The manufacturer "Arkhyz" will be asked for loans from Sberbank. Do you still have a business? Then we go to you ... Arkhyz criminal case

In the case of large fraud with Sberbank loans, the court sent the ex-beneficiary of the Visma group Valery Geryugov under house arrest.

Valery Geryugov, who was the former beneficiary of the Visma group, which produces the Arkhyz mineral water, was detained in Moscow on April 7. The detention took place in the framework of a criminal investigation, in the last days of March, initiated by the investigative bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Moscow under Part 4 of Art. 159.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation at the request of Sberbank, the reason for which was the facts of fraudulent actions with credit resources previously issued by the bank to the Visma group. There are more than seven such episodes in the case.

According to media reports, Valery Geryugov took up business in the late 1980s, and, by his own admission, traded "everything that was traded." According to Kommersant, at first the sphere of his interests was extremely wide - from pasta to polyethylene, but later the businessman focused on the production of lemonades and mineral water and founded the Visma company. He started with the Fructis brand, later switched to the production of Narzan and Essentuki mineral water. “But then it had to be stopped under threat of legal action from the brand owners. Then we had to look for a new brand, which became “Arkhyz”, ”the newspaper notes. In 2015, Visma, which had turned into a group of companies, began to face financial difficulties. However, as it turns out from the materials of the investigation, the leaders of the company chose an unexpected and illegal way to solve them.

According to the investigation, persons from among the owners and managers of the Visma group organized the receipt of loans from Sberbank on the basis of forged financial statements of legal entities controlled by them. Investigators believe that when receiving several loans from the bank, they provided deliberately false information about the purpose of the loans and their subsequent return, after which they stole the borrowed funds, disposing of them at their own discretion.

For example, using these funds, for example, the "Geryugov group" organized the construction of another workshop for the production of water - on the basis of LLC "Sofiyskiy Gladnik" in Cherkessk, which is located outside the perimeter of the "Visma" group. In addition, this group of persons organized the theft of the finished products of the Visma group, which were in pledge - they were taken to the warehouses of Arkhyz LLC, as well as plant equipment for the production of water (production lines) - totaling 1.5 billion rubles.

With the aim of deliberately destroying the business of the "Visma" group for the period 2015-2016. The “Geryugov group” organized the renewal of licenses for water production, which, among other things, ensured the repayment of loans received, which were issued to enterprises controlled by Geryugov personally - “SBI”, “Sofiyskiy glacier”, “MasterPlus”.

The amount of Visma's debt to Sberbank is 1.8 billion rubles. Meanwhile, as the investigation suggests, loan payments were deliberately stopped back in the winter of 2014-2015.

It is noteworthy that Sberbank tried to resolve the issue of the return of credit funds peacefully - for example, Geryugov was repeatedly offered options for restructuring loans. However, instead of solving the problem in a civilized manner, against the companies of the Visma group - on the basis of fictitious debts - Mr. Geryugov organized fictitious bankruptcy procedures. In 2015, all enterprises of the Visma group on fictitious debts (with an average volume of 200-300 thousand rubles) were artificially transferred under observation procedures. The initiators were companies controlled by Geriugov, for example, "AlTrans". In addition, from the trading houses of the Visma group, which were the guarantors for the loans, all contracts for the supply of water were transferred to legal entities controlled by Geriugov.

At the moment, part of the debt of the Visma group of PJSC Sberbank has been sold under an assignment agreement to a strategic investor - Delta LLC, which plans to preserve the enterprise and develop production.

Sberbank confirmed that they had contacted law enforcement agencies on the facts of fraudulent actions with credit resources provided to the Visma group, refusing to comment in more detail until the end of the investigation. The bank also noted that in order to preserve the water production business, the Bank, together with a strategic investor and local authorities, are taking measures aimed at preserving the operability of the plant and protecting jobs.

It is noteworthy that in the publications of the media, Valery Geryugov is called "a businessman with an ambiguous reputation." And this seems to be related not only to a series of past investigations into the illegal release of Narzan. Internet resources believe that the merchant uses fly-by-night firms in his activities, his income is clearly higher than the declared ones, and his assets include a number of foreign companies (in particular, offshore companies in Cyprus and the Virgin Islands), elite mansions and apartments in Russia and abroad. - Rome, Paris, Thailand, as well as a fleet of expensive foreign cars.

According to the authors of the publications, Geryugov manages to avoid persecution by law enforcement officers thanks to the help of high-ranking patrons. Among them, Internet sources include, in particular, the former FSB general, and now the chief federal inspector in Tyumen, Andrei Rutsinsky, whose relatives, according to some information, may have business ties with the Visma Group of Companies.

