MINSK, 21 Sep — Sputnik. The well-known Belarusian businessman Yury Chizh, who was released from the Minsk pre-trial detention center this weekend, compensated the state for the damage, but during the time he was in custody, part of the property was seized, some segments of the business suffered due to the actions of the co-owners of Triple, another part real estate pledged to banks.
Sputnik analyzed in which industries Chizh suffered the most damage and collected expert opinions on whether the businessman will be able to restore his influence and weight in the TOP Belarusian business.
Pay your taxes and sleep well
Yury Chyzh was detained on March 11 of this year. The businessman was suspected of tax evasion. According to the head of the KGB Valery Vakulchik, the amount of damage to the state amounted to 238.7 billion non-denominated rubles (about $12 million). Until mid-September, he was in the KGB detention center. Last weekend, it became known that Chizh was released from the pre-trial detention center, as he fully repaid the damage caused to the state.
On the day of the parliamentary elections, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that the damage caused by Chizh to the state is estimated "either at 12, or at least 13 million dollars." At the same time, the head of state noted that, as a rule, when paying off damages, its amount is multiplied by one or another coefficient, and made it clear that there is a special demand from those businessmen who "were next to the president", and, consequently, a special coefficient .
Triple office in Minsk
Thus, it is still not known exactly how much the businessman paid in exchange for his own freedom and whether it was fully paid.
Here it is worth recalling the losses of Triple and the debts that Chizh's business partners had. That is, the actual amount of financial losses is more impressive than it seems at first glance.
What was and what is left?
Before Chyzh's arrest, Triple, in addition to the oil business, was investing in residential and commercial real estate Minsk, provided construction services, was engaged in the sale of building materials through a subsidiary of Magnus Group, transport services, and agribusiness.
According to open sources, Chizh's main assets, in addition to Triple, also include Neftekhimtrading (production and sale of petroleum products and petrochemicals in Belarus and abroad, development of a network of its own filling stations), Belneftegaz, Neonafta, TripleTechno, Berezovsky plant of silicate products, TripleDecor, QuartzMelProm.
Chizh is also engaged in the implementation of an investment project for the development of the Khotislavsky chalk deposit. He owns the company "Altersolutions", "Prostormarket" (a network of hypermarkets "Prostor"), "Triplestyle" ( retail food, ready-made clothing). The businessman's assets also include the Aquatriple company (production of drinks), the Logoisk sports complex, a chain of restaurants, and sports and entertainment facilities. In addition, the businessman owns the pharmaceutical company Triplefarm, Triplemetaltrade.
© Sputnik / Viktor Tolochko
Reconstruction of the stadium "Dynamo"
Chyzh was also involved in the implementation of landmark construction projects - his structures were building hotel complex on the banks of the Svisloch in Minsk, known as the Kempinski Hotel, and also carried out the reconstruction of the Dynamo stadium. The businessman's assets include the famous House of Chizh on Nemiga in Minsk and a modern new office on Pobediteley Avenue in the capital.
As part of the investigation of the criminal case against Chizh, his property was seized. In particular, all the businessman's property, including a house in Drozdy, as well as a residence in the Logozhesk cottage village near Logoisk, fell under arrest. Also under arrest was the property that belonged to his closest relatives - his wife and son.
During the arrest of the businessman, part of his property - the Arena City shopping center and two ProStore hypermarkets - were pledged to Belarusian banks for a total amount of about $124 million.
Not sold but leased back
It was the fate of Chizh's capital real estate, in contrast to the main sources of his income - oil refining, development activities, the production of building materials and the development of subsoil - for obvious reasons, was in the center of public attention.
Especially if we take into account the difficulties with the occupancy of goods in hypermarkets, the buyers of which are residents of the sleeping areas of Minsk. At a September press conference, Lukashenka, speaking about the Chizh case, admitted that the assortment of stores was reduced due to problems in the business of the disgraced oligarch, and the city authorities were forced to take up the solution to the problem.
