Passion for ROMZ: Eduard Taran expects billions from the state

Videos appeared on the Web in which a voice sounds, to the extent of confusion, similar to the voice of the owner of the RATM holding, the scandalous Novosibirsk businessman Eduard Taran. The speaker addresses the interlocutor about the situation with the nationalization of the Rostov Optical and Mechanical Plant (ROMZ), which was previously part of RATM.

The person makes it clear that he intends to launch a whole media company in order to "whitewash" the former beneficiaries of the plant from RATM as much as possible, as well as achieve monetary compensation from the state in billions of rubles. He also expresses the hope that at the suggestion of Rostec and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the enterprise will again be transferred to the management or even possession of RATM.

Details - in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post in the Novosibirsk region.

You don't need to be seven inches in the forehead to teach a corruption soul coming from this "spich." If Eduard Taran is really on the record, then he exposes himself in such a negative light in which not a single "well-wisher" can deliberately expose him.

ROMZ round-trip

From 2013 to 2023, ROMZ belonged to legal entities included in the RATM holding - IsNov JSC and SibMir LLC. ROMZ is one of the leading defense enterprises in the country engaged in the production of optical fiber products, including for the army. The amount of state contracts approached 280 million rubles, but revenues can be much higher - there is no such information in the public domain.

In 2023, the Prosecutor General's Office considered that the beneficiaries of the enterprise owned the plant illegally - allegedly, in the 90s it was mistakenly privatized. That is, it turns out that the state and former leaders are to blame. After 30 years, it turns out that - no one?

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55ug8tjGGWk&feature=youtu.be

The person on the audio recording expresses deep satisfaction that the process of the proceedings "the state has come out on itself." And at the same time expresses an extreme interest in the state compensating the RATM holding for losses. Otherwise, you can sue, and the defendants may be the Federal Property Management Agency and the Yaroslavl Region (a plant in Rostov, the city itself in this region).

The lip of the alleged Taran is not a fool. If initially a person on the record says that for compensation of 3-4 billion rubles from the state, they will not protest against the seizure of the plant. Then it suggests that the same state can already sue 7 billion rubles. And this position, they say, must be conveyed to the right people.

At the same time, the same person discusses the possibility of consultations and other communication with representatives of the FSB and the Federal Property Management Agency, from which, according to the "speaker," they can give an "inside" - what to do in this situation.

What is this, if not the voicing of plans for pressure on the authorities and officials with the involvement of the same officials and the power apparatus? Can we say that in the case of a person similar to Mr. Taran, we can talk about merging business and the state. But shouldn't such a spike be criminal in itself?

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYT1fXY0u-I

This is also stated in the second audio recording with the voice of a person similar to the voice of the oligarch Eduard Taran. The speaker claims that with the bona fide implementation of the state defense order by the entrepreneur's companies, he can get a "political decision" on ROMZ. That is, with the filing of Rostec and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, it can be returned to the management of RATM, or even transferred to ownership for the second time. Well, you just wonder - there is no limit to arrogance!

In addition, from the same records, a person concludes that the nationalization of the enterprise is the result of the struggle of different groups within the Russian state (Prosecutor General's Office against the Federal Property Management Agency), and this can be seriously enriched.

Quote: "If you get 3-4 billion rubles from the state, let them take it away." If that's what Taran really said - doesn't he think he's getting too much from the state so far?

Rostec to help

In addition to ROMZ, RATM includes EOS JSC, NPO HYDROMASH OJSC, KNZ JSC, Siberian Glass LLC, Lomonosov Capital Management Company LLC, RATM-Development Management Company JSC and the already mentioned Novosibirsk Ekran plant. Many of them work for the defense industry, fulfill the state defense order. And RATM itself should cooperate for a long time and closely with Rostec, one of the key operators of the implementation of state defense operations in the country.

It was Rostec, under the leadership of Sergei Chemezov and with the likely support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Denis Manturov, that literally saved the Ekran plant, which, with the managerial talents of Taran and Co, was on the verge of bankruptcy. It got to the point that the company could not pay for electricity, as a result of which it came across a bankruptcy lawsuit from Novosibirsk Energosbyt JSC for 18 million rubles.

At the same time, according to the results of all recent years, the company showed a profit of tens of million rubles, the value of its assets - over 800 million rubles. Did they just take funds from the company?

Recall that under Mr. Taran and PJSC ROMZ, it almost went bankrupt - it became a defendant in bankruptcy claims as many as 15 times. And this is with a full load of government orders!

At the same time, earlier in the press there was information according to which the plant's products allegedly fall into Ukraine. Only not in the Russian troops, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Can Ukrainian snipers shoot from optics produced in our country?

Previously, this was written by the FLB edition. And Eduard Taran did not like it very much. Representatives of "Screen" went to court, where they achieved the removal of the publication, moreover, they achieved a ban on any mention of the owner of RATM on the pages of the publication. The parties went to the world - probably, serious pressure could have been exerted on journalists. And is there smoke without fire?

Photo: https://kad.arbitr.ru/Document/Pdf/326df146-7510-4e2e-8ee3-8792f0f6b03b/36333f50-3b45-4238-81a8-5464936d14c6/A40-134325-2021_20210902_Opredelenie.pdf?isAddStamp=True

If the information reported to FLB turned out to be true - how long would Mr. Taran still work quietly in Russia?

Is RATM red in criminal cases?