By 2014, Geryugov's company was experiencing a fairly large, although not at all critical, working debt load. The main creditor of the GC was Sberbank.

"Since the beginning of the 2000s, Visma Group of Companies has repeatedly applied to Sberbank of Russia PJSC to obtain loans for the development of the enterprise, increase the volume and range of manufactured products and expand the dealer network" (from Valery Geryugov's statement to the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation) 06/08/2017). The bank willingly gave loans, and "Visma" carefully serviced them. By 2012, the company owed a little more than 1.125 billion rubles to the Security Council of the Russian Federation under all loan agreements, which, at the initiative of the credit institution, were combined into a single agreement. At the same time, the bank, without explaining the reasons, increased the rate by 1.5 times, from 11 to 15% per annum. This was the first wake-up call, which, judging by the subsequent events, was simply not heard at Visma. Or they could not have imagined that the other side would act as ... a raider.

In total, by 2014, the amount of debt of Geryugov's company to Sberbank reached 1.6 billion rubles. Realizing the gravity of the situation, the leadership of Visma began negotiations on debt restructuring. Let us recall that at that time similar negotiations were conducted by many large companies - Mechel by Igor Zyuzin, Tractor Plants by Mikhail Bolotin, whose debts amounted to tens of billions of rubles. In the same list, ChTPZ, AvtoVAZ ... They all found understanding. It turned out differently with Visma.

In parallel with the negotiations, the Sberbank begins to take seemingly illogical steps. The Bank sends an appeal to the arbitration court at the ANO "Independent Arbitration Chamber" in Stavropol with statements of claim for early collection of debt under loan agreements. The trial begins, the negotiations, in turn, continue, and not without success. The initiative is completely on the side of Sberbank - during 2015, employees of the Distressed Debt Management Department engage two third-party companies to evaluate the business (the aforementioned FBK LLC and Baker Tilly Rusaudit LLC) and are trying to get Geryugov to sign three memorandums.

In November 2015, a final memorandum on debt restructuring for 7 years was issued, which Geryugov signs personally in the presence of the head of this department, Maxim Degtyarev. But here comes a new wave of oddities: despite the agreed and existing memorandum, the credit committee of Sberbank does not even consider it at its meetings! Geryugov on this occasion addresses with letters to German Gref (copies are available in the editorial office), but the result is the same - zero. The bad idea comes that Sberbank is not going to help Geryugov's business to overcome the consequences of the crisis. Rather, on the contrary, they are doing everything to make him abandon Arkhyz. The apotheosis comes in April 2015, when Sberbank initiates the bankruptcy procedure of the Visma Group of Companies, having sent out more than 600 letters to the business partners of the Group of Companies with an official warning about the start of the bankruptcy procedure. The basic question of Roman law arises: cui bono, who benefits?

... If you make a request in Yandex for two words, "Sberbank" and "raider", then the information that falls out of the results will be very eloquent. The "main raider" of the 2011 state bank Ashot Khachaturyants, the Amurkabel case, in the Voronezh region (everyone, including our publication, told about this, from MK and Kommersant to the Federal News Agency, Andrey Karaulov's program Moment truth ") - there are a lot of plots.

Naturally, Visma's debtors stop paying the water supplier. “Immediately there was a collapse in sales - the partners were worried that we were already bankrupt, - said then the head of the legal department of the GC“ Visma ”Andrey Ukrainsky. “And some of our counterparties, having decided to work ahead of the bank, filed a lawsuit themselves.”

So who benefits?

As stated in the aforementioned statement to the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the negotiations between Visma and Sberbank were meaningless and unpromising from the outset. The fact is that with the management of the bank long time Ali Uzdenov, the former head of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Rostov-on-Don, worked closely, one of the key links in the plan for the raider takeover of Arkhyz.

Currently, Mr. Uzdenov holds the post of vice president of ... AFK Sistema. He came to this position in April 2016. Uzdenov is no stranger to Sistema - he worked for many years in the Rostov branch of Bashneft. By the way, it was Uzdenov who promoted the notorious Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko to the Department "T" of the GUEBiPK. According to media reports, the "golden colonel" began to actively work out his career rise - using threats and intimidation, he eliminated all applicants for contract contracts with PJSC Gazprom in favor of LLC NIPI NG "Peton". This little-known company, controlled by Ali Uzdenov, has signed contracts with Gazprom for 100 billion rubles in recent years.

