The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine has cancelled the re-registration of Russian oligarch Mikhail Gutseriev’s business to a Turkish citizen, cow farm owner Mesut Dogan, upholding a complaint filed by the Bureau of Economic Security. The relevant order was published on the website of the Ministry of Justice on 6 September 2024, reports Komersant ukrainskyi
with reference to Trap Aggressor.
As the Trap Aggressor team pointed out earlier, Gutseriev is trying to avoid sanctions by transferring his companies to his relatives. The Ministry of Justice confirmed that the re-registration of MLP-Chaika, one of the largest logistics complexes in Ukraine, was illegal and cancelled the relevant actions.
In December 2022, Gutseriev’s business was re-registered to a Turkish citizen, Mesut Dogan, and Trap Aggressor reported on this in January 2023. It took the Ministry more than a year to respond to this violation.
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Case background
on 25 August 2022, the Pechersk Court seized 80,000 sq m of MLP-Chaika’s logistics facilities, but less than a month later the seizure was cancelled and the premises were re-registered to a Turkish businessman.
According to Trap Aggressor, the Bureau of Economic Security filed a complaint as part of an investigation into tax evasion, finding that the real owner of MLP-Chaika was the sanctioned Gutseriev. According to the detectives, UAH 75 million was withdrawn from the company’s accounts in favour of individuals linked to Russia. While the complaint was being considered, the company tried to withdraw more than UAH 240 million, but the BES blocked these funds.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposed sanctions on Gutseriev on 19 October 2022, banning him from disposing of assets in Ukraine for 10 years. The European Union also imposed sanctions on Gutseriev in June 2021, and his attempts to challenge them have been unsuccessful.
The Turkish Embassy in Ukraine has already reacted to the decision of the Ministry of Justice, claiming that the rights of Dogan, to whom Gutseriev’s business was transferred, were allegedly violated. According to Trap Aggressor, Mesut Dogan is a motocross instructor from Antalya who also allegedly owns a small cow farm.
Author: Alyona Kaplina