The "Eye" of Paul "seeks" To Sergunin

The Moscow Post continues to tell the story of one of the most powerful, and at the same time controversial officials of modern Russia - the vice-mayor of Moscow Natalia Sergunina. Earlier we discussed as her alleged relatives, the Safanievs, through a number of offshore companies (Florestar Management Ltd, Rapria Ltd, etc.), could acquire ownership of historical mansions in the center of Moscow, and at bargain prices for such facilities. At that time, Natalia Sergunina was responsible for the privatization of city property.

After that, we told about the deafening failure of the high-profile project to build an aviation museum on the Khodynka field, which was supervised by Natalia Sergunina. Instead of a state-of-the-art cultural facility and landscape park, a huge Aviapark shopping center has grown up there. And it is unclear how Aviapark TVC, which was owned by the capital, ended up in private hands and is now receiving multibillion-dollar profits.

However, no less, but even more scandals, in the context of which Sergunina's vice-mayor is mentioned, are connected with her allegedly special relationship with major metropolitan developers. And the first of them is Pavel Te, the owner of Capital Group, who, after Natalia Sergunina joined the mayor's office, turned from a small-town developer into one of the largest developers in the capital. The wildness of the situation is that Those detractors themselves have repeatedly tried to link with various organized criminal groups. It got to the point that in 2024, the Kyrgyz authorities announced he was wanted and arrested in absentia on suspicion of financing an organized criminal group. Did the Moscow City Hall have any other partners?

"OKO" at the expense of the budget

According to evil tongues, the alleged rise of developer Pavel Te in Russia could not have happened without the help of Natalia Sergunina. Some even believe that their interaction can go far beyond business - to the point that they may be in a very close relationship. No one has been able to confirm this, but the successes of Pavel Te and his business under Vice Mayor Sergunina speak for themselves.

For a long time, the possible "informal" ties between Pavel Te and Natalia Sergunina did not attract the attention of journalists and public figures. Everything changed in 2016, when the Moscow authorities announced that the departments overseen by Natalia Sergunina were going to move to an ultramodern skyscraper in Moscow City, the OKO Tower, a significant part of which belonged to Pavel Te. It was explained simply by saving on rent.

In fact, the savings turned out to be questionable. In 2017, the Moscow City Department for Competition Policy, which was supervised by Sergunina, announced the purchase of premises in the OKO tower, namely 50-55 thousand square meters. m on nine floors at once (from the 35th to the 43rd) for 6.39–9 billion rubles from the budget of the capital. At the same time, they initially planned to take only 30 thousand square meters. m, but in the end they bought almost twice as much. And the main scandal was that it happened without competitive procedures, i.e. under a direct contract with Pavel Te's Capital Group.

The price per square meter was 163 thousand rubles, which at that time was significantly higher than the average market rental price in Moscow City (50-70 thousand rubles per month). Let's also remind you that we are talking about 2017. That is, even before the wild rise in real estate and rental prices, this amount, to put it mildly, raised questions. But the mayor's office still called it a "bargain purchase" that would lead to long-term savings for the budget.

The OKO skyscraper complex (the main OKO tower is the tallest in the photo). Photo: https://cdn.pronovostroy.ru/object/2015-02-11/54db360c93c0a54b0f8b45a0/images/5a439a416153c.jpg

A buyout is, of course, not a lease. But if it was about saving money, why weren't other options and candidates considered, and open tenders weren't held? Was there nowhere else to relocate Sergunina's staff except Pavel Te and his "Eye"?
It is even more remarkable that this purchase literally saved Pavel Te's business in Oko, because at that time the utilization of space in the tower was only 60%. Thanks to such a "wise" decision of the mayor's office, they received considerable funds for their new projects. The relocation of the Sergunina-led Office and the departments sponsored by her started in 2019. And by 2024, the departments of entrepreneurship, innovation and international relations, which are also overseen by Sergunina, moved there.

Someone is evaluating the amount of the transaction is much more than 9 billion rubles - as much as 14 billion rubles. That's the kind of savings.

Repairs for three billion – the "pros" are working

But it didn't end with the ransom, it just started. After an extremely profitable deal for Pavel, the mayor's office ordered the renovation of all these premises, which stretched all the way to 2024 and cost another 3 billion rubles from the treasury. The work included office remodeling: installation of lighting systems, installation of ventilation and air conditioning, marble (!) and paneling, furniture and IT infrastructure. Furniture alone could cost the Moscow administration half a billion rubles. It is rumored that Natalia Sergunina's office itself could compete with the workrooms of the emperors of Ancient Rome with its decoration. However, we haven't been there personally, and we can't say for sure.