Having assumed the position of vice president of Bashneft, Uzdenov launched a vigorous activity on projects in the south of Russia. It's time to return to the quote from the TASS message, which we gave at the very beginning of the material. Here it is in full: AFK Sistema plans to expand its investment activities in the territory of Karachay-Cherkessia, where it owns the large agricultural complex Yuzhny. This was reported today by the press service of the head and government of the KChR following the meeting of the head of the republic Rashid Temrezov with representatives of the company's management Felix Yevtushenkov and Ali Uzdenov. “Representatives of the company announced the intention of AFK Sistema to expand investment activities in the territory of the KChR and in other sectors of the economy. The meeting participants stated that the company is already seriously interested in the Arkhyz resort construction project ... ”. We will return to other participants in the meeting later.

As they say, it was Uzdenov who had the idea to "squeeze out" the business of "Visma" in favor of "Sistema". Sberbank was chosen as an ally, and the debt of Geryugov's company became the instrument of pressure.

The suspicions of the owner of "Arkhyz" were confirmed literally six months later. “I turned to the head of AFK Sistema, Vladimir Petrovich Yevtushenkov, but I was redirected to his deputy, Oleg Saydashovich Mubarakshin, whom I met in October 2016,” Geryugov said in a statement dated 06/08/2017. He openly stated that Sistema is interested in this business and that by the end of 2016 the company should be transferred to new owners, i.e. to AFK Sistema. Delta LLC was appointed as the company that was supposed to ensure the implementation of the plan.

A serious coalition was formed against Geryugov and Visma: AFK Sistema (at the forefront - Ali Uzdenov plus a partner represented by Delta LLC), Sberbank of Russia (we know the names of the employees who took part in the scheme) and - the leadership of Karachay-Cherkessia represented by the head of the republic, Rashid Temrezov. Usually, in such situations, the term provided by Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is used - “criminal community”. It was clear that a raider seizure of such a large business in a small republic was impossible without the approval and help from “above”. According to available information, at the celebration of his birthday, Rashid Temrezov publicly promised the actual head of Delta LLC Leonid Mayevsky and Felix Yevtushenkov to provide any assistance in resolving issues related to gaining control over the Visma Group.

How it was done

And the car spun. On October 6, 2016, Sberbank assigns almost the entire debt in the amount of 1,690,210,012.85 rubles under an assignment agreement in favor of Delta LLC. The discount with which the debt "went away" by Mayevsky's company is striking - 43%! Delta received it for only 968 million rubles (remember the 168 million dollars that AFK Sistema was ready to pay earlier - a good “savings” of 1000%, isn't it?). It is quite obvious that there was no economic feasibility in this scheme. Moreover, Sberbank suffered obvious damage.

Further, according to former employees of Visma Group, Uzdenov, using his connections, achieved the necessary decisions in arbitration courts: judges make decisions on procedural succession, and at the beginning of 2017, contrary to the laws in force and the conclusions of arbitration managers, bankruptcy proceedings are introduced at GC firms ... Nobody was going to bankrupt "Visma" in strict accordance with the current legislation - otherwise they would have to sell the property of "Visma" at market value, which at the time of the events exceeded 6,000,000,000 rubles, deduct the amount of debt 1,725,755,174.52 rubles, and return the remaining funds to the owners of Visma Group. The goal was simple: to take over a working enterprise at the lowest cost, using the courts and bankruptcy proceedings.

Through the Arbitration Court of the KCR, the raiders manage to push through the introduction of the bankruptcy proceedings. In this case, the bankruptcy administrator is appointed a person acting in the interests of Delta LLC. Mr. IN Maslov, the bankruptcy manager of Visma CJSC (this is the extraction and production of drinking water), removes Valery Geryugov from management and transfers the actual management of the company to an employee of Delta LLC, Alexei Baranovsky. On April 26, 2017, the last step is taken - at a meeting of the creditors' committee, which consisted of only 2 (!) People who did not have the right to vote, since they were secured creditors, Mr. Baranovsky was "elected" as its chairman. And a decision was made to continue production at ZAO Visma. In fact, production was hastily legalized in the interests of Delta LLC, i.e. AFK Sistema. In fact, Alexey Nechaev, managing director of BGP Litigation, warned about the possibility of such a scenario in December 2016. “After becoming the main creditor, Delta can try to control the bankruptcy proceedings with the help of a friendly bankruptcy trustee, whom it can recommend,” he said.

