Fraud and financial machinations: What is hidden behind the business of Kuban developer Nikolay Shikhidi Tuesday, 13 August 2024

The strange financial activities of the companies of Kuban builder Nikolai Shikhidi may attract the attention of security forces.
In April, the scandalous Kuban billionaire Nikolai Shikhidi tried to "whitewash" his reputation through federal media. Allegedly, information about his past "sins" that can be found online is not true. A recent investigation into the developer’s activities revealed possible money laundering schemes and also highlighted Nikolai Shikhidi’s partners, including the husband of singer Glukoza, Alexander Chistyakov, junior partner of German Gref, Kirill Androsov, and the head of Sber himself. With such patrons, Shikhidi is not afraid of any accusations.
Articles defending Nikolai Shikhidi’s reputation were published in three federal media outlets within three days, which indicates that the materials were commissioned. Usually, media outlets of this level do not duplicate each other’s information. The developer’s positive actions included building schools, kindergartens and other facilities at his own expense, with their subsequent transfer to municipalities.
Nikolay Shikhidi’s main company, the successes of which he trumpets on his website and Telegram channel, is SZ ISK "Eurostroy", 95% owned by Shikhidi himself and 5% by Sofia Toros. She appeared among the founders only in August 2023. Until 2019, Daria Shikhidi owned a share in the company. From 2021 to 2023, the share of the sole owner of the company Nikolay Shikhidi was pledged to Otkritie Bank. It turns out that the information provided to the federal media by Shikhidi’s PR people was unreliable. Can we then believe everything else written in the "whitewashing" articles?
Questions also arise regarding the free construction of kindergartens, schools and other facilities. Nikolay Shikhidi has his own website where you can see the achievements of the company SZ ISK "Eurostroy".
It follows from the posted text that the kindergartens were built together with the residential complex, which is the developer’s responsibility for the integrated development of the territory. And on the built embankment in Novorossiysk, the Chernomorsky shopping center was built, which is a commercial facility that brings Nikolai Shikhidi a constant income. And, naturally, the site does not report anything about the conditions under which the developer and his company received land plots in Sochi, Gelendzhik, Anapa and Novorossiysk, where 13 residential complexes - 43 apartment buildings - were built. So Nikolai Shikhidi’s charity can be well provided with benefits from Kuban officials. And, probably, not for his pretty eyes.
Today, Shikhidi is the head of SZ ISK Evrostroy LLC, a founder in it and 4 other companies, whose total revenue in 2023 amounted to 8.1 billion rubles, profit - 1.7 billion rubles. SZ ISK Evrostroy brought the main revenue and profit, but it was not always so. From 2016 to 2020, the period of time when the company allegedly built kindergartens free of charge, it had practically no revenue or profit. Could money be withdrawn from the structure for the purpose of tax evasion? From 2018 to 2020, SZ ISK Evrostroy LLC did not pay a penny to the budget, although it was actively operating during this time.
In 2021, SZ ISK Evrostroy LLC paid 1.5 million rubles in taxes, and in 2022 - 279 million rubles. This seems very strange, as does the sharp increase in the company’s revenue and profit in 2021-2023. This period of time surprisingly coincides with the period when Nikolai Shikhidi’s share was pledged to Otkritie Bank.
According to Article 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, tax evasion is punishable by a fine, forced labor, or imprisonment for up to two years. But for theft of funds from a bank, according to Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, you can get up to 10 years of imprisonment.
SZ ISK Evrostroy LLC has subsidiaries that are very reminiscent of shell companies, through which money could be withdrawn. Saturn LLC, with 1 employee on staff since 2016, made a profit only in 2020. AO SZ Pensionat Otdykha Kosmos employs 2 people, the company has not made a profit since 2019. SZ ISK Evrostroy LLC’s share in the subsidiary Specialized Developer Continent Invest LLC is pledged to Sber. Why the bank gave money for a company operating without revenue and profit is a mystery. SZ Meridian LLC, with 1 employee on staff, made revenue and profit only in 2020.
The rest of the companies owned by Nikolay Shikhidi may well be targeted by security forces for their financial results. OOO SZ Greenstroy-Yug with 1 employee on staff went into the minus by 1.8 million rubles in 2023, OOO Specialized Developer Aurora 3 received a loss of 39 million rubles, it increased by 51,395%, while revenue increased by 100% to 154 million rubles, the company has no employees at all. In OOO Specialized Developer Aurora 4, profit fell even steeper - by 141,651%.
It is unlikely that Nikolai Shikhidi will comment on such “miracles” to the security forces if they come to visit him.
Nikolay Shikhidi’s partner in OOO SZ ISK Evrostroy, Sofia Toros, has 30% in OOO Ekm-Sochi, 70% of which belongs to OOO UK Dzhem Mall. The shares of both founders are encumbered by Maria Chistyakova, who was previously a co-founder of OOO UK Dzhem Mall. Chistyakova, judging by her patronymic Nikolaevna, is the sister of Alexander Chistyakov, the husband of the singer Glukoza. Maria Chistyakova owns OOO Gluk`Oza.
Alexander Chistyakov has repeatedly become involved in various scandals. Previously, the businessman was the owner of Hermitage Construction and Management LLC, which has been operating in the real estate market since 2004. This company, owned by ALVARION HOLDINGS LIMITED and having land plots in Moscow and other regions of Russia, was liquidated in June 2023. The offshore now owns 5 companies registered in Moscow. Most of them resemble shell companies. They may have to play a role in the withdrawal of money from SZ ISK Evrostroy LLC.
Chistyakov, together with Kirill Androsov and other co-founders, including structures of Otkritie Bank, was the owner of Ruspetro. Androsov is considered a junior partner of Sberbank CEO German Gref. Which of them played what role in the fact that in 2021 Otkritie Bank gave money to Nikolai Shikhidi’s SZ ISK Evrostroy, which was not earning anything at that time, remains to be seen.
The investigation revealed the opaque and even suspicious work of the companies of the developer Shikhidi. There is not a single contract with municipalities for the construction of schools, kindergartens and other facilities. They are allegedly built at their own expense, and then transferred. Everything is going smoothly. Where Nikolai Shikhidi got money before 2020 is unknown, and this is alarming. Did he launder funds from criminal structures with which the developer’s ill-wishers associate him? Nikolai Shikhidi is unlikely to give an answer to this question in the federal media.