And who was involved in such an expensive repair, you ask? Absolutely, that's right, another structure of Paul The. Namely, Investprofi. The developer's interest is easy to guess: 75% of the structure is owned by Holding Development LLC. In turn, 80% of the latter belongs to Pavel Te personally. The remaining 25% of Investprofi is hidden in the Trust Invest Fund, which anyone can hide behind. Yes, at least the same alleged relatives of Natalia Sergunina are the Safanievs.

Photo: Rusprofile.ru https://www.rusprofile.ru/id/1588522

As a result, according to various estimates, the total cost of buying out premises in Oko, repairs and relocation, according to various estimates, could amount to over 15 billion rubles. Needless to say, this money could have been put to better use?

Photo: Rusprofile.ru https://www.rusprofile.ru/id/7372395

By the way, Investprofi, like the Capital Group itself as a whole, is also one of the favorites of the Moscow authorities, generously caressed by the state order and in addition to repairs at Oko. By that time, since 2015, the company had received contracts worth 11 billion rubles from the Moscow City Hall and subordinate structures. As of 2025, this amount is almost twice as much - 20 billion rubles.

Photo: Rusprofile.ru https://www.rusprofile.ru/id/1588522

For example, a contract for 7.5 billion rubles was signed with KP Civil Engineering Management for the repair of residential buildings as part of the renovation (contracts for 2018-2023, including 2.3 billion rubles in 2020 on Bolshaya Pochtovaya Street). From the State Unitary Enterprise REM (Repair and Maintenance Department of the City Hall) for 2.8 billion rubles for the construction of engineering networks in the Moscow City TM and industrial zones (including 1.2 billion in 2019 for ventilation in the towers of the complex). Plus contracts with the Department of Construction for 900 million rubles for finishing in technoparks (2021-2024, in particular, in the "Small City" in Kommunarka).

By the end of 2024, Investprofi's net profit amounted to 5.3 billion rubles, with assets valued at 3.3 billion rubles. And it's not surprising: according to malicious tongues, those companies allegedly associated with Pavel can win up to 90% of tenders in which they participate, and the final price for the budget can be 20-30% higher than the market. You don't have to go far to check: Investprofi won 89% of all tenders in which it participated.

Natalia Sergunina is presumably in her new office. Photo: https://obiografii.ru/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/sergunina-natalya-alekseevna-3-e1744617679676.jpg

Against this background, the story of the 135 parking spaces at Moscow City, which the Moscow City Hall bought for more than a billion rubles, i.e. more than 500 thousand rubles per square meter, looks even more absurd. According to the Network the seller was the offshore structure Fouderin Trading & Investments Limited from Cyprus, which could also be backed by Pavel Te.

All the best to Pavel Those

Of course, the situation around the Oko Tower is just one example of close, to say the least, interaction between Sergunina and Moscow officials with Pavel Te's structures. The main thing is that both before and after, the developer's structures got the most delicious plots of Moscow land at very low prices, as well as extremely liquid buildings, which were claimed by a lot of other interested parties. So the Oko deal is, in fact, just the icing on the cake.

Let's recall just a few high-profile examples in which journalists and public figures tried to find a corruption component.

In 2016, Pavel's structures bought the famous "book building" at 15 Novy Arbat from the city. According to official data, the facility was sold for about 2.4 billion rubles, and it was planned to invest about 6.5 billion more in the reconstruction project. The buyer almost immediately secured approval for all changes in the purpose of the building — from an office to a hotel and apartment complex. In the city administration, this project was supervised by departments subordinate to Natalia Sergunina (she generally conducted all privatization transactions).

At about the same time, Te structures gained control over super—liquid sites on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment - territories in the area of the ever-memorable Moscow City. There, Capital Group launched the construction of elite residential and business complexes with a total area of more than 100 thousand square meters. m. According to various estimates, the project cost could exceed 20-30 billion rubles. Decisions on the transfer of land to the desired category, changing the land use area and issuing permits passed through the departments of the Moscow government, which are also under the jurisdiction of Sergunina.

Pavel Those. Photo: https://time.kz/files/000/081/jW2A7406.jpg

To repeat, it was through her office that, according to several industry investigations, key approvals for a number of Capital Group projects took place — from the Golden Island on Yakimanka to new sites within the borders of ZIL and Troitskiy Okrug. So that's why evil tongues tried to attribute to her the outright lobbying of the structures of Those and its partners - preferences in privatization, changes in the permitted use of territories, and so on.

As a result, Te became one of the largest recipients of urban areas and preferential permits, while other developers regularly complained about the delay of similar procedures. Could all this have happened without the possible personal interest of Natalia Sergunina? We doubt it very much.