An interesting scheme of ownership of "Delta". The company is owned on an equal footing by two structures, MK Capital and YUK Vangward. The owner of the first is Vladislav Leonidovich Maevsky. The same is the name of the son of businessman Leonid Mayevsky. Vangward is owned by Cyprus-based Windrel Holdings Limited, whose owners have not been disclosed according to the Cyprus Registry of Companies. The conclusion about where the money will go (and is already going) from the water produced in Russia, in our opinion, is obvious ...

So, the invaders, as it were, resumed the release of water. But what is really going on? About 80% of the workforce has been laid off, hundreds of people in Cherkessk were left without work. According to the reports of the remaining workers, neither the technology nor the quality control of the products is observed in the production (previously, the water was checked every half hour). And the property of the company is plundered and taken out. The level of wages also fell, although the raiders called for help from the head of the KCR, who promised the workers a bright future. In fact, with the seizure of Visma, Karachay-Cherkessia lost tens of millions of rubles in taxes and hundreds of jobs. And at the same time (and already finally) the image of the region in which you can conduct a safe business. But Temrezov obviously did not think about it.

Finish off, so as not to get up?

The story of the capture and dying of "Arkhyz" would be incomplete without "werewolves in uniform." Naturally, in such a case there must be "correct" court decisions, and the necessary decisions, and timely refusals. There are more than enough of them in the Wisma case.

According to Valery Geryugov's entourage, it was at the suggestion of the members of the criminal group who seized the business from the legal owners that illegal criminal prosecution was instituted against the founder of Visma. Geryugov is clearly decided to finish off.

First, a massive "black" PR-campaign is launched in the information field. From the fan-shaped stuffing on the websites of water distributors, talking about how bad the founder of "Visma" is, in December 2016 the authors of informatics are switching to a different format. Acting according to the dense methods a la elections-1997, they release on the Internet a "rubbish" site made on their knees, as PR experts say, where they throw out either completely far-fetched "compromising evidence", or, according to the behest of Dr. friends. And of course, about himself.

Apparently, the customers of this campaign saved on PR people - the site was filled unevenly, in January, April and May 2017. That is, synchronously with the beginning of the pressure on the businessman. It will be discussed below. The quality of the messages is low, but the trend is obvious: blame Geryugov for everything you can. It is strange that he was not credited with attempting a coup d'etat in one separate republic and was not associated with the financing of ISIS (banned in Russia) and Afghan drug trafficking. Apparently, this is still ahead ...

At the same time, pressure began with the hands of the security forces.

On March 31, 2017, criminal case No. 11701007754000062 was initiated in 7 (!) Episodes. Geryugov is charged with part 4 of article 159.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Very quickly, a week later, he was illegally detained and placed under house arrest. Thus, depriving them of the opportunity to protect their interests, property and business on the spot. The press from the side of law enforcement officers is constantly growing. More than 20 (!) Investigators are appointed to the investigation team. On April 5-6, in Moscow, Karachay-Cherkessia and Rostov-on-Don, one-time searches are carried out at the firms and apartments of Visma top managers. The operation involves not only a dozen of sledakov, but also task forces and even special forces! On April 7, 2017, Valery Geryugov was charged, "Moreover, the charge is being brought against two articles of the law at once - clause 4 of part 2 of article 171 and clause 1 of part 4 of article 47 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation," says the lawyer of the legitimate owner of "Visma" , Managing Partner of the Osherov, Oniskovets & Partners Law Office Mikhail Osherov.

Let's decipher. Article 171 says that the decision must contain a description of the crime, indicating the time, place of its commission, as well as other circumstances to be proved. And Article 47 states that the accused has the right to know what he is accused of and to receive a copy of the decision to initiate a criminal case, in which he is charged as an accused. A pre-investigation check was not carried out either - again in violation of the law in the form of Articles 144 and 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation.

“You see,” Osherov continues, “Geryugov is accused of embezzling credit funds by providing the bank with knowingly false and inaccurate information. But embezzlement is illegal and gratuitous seizure of someone else's property and its use in their favor. According to the text of the resolution, my client allegedly organized the provision of financial and economic documentation of the company to the employees of Sberbank of Russia, which contains deliberately false and inaccurate information. What information is this, what circumstances - nothing is said about this in the resolution! "

Moreover, Osherov continues, the financial and economic documentation of the company provided to the bank, which was necessary for obtaining a loan, was the object of a detailed study of the bank's specialists. “It has been recognized as authentic more than 10 times! This is confirmed by internal banking documents, including the opinion of the credit department and the minutes of the meeting of the credit committee, ”he says.