In September, it became known that Arena-City and ProStore hypermarkets were not sold to banks, but were taken into a leaseback procedure. Under this scheme, real estate sold to banks can be bought back by the former owner. “BPS-Sberbank and Belagroprombank leased back these objects, as well as the parking lot on Kamenogorskaya Street, another property of Chizh. At the same time, some objects were pledged to banks far from the first time,” a source in banking said in an interview with Sputnik circles.
The funds received from leaseback transactions were used to repay loans taken earlier for the construction of these facilities and to pay debts to suppliers of goods.
The companies of the Triple group are planning to buy all these objects back into their ownership.
Yury Chizh still remains the owner of Prostor-Trade CJSC, and his son Sergey Chizh is now the director.
Oil refining questionable
The Triple group of companies, co-owned by Chizh, is known not only as an oil trader. She has been engaged in this activity since 2002 and until mid-2012 she felt more than confident in this area. After the scandal with solvents and thinners, the turnover had to slow down, and since mid-2012, the oil trading division of Triple has been engaged exclusively in tolling oil processing and exporting oil products, mainly to Ukraine.
“After a sharp drop in prices for oil and petroleum products, the oil business has ceased to be so profitable. In addition, the conditions for working on the Ukrainian market are the instability of the hryvnia exchange rate and constant doubts about the solvency of counterparties, as well as actions customs services Ukraine was not allowed to increase turnover," a representative of Ukrainian oil trading circles said in an interview with Sputnik. He drew attention to the fact that from the very beginning of 2016, the volume of tolling processing at Belarusian refineries decreased to a minimum of several percent.
"In fact, state givers are the Belarusian oil company and Belorusneft - ousted private traders from this sphere. The need to work on a strict prepayment, including currency risks in the final price and delays in customs clearance have led to the fact that private Belarusian companies have practically left the Ukrainian market for imported fuel," the source said. According to him, all this is true for Triple.
© Photo: TRIPLE LLC
Speaking about the prospects of Chizh's company in the oil sector, he noted that it is possible to restore former positions only under certain conditions. This is the growth of oil prices, and the stabilization of the Ukrainian currency market. “But, as far as I know, it is not so easy to get access to oil refining in Belarus, for this you need to have those who will lobby your interests in the upper echelons of power. If trusting relationships are lost, what can we talk about,” the interlocutor said agencies.
At the same time, Belarusian participants in the oil market predict that the network of filling stations operating under the Triple brand will remain in the same format. At the same time, they note that now retail trade in petroleum products on the domestic market is profitable only if there is a large segment of related services.
“According to the conditions of the Belarusian market, you will not set prices higher than those of Belneftekhim. You can lower it, but it makes no sense. Now the profitability of fuel sales is good if it is zero. Gas stations survive at the expense of shops, car services, and other services,” he said.
Construction and development of subsoil in question
The interlocutors also recalled Chizh's projects related to the production of building materials, construction and development of mineral resources.
In this regard, they noticed that the real estate market is experiencing better times especially when it comes to commercial real estate. In addition, Minsk has an overabundance of office buildings and shopping centers, about hotel business and you don't have to speak. Due to the reduction in construction, including housing, there is also an oversupply in the building materials market. All this does not make these industries profitable in the short term.
Sources also note that Chizh has not yet begun the practical phase of developing a field in the Gomel region. Projects in the field of subsoil development have always been financially costly and assumed a slow profit. “These are long-term projects, for the long term, they can be dealt with when there is confidence in the rest of the business,” the sources noted.
© Sputnik / Viktor Tolochko
In addition, they recalled that other investors will now be involved in two of Chyzh's landmark projects - the Kempinski Hotel and the Dynamo Stadium. "But here it is difficult to say whether it is a loss or, on the contrary, getting rid of a financial burden, which should be considered as a blessing," the agency's interlocutors noted.
They also drew attention to the fact that almost all of Chyzh's projects were successful "because of the proximity of the oligarch to the authorities." “Now trust has been lost, and it is unlikely that a person who has incurred criticism and condemnation from the head of state will be allowed to enter the most profitable sectors of the Belarusian economy,” experts said.
