However, Musaev had no chance to buy global Forbes even without sanctions – after all, in the USA they monitor the purity of transactions, and there are many questions about the origin of the capital of the Dagestan billionaire. Back in 2009, he was expelled from the post of deputy general director of the All-Russian Exhibition Center, where he ended up under the patronage of his father-in-law, Ramazan Abdulatipov, who was close friends with the mayor of the capital, Yuri Luzhkov. Soon, Musaev’s violations regarding the rental of pavilions at reduced prices became known. Then the state was missing 1 billion rubles, and Musaev went to America to engage in multimillion-dollar venture investments.
However, Musaev turned around in a big way in 2013-2017, when Abdulatipov headed his native Dagestan. In those years, clanism, corruption, and trade in positions reached their highest level in the republic.
With the arrival of Abdulatipov, Musaev immediately headed the executive committee of the Strategic Council in Dagestan. The new, essentially public organization had very broad budgetary powers. Confident in the power of his father-in-law, the venture capitalist did not deny himself anything. And pretty soon he got into trouble with the withdrawal of financial resources from the republican budget, losing his position. Then Abdulatipov made every effort to terminate the relevant criminal case.
Using the influence of his father-in-law, Musaev actively lobbied for the appointment of the people he needed to leadership positions in Dagestan. A striking example is Shamil Isaev, the brother of businessman and former deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Rizvan Isaev. At the direction of Abdulatipov, Isaev was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Dagestan in December 2015. For this, the brother of the newly-minted Deputy Prime Minister paid with a very valuable asset – the Krasnodar ZIP joint-stock company. This company has an expensive land plot with an area of 12 hectares in the center of Krasnodar (cadastral value – 1.3 billion rubles), as well as a recreation center in the Tuapse district with an area of 2.7 hectares (cadastral value – 43 million rubles).
In February 2016, people controlled by Musaev became beneficiaries of the legal shareholders of Krasnodar ZIP. In essence, it was a bribe – which may have paid off, but it certainly did not bring happiness to the Isaevs. Two years later, Shamil Isaev was removed from the post of Deputy Prime Minister of Dagestan and sent to prison for 16 years based on the results of his “work.” And Musaev still makes a profit from renting out the premises of Krasnodar ZIP.
That same summer it became known that the dying Krasnodar ZIP had changed its owner – a controlling stake was bought by a little-known Dagestan businessman for a ridiculous 200 million rubles. Which, of course, is more like withdrawing assets at a reduced cost than a fair deal.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”