In addition, Valery Geryugov is accused of creating conditions for the impossibility of collecting the debt by the bank. This statement is also not true. The value of the assets, estimated at 6 billion rubles, has always ensured the possibility of the bank's foreclosure on the debtor's property and the possibility of Visma Group of Companies returning the loan funds.

There were more than enough inexplicable oddities in the Wisma case. The complaint sent by lawyers to the General Prosecutor's Office on May 3, 2017 has not yet been answered. In this connection, on August 23, a second appeal was sent. Only on July 18, 2017, a forensic accounting examination was appointed, the subject of which is business transactions on the accounts of CJSC Visma, LLC Visma Lux, LLC Trading House Visma-Center. It turns out that the investigation for 4 months (!) Did not take measures to investigate the size and condition of the assets of Visma Group, the organization's ability to meet its obligations, and did not try to determine the amount of possible damage. That is, it did nothing to obtain fundamental data for the investigation of the criminal case. Hence the conclusion suggests itself: the case against Geriugov was opened prematurely, without any basis. Simply put, by order.

On June 8 of this year, a statement was sent to the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia about what was committed against V.A. crime (we referred to this statement above) by employees of Delta LLC, AFK Sistema, PJSC Sberbank of Russia, officials of the administration of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, a deputy of the State Duma, the leadership of the KCR and other unidentified persons. In response - new violations of the law by the investigation. Senior investigator Artem Ranchenkov, who, incidentally, made a career in the Pussy Riot case and is suspected of involvement in the assassination attempt on lawyer Nikolai Gorokhov, wrote in response that this crime statement would be considered ... during the investigation of criminal case No. 11701007754000062, according to which he himself Geryugov is charged as a defendant. This decision grossly violates the requirements of the criminal procedure legislation of the Russian Federation (Articles 144-145 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation), as well as the rights of Valery Geryugov and may be one of the forms of concealing a crime from registration and registration. At the moment, the senior investigator in the case has been replaced and he is L. V. Krasnova, who, according to the established tradition, continues to conduct the investigation with an accusatory bias.

Another pseudo-crime that Geryugov is charged with is the withdrawal of funds under the guise of payment for services, as well as the export of finished products of the Visma Group, which are pledged, under the guise of selling them. The first is, to say the least, strange - all payments of Visma Group in the course of operating activities were monitored and agreed by the employees of Sberbank of Russia, and did not violate the terms of the concluded agreements. There was no sale of the pledge either.

And now, instead of a summary, a few numbers. Since March 2017, Valery Geryugov's lawyers have filed 18 complaints of violations by law enforcement, judicial and supervisory structures. The addressees are the Prosecutor General's Office, the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Moscow City Court and the Tverskoy District Court. In response - 18 refusals. Here are the names and positions of those who refused: the deputy head of the 2nd department of the ROPD department of the SD of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia A.V. Shcherbakov, judges of the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow, Zatomskaya O.Yu., Krivoruchko A.V. and Ermakova E.V., judges of the Moscow City Court Nikolenko A.AND. and Fisenko E.V., Ivanova E.A.

Those who are supposed to defend business behave in a very strange way. The appeal to the Presidential Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs Boris Titov of April 19 (!) Still remains without a clear answer. Obviously at someone's request, the Center for Public Procedures "Business against Corruption" also slows down the work. The conclusion on the documents submitted on the same day about the illegal persecution of the head of "Visma" is also not ready.

And the curtain of informational silence is clearly hanging over the Wisma case. Judge for yourself - on August 29, at the insistence of investigator LV Krasnova, the court extended the businessman's house arrest for another 3 months. And again we are faced with the typical symptoms of information war - even the ubiquitous legal information portal Pravo.ru did not report this! Yes, it gives 10 links at the request of "Geryugov". But there is no information on extending the house arrest. Is it not important at all? Or someone ordered the topic to be “closed”? Very much like that.

But questions remain. Why don't even conditionally independent media write about the Geriugov case? Why are all business representatives and organizations silent? Why are the specialized associations of the food industry silent? What is the position of Mr. Tkachev's department? Where are the deputies and parties who, even out of selfish interest, could “work” with the topic? Where are the representatives of the administration of the North Caucasus Federal District - after all, we are not talking about the fate of the stall, but about something serious on a national scale, not only of the 09th region, business, the fate of thousands of people? About the trust of the authorities, finally, and about the distrust of normal foreign investors who could come to us, despite all kinds of sanctions, but now, seeing how the main bank of Russia (the state one, moreover), together with the recent "enemy of the state" is engaged in raiding, here it is for sure won't come? Nobody thinks about it? Or is it completely all the same and do not care at all? Including instructions from the President?