People greeted him with the words “Long live Belarus!”. In Minsk, during the action for the independence of Belarus, the column passed near the so-called "Chizh's house". One of its residents hung a white-red-white flag from the balcony. People greeted him with the words “Long Live Belarus!” The Charter97.org website broadcasts events on the streets of Minsk online.
The current sports minister also comes from the dictator's guard. Pavel Stepanov, a native of Lukashenka's security service, has been appointed general director of Chizhovka-Arena, the institution's website reports. For details, see tut.by. Chizhovka-Arena has been beheaded since early October 2019. This happened because its former general director Alexei Prokopovich was appointed to steer the Minsk Arena. At that time, the Ministry of Sports had not yet sent any candidates for Chizhovka to the Minsk City Executive Committee. And a month and a half later, by order of the Minister of Sports, 55-year-old Pavel Stepanov was appointed the general director of the Chizhovka Arena.
Alim Selimov spoke about conflicts with a disgraced businessman. Former Dynamo Minsk CEO Alim Selimov told by.tribuna.com about conflicts with businessman Yury Chizh, who owned the football club until this year. “It is very important that the manager can say: “Yes, I made a mistake here.” It is important to hear and listen to the people who are associated with the football club. Not near-football people who are “watered into your ears”, but those who work hard and daily for the benefit of the club,” Selimov said.
How the Russian blogosphere reacted to the kidnapping of the Yakut shaman. Yakut shaman Alexander Gabyshev, who went to Moscow to expel Putin, was detained on the border of Buryatia and the Irkutsk region. The arrest took place in the area of the federal highway, during an overnight stay. Two buses full of masked men were used to kidnap an unarmed man. A criminal case may be opened against Gabyshev for organizing an extremist community. According to commentators, the incident speaks of the fears of the authorities.
All this is symbolic in its own way. 20 years ago, BATE Borisov won the title of Belarusian football champion for the first time in history. Almost simultaneously with this event, the owner of Triple Yury Chizh, a big businessman close to Lukashenka, became the owner of Dynamo Minsk. 6th) will pass like smoke from white apple trees. It turned out differently. The period of 2000-2005 for Dynamo can be called relatively good after the fact.
What is the big money spent on? “You have no idea how much it all costs. Well, for example, larch was used as wood. And I’m generally afraid to name the amount that the pond cost us!” - Sergey, who once worked as a supplier at this facility, does not hide a meaningful smile. Back in 2015, he traveled every day from his native Bereza to the M1 highway. There, not far from the village of Soboli, a mega-complex was supposed to grow, capable of overshadowing all other roadside service facilities in the country.
Darida founder Vladimir Delendik spoke about his former team and Yuri Chizh. Earlier it was reported that the founder of Darida, Vladimir Delendik, was released from liability under an amnesty for an accident in which a woman died. The businessman gave a rather frank interview. - But you are a multimillionaire, can you say so? - You can say so. - We are talking about tens of millions of dollars? - If you estimate, then of course tens of millions. Darida today is worth up to 50 million euros. - Was there any thing that you spent a lot on? - I spent a lot on football.
Recently, Arena City has been pledged in the amount of $75 million from Belagroprombank. The Arena City shopping and entertainment complex on Pobediteley Avenue in Minsk, which previously belonged to millionaire Yuri Chizh, has changed its owner. Recently, Arena City was pledged to the amount of $ 75 million from Belagroprombank. Now the complex belongs to a mysterious LLC "Paragis". While there is no certainty who is behind this "Paragis". nn.by sources believe that this LLC may be a near-bank structure.
There are billionaires with big names not only in Russia, but also in Belarus, one of them is Yury Alexandrovich Chizh. According to the authoritative Forbes magazine, the businessman is one of the most influential people in the world. Yuri Alexandrovich achieved his successes and huge capital thanks to a properly built business, painstaking work and desire. We decided to tell the story of this influential person in this publication.
Yuri Chizh: biography
Chizh, or, more correctly, Chyzh Yuri, was born on March 28, 1963 in the Brest region, the village of Sobol. The future billionaire was a real bully; questions to his parents always arose about his behavior. By the way, Yuri Chizh was born and raised in a family of simple peasants. By religion, his father was Orthodox, and his mother was a Baptist.
