Rinat Akhmetov, Yevhen Shcherban, and the bloody 90s: how the SCM business empire was formed after shootings and crime

18 лютого 2021 р., 22:46

Igor Shulga 818 0

About the Role of Yevhen Shcherban and Vadym Novynskyi.

The anniversary of Akhmetov’s management company is not celebrated in November for nothing. However, it would be more accurate to count it not from November 15, 2000, when the first CEO Ihor Prasolov received the company registration certificate in hand, but from November 3, 1996, when Rinat’s business partner Yevhen Shcherban and three other people were shot at Donetsk airport.

In general, over some year — from October 15, 1995, when Akhat Bragin was blown up at the Donetsk “Shakhtar” stadium, to the murder of Shcherban (in between there were the bodies of Shvydchenko, Momot, and another 20 more modest characters) — Rinat Akhmetov went from the “right-hand man” of the leader of an ethnic organized crime group to the de facto owner of the country’s largest industrial region.

Obviously, figuring out today who paid for Shcherban’s shooting 24 years ago is practically impossible. Moreover, in July 2015, the only surviving participant in this attack (according to the official investigation version) Vadym Bolotskyi was freed from the Slavnoserb Colony located in the occupied part of Luhansk region by some group of armed men. After that, he was taken in an unknown direction — whether he is alive or hiding somewhere in his native Russia is unknown.

In addition, on February 19, 2014 (right before the change of power as a result of the Revolution of Dignity), the materials of the criminal case on Shcherban’s murder, on the orders of then Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka, were taken to the SSU Department in Simferopol, where they later fell into Russia’s hands.

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Both of these facts — the disappearance of the key witness and the case materials — speak in favor of those who “push” the “Moscow” version of Shcherban’s murder. Nevertheless, in fact, Rinat Akhmetov turned out to be the main beneficiary of Shcherban’s murder. And this is not only about assets, but also certain life lessons. But more on that in order.

First, in the conditions of the “great privatization” that had not yet properly started at that time, in 1997 Akhmetov received, supposedly for the debts of the deceased Yevhen Shcherban, not just three of the best pieces of his empire: “Industrial Union of Donbas” (IUD), “Digital Cellular Communications” (DCC), and “Hephaestus”, but businesses that soon became the platform for building “System Capital Management”.

It was from the then IUD that the current “Metinvest” and to some extent DTEK grew. After the film “Heir” appeared, “independent commentators” emerged who, with the right color on their faces, explain that there is a huge difference between the “Industrial Union of Donbas”, which in the 90s performed the functions of a clearing center, and ISD, which from the beginning of the “zeros” became the corporate center of a private metallurgical holding.

At the same time, they persistently ignore the fact that in the economy of the 90s with its barter, mutual offsets, and bills of exchange, a guy like Rinat was a critical factor for the successful functioning of IUD. On one hand, it was necessary to force the “red directors” to cooperate with the newly emerged “clearing center”.

On the other — the same bill of exchange bought on the market, for example, for 20% of its nominal value, would be accepted by Rinat’s friends at the enterprise that issued it for 100%, while people from the street wouldn’t take it at all. You can sue over this if you want, but it’s better to drop it — you’ll stay whole.

It was on such “clearing operations” that millions of dollars were made, which IUD then invested in the cheap privatization of everything that moved (primarily in the Donetsk region). Obviously, the “Industrial Union of Donbas” is Rinat’s “Koschei egg”, thanks to which he turned from a local criminal authority into the “richest Ukrainian”.

In this context, taking over “Hephaestus” with the help of the deceased Shcherban’s managers was important for Rinat not only in terms of gaining control over the largest mid-90s network of gas stations, but also because this company was one of IUD’s shareholders.

This is like appropriating the “Danko” stake in IUD after the murder of Oleksandr Momot in May 1996 (his brother Serhiy turned out to be more compliant and eventually not only stayed alive but also became a MP for two convocations), which disproportionately increased Akhmetov’s stake in the Donetsk corporation. Even formally (not to mention the conceptual layer of relationships), Rinat became the senior partner for the surviving Hayduk and Taruta in the “Industrial Union”.

It is no coincidence that a month before the premiere of “Heir”, where the role of “Hephaestus” in IUD is described in detail, SCM got rid of the gas station business line, which had been operating under the “Parallel” brand for the last 15 years. Moreover, this deal was organized not at all in the spirit of the Respectable One. Seven years ago, Akhmetov was not ready to part with “Parallel” even for $100 million. In November 2020, it was sold for $20 million (even taking into account the assets lost in the occupied territories — the discount is impressive).