We will follow the development of events around the Visma Group of Companies

The detachment of personal bankrupts in Russia has been replenished with another well-known business person. It was Valery Geryugov, the beneficiary of the Visma group, which dispenses water under the Arkhyz and Essentuki brands. Sberbank, to which the merchant owes 1.8 billion rubles, is demanding to let the state of the mineral tycoon downwind. At the same time, in the rating of the largest producers of mineral water, Visma ranks fourth with a market share of about 3.5%. Experts say: fatal management mistakes led the business to collapse.

"I'm great. This is a business, it is striped: there is a white stripe, there is a dark one. I see no reason to be upset about this. " Valery Geryugov talks philosophically about the collapse of his mineral empire. The only beneficiary of the Visma group of companies does not seem to be on the verge of bankruptcy and is not listed among the malicious defaulters of Sberbank, which owes 1.8 billion rubles. By the way, Geryugov personally is the surety for this debt, i.e. in the event of the collapse of the empire, he himself will be wrapped to the skin.

In general, they say about Valery Geryugov that he is a man with quirks. The 53-year-old business owner with a billion-dollar turnover, who once flooded all of Russia with his mountain mineral water, lives not in some fashionable district of Moscow, but in his hometown of Cherkessk, occupies a spacious, but by no means a luxurious house and goes to work.

In total, the company of the "modest" North Caucasian tycoon owes 2 billion rubles. The Arkhyz brand, as well as the production assets of the Visma group, are pledged by Sberbank, the enterprises record a landslide decline in sales of mineral water, Kommersant reports.

“The decline in sales in our country happened because a lot of people left abroad for permanent residence. They were just our clients ", - explains Geryugov in his ironic manner. This is hard to believe. Experts note: the group was brought to bankruptcy by personnel leapfrog and several important managerial miscalculations, and not by a group of Arkhyz fans, which suddenly changed tastes and now quenches their thirst with water from another manufacturer.

From pasta to mineral water

Geryugov, in his own words, came to business in the early 90s. The initial capital "took in his pocket": after leaving the army in the late 1980s, the former tanker first traded "everything that was traded", and then decided to go to the manufacturers. Together with his brother in his native Cherkessk, he opened the company "Visma", produced pasta, polyethylene ... Soon there was an idea to pour Fructi "s lemonade. However, at the beginning of the 2000s, the creator of the favorite drink, Lemonade Joe, began to confidently crowd out other producers of" fizzy ". after soda, the mineral water "Essentuki" and "Narzan" appeared on the market. Geryugov made the main bet. But he chose brands unsuccessfully: "Essentuki" was then bottled by dozens of other companies. The name was devoid of originality. "Narzan" and completely brought the businessman to court This brand belonged to another entrepreneur Vladimir Borodavkin, who did not want to share with anyone the glory of the Karachay-Circassian source. Geryugov had to look for a new brand. The source was found in the village of Arkhyz, which means “beautiful girl” in Russian. However, to win love buyers of the new mineral water did not succeed immediately.

At first, Visma supplied water to the southern regions of Russia, but there it had to compete with a strong local producer - the brands Pilgrim, Birba, and the producers of Mercury. Things began to go well when Arkhyz entered the Moscow market: despite the fact that there were no fewer rivals here, consumer demand was also extremely high. Armen Dzhigarkhanyan helped to teach the population to drink "life-giving and amazingly tasty" mineral water, or rather a commercial with him in the lead role, for which he paid 300 thousand dollars to Geryugov. In it, the eminent actor brewed tea "Arkhyz" and told how useful the iodine contained in the water is. The advertisement worked: the company's sales increased more than twice: in 2003, Visma's turnover amounted to almost 300 million rubles against 124 million a year earlier.

On this topic

By 2006, Geryugov's small company had grown to the size of an empire. Visma entered the top ten largest water producers on the Russian water market, controlling a 3.7% share. Three factories in Arkhyz, Cherkessk and Pyatigorsk produced 1.35 million liters of water per day. Two years later, the company almost doubled its capacity.

At that time, Arkhyz, although it was considered the locomotive of sales, providing 90% of the turnover, was no longer the only promoted brand of Visma. On the shelves there were also bottles with water "Arkhyzik", "Slavyanovskaya", drinks with the taste of berries and fruits "Vitalina", energy Mega Vita and more.

The source of money is dry

Visma's problems are the consequences of the crisis, says Dmitry Petrov, President of the Union of Producers of Soft Drinks and Mineral Waters. The volume of drinking and mineral water in 2015 amounted to 5.6 billion liters - a decrease of 5.8%.