Despite his useless behavior and careless character, Yuri Alexandrovich was a diligent student. At the final exams, he only slightly fell short of the average score (4.5), so he had to literally break through to the Polytechnic Institute, having defended all four instead of two entrance exams. Having gone through all the obstacles, Yuri Chizh nevertheless became one of the students of the Electrotechnical Institute of the Belarusian National Technical University.
First working days
After graduating from the institute, the current billionaire went to work at the Tractor Plant in Minsk, where he ended up by distribution, like all Soviet citizens.
Yuri Alexandrovich always gave all the best, whether it was school, college, or work. In his first place, Chizh was reputed to be executive and responsible employee, which allowed him to climb high in just seven years career ladder and become the head of the energy service of the entrusted corps.
Adventurism + determination = own business
In the nineties, when the USSR system began to disintegrate, the tractor plant where the hero of our article worked began to suffer losses. Yury Chyzh offered the higher management to slightly change the field of activity and start producing goods that could keep the enterprise afloat, but they did not listen to him - another proposal was met with another refusal. Future Entrepreneur I realized that there would be nothing good with such leadership, therefore, having gained determination (he always had more than enough adventurism), he wrote a letter of resignation. In the early nineties, many lost their jobs, began to drink alcohol excessively, not finding a place for themselves in later life, but this is not about Yuri Alexandrovich. He took the situation into his own hands, assessed the possibilities and prospects, and created Triple, an enterprise initially consisting of two employees - Chizh himself, who had to master the basics of accounting, and his colleague, the clerk-clerk.
Activity of the company
Initially small firm engaged in mediation, cargo transportation. These directions were chosen by Yury Alexandrovich not in vain, because Belarus is in the center of Europe and is a transit country. After there was no trace left of the USSR, this direction was chosen very wisely, corresponding to the needs of that seemingly distant era. Everything was transported - from carpets to building materials. All the money earned went to the development of the business. Soon Yuri Chizh created two subsidiaries that were engaged in the production of plastic joinery and drinks.
Business development
Yuri Alexandrovich chose the direction in engineering not for nothing: he understood that the former countries of the USSR would undergo a construction boom, "Europeanization", and therefore a large amount of double-glazed windows would be required.
Yury Chyzh started his activity in food production, and placed his bets on quality, assortment and closed production. That is, the company "Aqua Triple" itself created products and packaged them. The secret of Chyzh's success lies in the fact that, unlike many start-up businessmen, he abandoned the idea of reselling, hauling transport, and focused specifically on production.
Already in the nineties, super-new technological equipment was installed at the company's production sites, only high-quality, fortified ingredients were selected, which made the products very popular. However, the entrepreneur was not going to stop there.
Further activities
Since 1997, the future billionaire begins to develop catering business. The first catering facility was called "Rakovsky Brovar" - now it is a whole chain of restaurants and cafes.
A ski resort was erected in Logoisk, which among the people immediately began to be called a monument erected by Chizh during his lifetime. Soon the resort became known as a health resort, where not only citizens of the former USSR come to relax, but also tourists from more distant countries.
Oil industry
Yuri Chyzh was not going to stop, he understood that he was lucky in any field of business, that he had real acumen, so he took steps in the development of his enterprises wider and wider. In 2002, he set up an oil refining company and exported and imported finished products. Soon such industrial giants as Lukoil, Bashneft, TNK-BP Holding, Gazpromneft began to cooperate with Chizh.
Along with the processing of petroleum products, Yuri Alexandrovich opened a network of gas stations.
Sanctions against Yury Chyzh
At the end of March 2012, the businessman was banned from visiting the territory of the European Union - sanctions were applied because of his friendship with the family of President Lukashenko. The documentation stated that Chizh financially supported Lukashenka's regime through his group of companies.
In 2015, the ban on visiting the European Union was lifted due to insufficient evidence.