But what looks even more suspicious — the buyers, about whom SCM cannot tell anything worthwhile. There is an opinion that the ears of SCM’s security director Mykola Kupyanskyi stick out behind them.

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It feels like the task was to get rid of the last business that actually came to SCM from the deceased Shcherban at any cost. Note that Akhmetov has had no relation to IUD since 2003, and to DCC, which turned into the joint with Turkcell “Astelit”, since 2015. Thus, with the sale of “Parallel”, Akhmetov finally cut off all legal ties that connected him to Yevhen Oleksandrovych.

Second, Akhmetov saw how easily and simply the division of Shcherban’s empire happened. And it would be one thing if it was only about him, the “uncrowned master” of Donbas, who, by intimidating the heirs, got DCC and “Hephaestus”. But even “shoelace” Taruta (whom the film characterizes in a Donetsk laconic way: “at the name Shcherban, he scratches nails with his ass, jumps from the chair, mol”) grabbed a solid piece of the “Industrial Union of Donbas” for himself.

That is why Akhmetov built his business taking into account the mistakes of his deceased comrade. All key assets of the “Respectable One’s” empire today have a clear and transparent business structure consisting of holding and management companies in each sector. At the top of this entire pyramid is the conglomerate of Ukrainian JSC “System Capital Management” and Cypriot SCM Holdings Ltd.

This does not prevent the existence of structures owned by Akhmetov but not integrated into this vertical, such as, for example, Luxe Holdings International, through which in 2010 the stake in “Zaporizhstal” was bought with a fight. However, this is rather an exception to the rule, used when there is a great need: when, for example, due to anti-monopoly legislation requirements, it’s better not to involve SCM.

Third, the story of the carve-up of Shcherban’s business empire, and then the IUD partners who tried to deceive the “Respectable One”, at least on “Azovstal” (which ultimately became the reason for Akhmetov’s divorce from Hayduk and Taruta in 2002), demonstrated that business partners are evil. They won’t save you from anything — not even the heirs. On the contrary, with a high degree of probability, they will behave like scavengers.

As a result, Akhmetov actively got rid of any partners in projects of completely different sizes. The only exception here is Vadym Novynskyi (minority partner in “Metinvest” and HarvEast). But this is a completely special case.

Although Novynskyi is older than Akhmetov, in favor of this Russian citizen as a junior partner is a set of qualities rarely found in one specific man, especially a billionaire owner: psychologically manageable and deprived of part of his own self (it’s enough to say that for almost 50 years, native Vadym Malkhasyan officially lived under the mask of “Vadym Novynskyi”). It’s no wonder that Novynskyi was used in their interests at different times by Viktor Chernomyrdin, Ihor Kolomoiskyi, and Alisher Usmanov. However, in the end, the strongest alliance turned out to be with Akhmetov, which has lasted for the fourteenth year.

For Rinat, Vadym is not just comfortable. After all, Novynskyi, being in the realities of modern Russia a representative of the St. Petersburg clan, is one of the communication channels with Vladimir Putin’s entourage, on which the fate of the “Respectable One’s” assets in occupied Donbas depends. And even though these enterprises are now managed by the fugitive Ukrainian young oligarch Serhiy Kurchenko, it wasn’t always like that. And it’s not a fact that this state of affairs won’t change in the near future.

Obviously, Novynskyi for Akhmetov is an exception that proves the general rule.

Fourth, and this is a lesson from a later period, Akhmetov saw how easily Shcherban’s heirs could be divided, and obviously, this became the basis for the scheme laid out in the trust agreement for the inheritance of his property by Damir, Almir, and others. Its essence is that the SCM empire does not splinter into “principalities”, but functions as a single whole, even after the death of the founding father.

At the same time, all strategic decisions must be made collegially by all three heirs — others can count, after Rinat’s death, either on a payoff in the form of money or on care until the end of their lives from System Family Management.

As we see, the deceased Shcherban was not wrong to single out Akhmetov from the general row of young and early authorities of Donbas, stating that this guy will go far. He jinxed it: we haven’t been able to stop him for 24 years already.

Author: Oleh Kalita, source "UkrRudProm"