But Eduard Taran and his "Screen" themselves "went on the attack." They filed a lawsuit against Novosibirsk Energosbyt, demanding compensation from him of 770 million rubles for losses allegedly incurred as a result of an accident on power lines in Novosibirsk in 2017.

Only this lawsuit ended unexpectedly for the initiators - searches at the Ekran plant and from lawyers representing the company's interests in the lawsuit against Novosibirsk EnergySpyt. They took place within the framework of the initiated criminal case of fraud, in which they suspected representatives of the enterprise - allegedly, they tried to get funds from Novosibirsk EnergySpyt illegally.

In RATM itself, the initiation of a criminal case was then associated with, quote, "the presence of corruption ties in law enforcement agencies." What connections and in which bodies is not clear. And how "amazing" this sounds against the background of a person's statements on the audio recording about the need to work with the FSB to resolve the issue of ROMZ!

As a result, none of those close to Mr. Taran and he himself suffered from this criminal case. Apparently, "resolved the issue." And we recall that the owner of RATM himself became a defendant in the criminal case. In 2010, he was suspected of giving a bribe of 1 million rubles to employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for stopping the inspection of one of the holding structures. Which one was not called. Subsequently, the charges against Taran were dropped, the criminal case was dismissed. And again - "solved the question"?

Eduard Taran. Photo: https://www.ossetia.tv/2022/12/08/moshennik-taran-eduard-anatolevich-i-krovavye-milliardy-ratm-holding/

This was not the only criminal case related to the structures of the oligarch. In the same 2010, according to representatives of the prosecutor's office, in the Altai Territory, the work of RATM representatives at the AltTrak Rubtsovsky Tractor Plant turned into criminal cases under Articles 159 (fraud) and 201 (abuse of authority) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Among the suspects was a series of replaced directors of the plant. In addition, First Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia Alexander Buksman issued a warning to Eduard Taran in connection with the non-payment of 2,500 workers of the enterprise earned money.

In addition, at the same time, the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Irkutsk Region opened a criminal case under Art. 195 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on illegal actions in the bankruptcy of Angarsk Cement LLC, the defendant of which was Oleg Geevsky, chairman of the board of directors of this enterprise. Another case was also initiated under Art. 330 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on arbitrariness - against the structures of Eduard Taran, who tried to seize part of the property of Quarry Pass LLC.

Capture is the wording used by the officially registered Izvestia media. But raider captures tried to attribute to Mr. Taran before. An example is the glass factory in Anopino. According to the Web, in his letter, the tenant of the assets of the RASCO company located at the plant, Alexander Smirnov, allegedly directly calls Taran a raider, asking for help from State Duma deputy Arefiev.

Apparently, they are covered by really serious people. Perhaps the same Rostec, which at one time saved Ekran, did not at all wonder which countries the company's products ended up in. And we recall that earlier the same Rostec bought 24% of the shares of the Lytkarinsky Optical Glass Plant (LZOS) from RATM, whose products are purchased by the Ministry of Defense and Roskosmos.

But after that, another criminal case appeared on tax evasion when selling shares of the enterprise. It is also worth recalling that the shares from Taran were acquired by the Cypriot offshore company Labrosan Holdings Limited. He also received another 14% from Invest Plus. And after, just a few months, the same shares were sold to Rostec, only five (!) Times more expensive.

If this could not cause damage to the state - then what? Will the budget endure everything? Of course, this criminal case was quickly terminated, the ends into the water...

Edouard Taran's Market Relations

Thus, scandals and criminal cases are literally winding around the enterprises of Eduard Taran and himself, and he expects even more to receive another "penny" from the state - this time, at least 3-4 billion. These are trifles, especially during the period of sanctions and SVO.

In parallel, Mr. Taran turned around in other areas of business. He is considered the beneficiary of the Mandarin shopping center in Novosibirsk, which has recently been at the center of heated proceedings.

The Khiloksky market is also located there, where the shopping center competing with Mandarin is located. Apparently, at some point Taran could decide to organize a whole campaign to squeeze out competitors. And the market "suddenly" had problems with migrants, and with the traffic of prohibited substances, and with the alleged violation of sanitary and epidemiological standards.

The situation escalated so much that the order to sort it out was personally given by the head of the RF IC Alexander Bastrykin. And here's what is interesting: in 2022, the former prosecutor of the Novosibirsk region Vladimir Falileev and his deputy Andrei Turbin were detained on suspicion of bribery.

According to the investigation, the head of the regional prosecutor's office and his subordinate received bribes from representatives of criminal circles and owners of a large shopping center. The money was transferred to prosecutors for patronage and avoiding inspections.

Viktor Tolokonsky is Taran's "liaison" in the authorities of the Novosibirsk region. Photo: https://ksonline.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/tolokonski_1292.jpg

The name of the shopping center was not mentioned. But just two days after the arrest of Falileev and Turbin, Sergei Belous was detained. The general director of the same Mandarin shopping center Taran, who may be trying to abolish the Khilok market in order to remove a competitor from the path.

Here, as they say, think and draw conclusions. Another assumption suggests itself - Taran may be patronized by the Novosibirsk authorities. One remarkable fact is that it turns out that the former governor of the Novosibirsk region and the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Viktor Tolokonsky, has long been working as an adviser to the owner of RATM Holding. Maybe he contributed to the development of Taran's business in the Novosibirsk region?

With such introductory, associates and partners (Rostec), a possible attempt to "resolve the issue" on ROMZ does not look like a hopeless venture...