“The Russian consumer, for the most part, did not particularly favor bottled drinking water before, and during the crisis began to favor even less,” - says Petrov. According to him, the entire market of drinking and mineral water, if it does not work at a loss, is on the verge of profitability.

However, it would be a mistake to write off all the troubles of "Visma" only on the turbulence of the Russian economy, says the same Dmitry Petrov. Arkhyz's money began to evaporate a little earlier. At first, the KvasCo Bottlers company, which bottled Pershin kvass, tried to bankrupt Geryugov and sued him 54.2 million rubles. After the population "Sberbank". The management of the credit institution demands to declare Valery Geryugov bankrupt, because he acted as a guarantor for loans issued to the companies of the group in 2012. Sberbank sent a corresponding statement at the end of May to the Arbitration Court of Karachay-Cherkessia,

According to bankers, "Visma" was mired in loans, which technical re-equipment factories and replenishment of working capital. The company was in no hurry to pay off debts. Payments were stopped in 2014.

Geryugov explains all the troubles of his group simply - the consumer cheated on him. So, in 2014, sales of Arkhyz fell by as much as 40%.

However, according to "Money", the reason lies elsewhere. When the crisis hit, Visma, operating in the upper part of the middle price segment, decided to take a risky step: to reposition its products and make them much more expensive. The logic was as follows: set the price that the imported water had before the crisis, for example, 60-70 rubles. instead of the previous 33-37 rubles. for a one and a half liter bottle. The calculation would be that the consumer will refuse imported mineral water, which has significantly jumped in price, and will pay more attention to Arkhyz, even if it has also risen in price. This, in the opinion of "Deneg", was the fatal mistake - some retailers simply abandoned the "beautiful girl". Nobody wanted to pay that kind of money for water even with "natural force". In 2015, Visma chose to return it and returned the previous price. It did not help to revive the business. Market share was irretrievably lost: according to Nielsen estimates, in two years, its sales decreased by 40%.

Many experts also see Geryugov's miscalculation in vague advertising support. The water sold at a premium price did not seem like an “elite” drink to consumers. The PR people weren't convinced of this.

Illiterate management is another aspect that prompted the collapse. According to Kommersant, Valery Geryugov changed managers like gloves - he demanded quick results from managers, and when this did not work out, he parted with people.

The geographic factor also had a negative impact on business: Visma is quite remote from Moscow and the Central Federal District, so its logistics costs reach up to 30% of the cost of production. All this together led to the fact that Arkhyz is gradually disappearing from store shelves.

The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow last Saturday put under house arrest 54-year-old Valery Geryugov, the former beneficiary of the Visma group of companies, whose structures produce the popular Arkhyz mineral water. The businessman is suspected of stealing loans from Sberbank for 1.8 billion rubles. Mr. Geryugov himself insisted in court that he was ready to agree to any conditions for debt restructuring and even signed the corresponding memorandum developed by Sberbank, but the credit institution did not approve it in the end.

The Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation petitioned for the conclusion of Valery Geryugov under house arrest, which is in the process of a criminal case on fraud in the field of lending on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159.1). Police believe that by remaining at large, the suspect can obstruct the course of the investigation, put pressure on witnesses or abscond. In turn, Mr. Geryugov and his defense insisted that none of the arguments listed by the investigator had any basis. As the lawyer Mikhail Osherov told Kommersant, his client tried to convince the court that this criminal case was initiated solely in order to seize his business. However, the judge Oleksiy Krivoruchko, who was considering the petition of the Investigative Department, stopped the suspect, stating that at the meeting only the question of the measure of restraint was being decided, and the circumstances of the criminal case were not considered. As a result, the request of the defense of Valery Geryugov for the appointment of a preventive measure in the form of a recognizance not to leave or a bail in the amount of 2 million rubles. The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow rejected it, sending the suspect under house arrest for two months.

As Kommersant has already told, the businessman was detained last Friday by employees of the GUEBiPK Ministry of Internal Affairs in the framework of a case initiated by representatives of Sberbank at the request of law enforcement agencies. It spoke about the fraudulent embezzlement of loans for 1.8 billion rubles, allocated back in 2012 to the Visma group of companies, the beneficiary of which was Mr. Geryugov. One of the most famous products that its structures produce is the Arkhyz mineral water.

According to the investigation, faced with financial difficulties in 2015, Visma stopped servicing loans received from Sberbank, and soon after that the bankruptcy proceedings of the enterprises belonging to the group of companies began. At the same time, the law enforcement agencies do not exclude that it could have been initiated by firms controlled by the same Mr. Geryugov.

