therefore, it is possible that he still had the necessary connections or real estate there.
According to data from open sources, Mursekaev had an “aircraft” business in Ireland at least until 2014. City Leasing Limited is based in Dublin. Initially, it was created as a leasing operator - it was probably planned to lease aircraft for VIM-Avia through it.
According to the UK Business Register, the latest financial statements it provided only in 2014. And even then it was clear that City Leasing was not doing as well as at first. The net asset value in 2014 was €1.3 million, while back in 2010 it was €22 million. The company’s accounts in 2014 contained €1.1 million in cash.
The director of the Irish company was Russian Alexey Kurin. It is interesting that a year earlier a person with the same name initiated the bankruptcy of the Bashkortostan airline, which owed a large sum to the VIM-Avia structures.
The media, citing their sources, wrote that Mursekaev flew to Turkey on Tuesday. If this is so, then Mursekaev will have no trouble moving from Turkey to United Arab Emirates. According to unconfirmed reports, he may have property there. In general, the Emirates and Mursekaev have a long-term cooperation. His airline rents a luxurious office in Dubai for its representative office. And Mursekaev leased wide-body aircraft from the Emirates airline, which was founded by the UAE government.
The airline’s representative office is also open in Uzbekistan, however, there is no detailed data on Mursekaev’s business activity in this region in open sources.
But in Germany, for a long time he financed the local freight airline Air Cargo Germany. True, in 2012 it was bought by the Volga-Dnepr corporation. As the media wrote, again, for virtually nothing. Air Cargo Germany had accumulated up to €30 million in debt by that time.
Mursekaev also retained his property in Russia. If he hasn’t sold it since 2011, then he still owns an apartment in the center of Moscow, on Skatertny Lane.
Financial rise and fall
52-year-old Rashid Mursekaev, who is now mired in debt, at one time did not leave the top lines of Forbes. It is symbolic that he began to build his own business empire on the debts of others. As the media wrote, in the 90s, he and his business partner Sergei Nedoroslev were engaged in the supply of consumer goods and food from Asian countries to pay off the debt for Russian weapons and aircraft. Then he created the Belukha company, which bought shares of defense factories. By the beginning of the 2000s, he already owned most of the Far Eastern Shipping Company. He never shines much in the media and large quantity Doesn't give interviews.
And in 2003, as a person who had never been involved in air transportation, he made a small revolution in this market. After the collapse of the Union, not all Russian airlines could fly abroad - old, noisy and gluttonous Russian planes they were simply not allowed into some countries. Then Mursekaev bought 12 used but environmentally friendly Boeings for $160 million. He entered into many agreements with tour operators and began to squeeze out competitors. The owners of the newborn airline were Mursekaev and his wife Svetlana. Within two years, VIM-avia became the largest charter operator in the country.
Now his company is in a deep peak. After the first wave of claims from government agencies in May-June, when dozens of flights were delayed, the company managed to stay afloat. For the second time, all departments attacked the company at once: Rostransnadzor, Rostrud, the Prosecutor General's Office, the Investigative Committee.
Moreover, the latter’s claims may result in criminal cases for top management. According to representatives of the Investigative Committee, the airline’s management knew in advance that it would not be able to operate flights, but still sold tickets.
On Monday, September 25, a criminal case was opened against unnamed officials of VIM-Avia under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of Russia (“Fraud”). If the co-owners of the company are involved in the case and their guilt is proven, they may face prison time. The last straw that broke the airline's knees was multimillion-dollar debts for fuel: VIM-Avia owed more than half a billion rubles to Domodedovo Airport alone.
This week, VIM Avia stopped all charter flights due to debts for aircraft maintenance. Because of this, tens of thousands of people were unable to take off. Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced incomplete official compliance with the Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov, who allowed such a situation in the industry.
Rashid Mursekaev announced his readiness to sell the troubled airline for a symbolic sum of one ruble. This was stated by the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency Alexander Neradko. According to him, “he is tired of working in aviation, he is ready to sell his business for a ruble and part ways.”
