Montenegrin businessman Zoran - Ćoćo Bećirović accused his until recently main partner with whom he bought the Budva hotel Avala and numerous attractive land locations on the coast, Igor Lazurenko, of fraud. That was one of the reasons for the Moscow company TNK-VR, where the controversial Russian was a top manager, to file a criminal complaint for the embezzlement of 13 million dollars.
The Russian business daily "Vedomosti" revealed who is the mysterious Russian partner of Bećirović, with whom the business cooperation broke after a decade.
Bećirović and Lazurenko, who met ten years ago, were a tandem that managed to buy real estate in Montenegro worth a total of 78,5 million dollars, and that figure is in the documents of the TNK-VR company. The elite hotel Avala in Budva, the Bjanka in Kolašin first came into their possession, after which investments followed, from the land complex in the hinterland of Drobni pijesak beach, through Režević, to Kolašin.
Bećirović and Lazurenko, who met ten years ago, were a tandem that managed to buy real estate worth a total of 78,5 million dollars in Montenegro.
The Russian media reports that the lawsuit against Igor Lazurenko revealed a scheme that the company assessed as corrupt.
"Such an approach is unacceptable for us and we will clean up this infection, we will break the backbone (of the schemes)," promised the CEO of TNK-VR Herman Han last year.
It was Han who was the main address that Bećirović turned to, after doubting his business cooperation with Lazurenko.
The package also includes the liquidation of Bećirović's company
At the end of July and the beginning of August, Han launched two legal proceedings in the High Court in London, accusing his former manager Lazurenko of organizing fraudulent schemes through which he embezzled millions of dollars from the company. On August 14, the court in London made a decision to prohibit Lazurenka and the affiliates that are in business with him from disposing of assets estimated at 39 million euros.
It was at that time that the High Court of Justice of England and Wales initiated the liquidation of Bećirović's company Beppler & Jacobson LTD England - Budva, which is managed by the Montenegrin Real Estate Administration for a large land complex in the very center of Budva, opposite the Old Town, on which the Avala hotel was built. with fairies.
The company TNK-VR simultaneously turned to the District Court of the US State of Arkansas with a request to implement restrictive measures against the company Roychamp Trading LLC., which, as they suspect in the company TNK-VR, is also connected to Lazurenko. It was through this company that Bećirović bought four hectares of land in the hinterland of Drobni Pijesk, for which legal proceedings are being held in the Basic Court of Kotor. Locals sold other people's land to Bećirović, so the real owners, mostly indigenous families, have already managed to win several disputes.
Cooperation started with Avala
The Russian "Vedomosti" writes that "Bećirović turned to Han in September of last year in the hope of saving his business, which he thought was made with a Russian businessman."
The newspaper reports that Bećirović said that he met Lazurenko in 2002, when the latter was looking for investment opportunities in Montenegro, and then he suggested investing in the Avala hotel in Budva, which was to be privatized.
"According to the words of the Montenegrin businessman, Lazurenko liked the idea, and he proposed cooperation to Bećirović, emphasizing that he would work in the interest of Herman Hahn. Flattered by such a proposal, Bećirović accepted it," writes "Vedomosti".
Avala was bought by Bećirović's company Bepler and Jakobson from the hotel group Budvanska Riviera nine years ago for 3,2 million euros, after the judgment of the High Court, which, even after the annulled tender, allows that company, as the second-ranked one, to buy the most elite hotel in Budva up to that time. . "Vijesti" exclusively announced at the time that it was the sister of DPS leader Milo Đukanović, Ana Kolarević, who was first a member of the judicial council that made such a decision, and shortly thereafter left the judicial function and became the official representative of Bepler and Džekobson.
The Russian media reports that the privatization of Avala was successful, and the partners acquired another hotel in Montenegro under the same conditions - the former Bjelasica, which after a complete renovation was named Bjanka. The Moscow newspaper reported that the value of both hotels is estimated at 150 million dollars. At the same time, Lazurenko, allegedly on Han's behalf, bought several plots of land in Montenegro for 12 million dollars, the value of which is now estimated at 5 million, and a newspaper (Publika-Republika), paying an additional two million for it.
Reacted when removed from work
Bećirović and Lazurenko were a tandem for the purchase of valuable real estate in Montenegro. It started from Avala, where the sister of DPS leader Ana Kolarević played a significant role, through Bjanka, land in the hinterland of Drobni pijesak beach, Režević...
"Then, for some reason, Bećirović began to doubt the sources of funding for those projects, which is why his relationship with Lazurenko was damaged. The Montenegrin businessman was removed from his job, so he decided to directly address Han. He replied that nothing he does not know about Montenegrin hotels and that he did not appoint Lazurenka as his financial representative", the paper announced.
Based on the report of Bećirović and some other partners, Han ordered the conduct of an internal investigation in the company, which, as "Vedomosti" reported, showed that Lazurenko and his relatives own real estate in Moscow, as well as palaces and huge land in the prestigious areas of Sub-Moscow. . The total value of Russian assets alone is estimated at $25 million.
It is recorded in the company's documents that during his work at TNK-VR from 2003 to April 2012, Lazurenko's income, including bonuses, did not exceed ten million dollars. The company submitted the results of the investigation to the police, and in June 2012, a criminal investigation began in Lazuren's absence. The manager himself, according to TNK-VR, left Russia at the end of April or beginning of May and currently lives in London. "Vedomosti" was unable to get in touch with Lazurenko and his spokesperson. However, at the end of July, the "Bloomberg" agency announced that the former top manager of TNK-VR accused Herman Hahn of accepting bribes from high-ranking officials and illegally transferring hundreds of millions of dollars.
Oil business and money transfer to Cyprus
Lazurenko was also involved in the privatization of numerous companies in Russia. The Russian newspaper announced that the management of the TNK-VR company learned about the schemes for which Lazurenko was accused in March 2012, when the company's executive director, Han, was approached by the co-owner of N-trans, Konstantin Nikolayev. He told him that at the beginning of 2010, Lazurenko negotiated with representatives of Transoil (which is claimed in the lawsuit to be owned by N-trans), with which the company TNK-VR has a contract for the transportation of oil and oil derivatives.
During those negotiations, Lazurenko allegedly said that if the transport company wanted to do business with TNK-VR, then it had to produce "significant payments". From January 2010 to December 2011, Transoil "transferred 3 million dollars to the account of Latvian and Cypriot banks and handed another four million dollars to Lazurenka in cash".
As evidence for his claims, the co-owner of N-trans submitted one of the payment orders received from Transoil. In the documents of the company TNK-VR, it is recorded that Han was not aware of these payments and that he did not initiate or approve these transactions.
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