In turn, the businessman's lawyer Mikhail Osherov told Kommersant that his client had been credited with Sberbank since 2002. “Debts were constantly restructured. My client was ready for this and at the end of 2014, when he signed the corresponding memorandum developed by Sberbank, - the lawyer Osherov told Kommersant. - But in the end, the credit institution itself, for some reason, did not approve it. Instead, in October 2016, Sberbank sold under an assignment agreement half of Visma's debt to Delta LLC. In his testimony to the investigator, Valery Geryugov says that his criminal case was initiated with the sole purpose of taking over his business. "

Valery Geryugov, whose structures produced the famous Arkhyz mineral water, was charged in a criminal case of fraud totaling about $ 2 billion.

As it became known to Kommersant, the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia completed the investigation and brought the final version of the charge to the former beneficiary of the Visma group of companies Valery Geryugov, whose structures produced the Arkhyz mineral water. Together with him in a criminal case on fraudulent theft of Sberbank funds received in the form of loans totaling about 2 billion rubles, are two former top managers of Visma, one of whom is on the wanted list.

According to Kommersant's information, on Tuesday evening, in the premises of the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Gazetny Pereulok, investigators charged Valery Geryugov in the final version of fraud in the field of lending on an especially large scale (part 4 of Art. 159.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), for which up to ten years of imprisonment. In addition to him, the investigators also brought a similar charge against two former executive directors of the enterprise, Lyuaze Doroshenko and Ulan Borlakov. It should be noted that the businesswoman is under recognizance not to leave. Meanwhile, Mr. Borlakov managed to escape from the investigation, was put on the federal wanted list, and therefore he was charged in absentia.

According to the investigation, Valery Geryugov, in 2012-2014, with the help of his top managers and some "persons not identified by the investigation" received loans from Sberbank totaling 1.8 billion rubles. to replenish working capital and purchase new equipment. Initially, loan payments were made, but at the end of 2014 the borrowers stopped servicing their debt. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, soon after that, the borrowers, as well as their guarantors, who were part of the Visma group, began bankruptcy proceedings. Since the initiators of the bankruptcy were firms allegedly controlled by Valery Geryugov, this made it possible to appoint “friendly” temporary managers, take advantage of the situation by delaying the monitoring procedure for more than a year and a half, and during this time withdraw the main production facilities and assets of Visma. In particular, during searches on the territory of the Sofiysky Glacier company, allegedly affiliated with Valery Geryugov, the main production equipment of Visma was found, which was pledged by PJSC Sberbank, which was removed from the enterprise. At the same time, according to the investigators, the loans themselves from Sberbank were obtained using “distorted financial statements,” and then huge sums were simply stolen through fictitious transactions and fly-by-night firms. It should be noted that Valery Geryugov is well known as a major businessman who started trading back in the 1980s after being fired from the Soviet army. He tried different branches of production, but his main and favorite brainchild was mineral water - at first it was about Essentuki and Narzan, but then Arkhyz became the main brand, named after the place of a high-mountain spring and quickly gained popularity among customers.

Some time ago, the heads of Sberbank wrote to law enforcement agencies about the fraudulent theft of their credit funds - about 1.8 billion rubles. In April last year, Valery Geryugov was detained in Moscow by operatives of the GUEBiPK Ministry of Internal Affairs, a case was opened against him, and with the approval of the court he was placed under house arrest.

Valery Geryugov's lawyer, Mikhail Osherov, confirmed to Kommersant the fact of the final indictment. He specifically noted that his client still does not admit his guilt. “It is not very clear to us how the investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs could bring charges when the financial and analytical examination appointed by the investigator himself has not yet been completed,” Mr. Osherov said. He also noted that in the final version, the number of criminal episodes imputed to his client was reduced from seven to three, although the amount of damage itself remained the same. “Valery Aslanbekovich (Geryugov - Kommersant) is confident in his innocence, he himself several times wrote statements about the commission of crimes against him - both to the investigators and the business ombudsman Boris Titov, but they haven’t received any answers yet,” - explained Mikhail Osherov. With reference to his client, he told his version of what had happened: a criminal case was artificially initiated against the businessman, which was needed only to take away his main assets - Visma CJSC, where he was listed as a co-owner and general director. In any case, after his removal and arrest, the production of Arkhyz was resumed, but already by other entrepreneurs who bought back the debts of Visma from Sberbank. The bank, which was recognized as a victim in the criminal case, could not promptly provide comments.