The official explained that on Wednesday, September 27, the owner of the carrier was invited to a meeting due to the fact that he promised to cover current expenses at his own expense to maintain the company’s operating activities. According to the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency, we are talking about 50 million rubles. Neradko added that Mursekaev is currently not answering calls, and suggested that the entrepreneur could have left Russia.
Law enforcement agencies cannot contact the co-owner of VIM-avia, Rashid Mursekaev. The head of the Federal Air Transport Agency, Alexander Neradko, suggested that the entrepreneur was no longer on Russian territory. According to him, the owner of the airline was invited to a meeting on the situation around the company. He did not come to the meeting. Neradko stated this during a speech in the State Duma.
“Yesterday, by telegram, the owner of the VIM-Avia airline was invited today at 8 o’clock to a special meeting due to the fact that he committed from his own funds today to pay current expenses to maintain operating activities in the amount of 50 million rubles. The owner of the airline did not show up for the meeting, stopped answering phone calls, and also stopped answering calls from the airline secretariat,” explained Neradko.
Two knowledgeable sources also told Interfax that he could leave the country. “We haven’t been able to contact Mursekaev since the morning, his phones are switched off,” one of the sources said. According to another source, Mursekaev is on this moment is located in Istanbul. “According to some reports, he flew from Vnukovo to Turkey, presumably to Istanbul,” he said. According to another agency source, “Mursekaev flew away from Sheremetyevo.”
Vedomosti was unable to contact Mursekaev; his phone number is temporarily unavailable.
Rosaviatsia provided the Investigative Committee with all Required documents about the airline’s activities, Neradko clarified.
State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin ordered the urgent development of bills to prevent a repetition of the situation with VIM-avia. It is necessary to “develop proposals that we could urgently consider as legislative initiatives in order to prevent a repeat of what happened,” he said. “The bad thing is that we constantly step on the same rake, this is unacceptable,” Volodin stated.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced to Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov that he was not fully qualified for his duties.
“I am informing you of incomplete official compliance in connection with the situation with VIM-Avia,” TASS reported Putin’s words from a meeting with members of the government. Putin also reproached Dvorkovich for “not paying enough attention to transport system" “We have now discussed this with the Prime Minister, I would like to draw the attention of the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of transport... Maybe you are too overloaded? We have already talked about this,” the president said.
On September 25, Monday, Domodedovo and other airports stopped accepting VIM-Avia flights. The company experienced financial difficulties, in particular a lack of working capital. On the same day, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case into the theft of funds from passengers by VIM-Avia officials. According to the investigation, no later than September 22, the airline’s management “had a criminal intent aimed at stealing passengers’ funds through deception on an especially large scale.” The Investigative Committee established that VIM-avia officials knew about the lack of money to purchase fuel at airports. However, the company continued to sell flight tickets, “receiving money for this by deception.” cash in the amount of over 1 million rubles.”
By the end of the season, the airline must transport from 50 to 80,000 passengers to and from resorts. In total, tickets were sold to more than 190,000 passengers, Interfax notes.
On September 26, Sokolov stated that the Ministry of Transport does not intend to save VIM-avia. “State support is already meaningless, because the company has practically stopped working,” TASS reported his words.
The press service of the Federal Air Transport Agency announced on September 26 that some of VIM-Avia’s passengers were ready to transport “ Ural Airlines", "iFly", " Red wings", "Nordstar", "Icarus", "North Wind" and "Yakutia". These airlines will be reimbursed for their costs. The 2018 budget provides 200 million rubles for this, the department clarified. Some of the passengers will be transported by VIM-Avia itself, mostly charter passengers, noted the Federal Air Transport Agency. These flights will be financed from extrabudgetary sources. Top manager major airline previously told Vedomosti that at a meeting in the Federal Air Transport Agency it was said that management of VIM-avia could go to Aeroflot and its subsidiary, Rossiya Airlines.
