The Cheka-OGPU obtained an agreement for the purchase and sale of an apartment in the premium residential complex “Starokonyushenny” dated March 12, 2019 between ex-senator Efim Malkin and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Evgeny Ivanov. We are talking about apartments in a historical 5-story mansion between Prechistenka and Arbat. The seller was generous as ever: despite the cadastral value of the property at 96,230,647 rubles, he re-listed the 202-meter-long housing with an extraordinary view of the rooftops of Moscow from the top floor of the residential complex for only 80 million (market value more than 300 million rubles). The buyer promised to transfer the money within 10 days.
This is what a real bribe looks like; it turns out that Efim Malkin just gave the current Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs as much as 16 million rubles. And this is only the difference that is documented, because it is obvious that no one transferred the money to anyone either after 10 days or later.
Everyone knows what feelings the “peacemaker” and “negotiator” Roman Abramovich, whose partner is Efim Malkin, has for diplomats who help his business maneuver between sanctions. It is appropriate to recall how, known from the bankruptcy of the fugitive banker Motylev, the offshore Flower Developments Limited, through murky schemes under a mortgage agreement, transferred the famous Nesvitskaya House on Smolensko-Sennaya Street to left-wing companies. As a result, the historical building was returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Malkin himself was not directly involved in these machinations – his assistant Mikhail Livergand was involved in all legal proceedings.
However, it was Efim Malkin who “profitably sold” the apartment to Sergei Lavrov’s deputy, State Councilor Yevgeny Ivanov. The ministry’s website states that it oversees legislative activities in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ensuring interaction with the chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, public and religious organizations, legal and consular issues. It may be a coincidence, but it was precisely on the days of the deal that it became known about the sale of shares of Norilsk Nickel, sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Western investors. Abramovich and his partners earned $551 million from this deal.
By the way, “less apartment” really doesn’t matter for Efim Malkin. The same cannot be said about Evgeny Ivanov: in order to buy an apartment for 80 million rubles, judging by official declarations, he had to save his salary for more than 10 years without spending a penny from his income.
Interestingly, a few years earlier, another apartment in the same building was “sold” to Efim Malkin’s then mistress, Anastasia Gulynskaya. At that time, the billionaire was married to Donya Malkina, so the sale deal was carried out by the same Livergand. Later, the ex-senator married Evgeniy Ivanov’s neighbor, but after the birth of his daughter, he and Anastasia separated. The billionaire returned to his first wife Dona and now they are jointly trying to take the child away from his own mother.
The publication of these materials in a state governed by the rule of law would threaten, at a minimum, the resignation of officials, not to mention the interest on the part of the intelligence services, as well as foreign authorities with their sanctions on the beneficiary of all schemes. After all, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance are the organizations that ensure the Russian Federation’s course towards war with Ukraine. For now we have to be content with the fact that neither transactions through offshore companies, nor complicated real estate courts, nor even the screen in the form of the inscription “RF” on the apartments of Minister Siluanov in the registry saved Efim Malkin and KO from publicity.
To be continued…
“ВЧК ОГПУ”