Today
The criminal case against the billionaire is ongoing: according to the press secretary of the KGB of Belarus, in March 2016 Yury was detained on suspicion of fraud, tax evasion, and an attempt to transfer all his capital abroad. According to some reports, the arrest order was received from the very top - from the head of state.
Personal life
Yuri Chizh has a wonderful family - wife Svetlana, daughter Tatyana, sons Vladimir and Sergey.
According to the billionaire, he "put together" his capital by honest work. When he was just starting out, he didn’t sleep at night and didn’t rest, now his system is established, time is distributed for successful work. To all novice businessmen, Yuri Chizh, a Belarusian billionaire, wishes success in his endeavors and shares his secret - the desire to achieve heights and the desire for a prosperous life.
Belarusian entrepreneur, general director of Triple LLC. Chairman of the Belarusian Wrestling Federation. Chairman supervisory board football club"Dynamo" (Minsk). (Yury Chyzh “provides financial support to the Lukashenka regime through the holding company Triple LLC, which is active in many sectors of the Belarusian economy, including activities resulting from premiums and concessions from the regime”)
"Connections / Partners"
"Companies"
"News"
The KGB of Belarus called the reason for landing Lukashenko's "purse" in the pre-trial detention center
The State Security Committee of Belarus has officially confirmed that businessman Yury Chizh, who was called one of the main "wallets" of Alexander Lukashenko, has been detained. He is suspected of tax crimes
KGB officers detained the owner of the Triple group of companies, Yuri Chizh, on suspicion of large-scale tax evasion. BelaPAN was informed about this by the head of the press service of the State Security Committee Dmitry Pobyarzhin.
Why was Yury Chyzh detained?
The main assets of the “right hand” of the head of state, in addition to Triple, also include Neftekhimtrading, Belneftegaz, Altersolutions, Prostormarket, Aquatriple, the Logoisk sports complex, Triplefarm and others.
Yuri Chizh took a famous Moscow restaurateur as a partner
Co-owner of Triple company Yuri Chizh intends to open several restaurants in the center of Minsk in partnership with the famous Moscow restaurateur Arkady Novikov. Information about this TUT.BY was reported by several sources.
It is planned that one restaurant will be located next to the circus under construction multifunctional complex, the second - on Victory Square, where the Tom Taylor store is now located. The Tom Taylor store confirmed that a restaurant would take their place. “Yes, there is such a plan. We were told to close, but there is no exact date yet, ”they said.
Read in full: http://news.tut.by/economics/444777.html
Businessman Yury Chyzh was included in the "black list" of the EU
The EU has expanded sanctions against Belarus. The EU foreign ministers added 29 organizations and 12 people to the "black list", including the owner of the football club "Dinamo-Minsk" and the company "Triple" Yury Chyzh. So far, Slovenia has been against declaring Chizh banned for entry: the Slovenian construction company Riko recently signed a contract with Chizh for 100 million euros. Chyzh himself said earlier that the topic of possible sanctions was “up to one place” for him.
The black list was replenished by Belarusian businessmen - list
On Saturday, March 24, the European Union officially announced the names of 12 more Belarusian officials against whom visa and economic sanctions will be applied. The EU black list has been expanded to include Belarusian businessmen, as well as judges and prosecutors. In addition, 29 Belarusian companies also fell under EU sanctions.
link: http://telegraf.by/2012/03/es-nazval-imena-popavshih
Getting an answer to this seemingly harmless question was not at all easy.
Many officials protect information about their children, probably even more carefully than state secrets and secrets. It is curious that Viktor Lukashenko has to command the generals, and in a certain subordination to Dmitry Aleksandrovich - the chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee Mikhail Pavlov, the chairman of the BFSO "Dynamo" Yuri Borodich, businessman Yuri Chizh, gymnast Marina Lobach (they are members of the central council of the club).
link: http://kompromatby.com/gde-rabotajut-deti-chinovnikov. html
How Yuri Chizh did his business
Yuri Chizh has been in business for a long time, but only a few years ago, after the well-known troubles with the KGB, he took the leading places in the Belarusian business rating. Who is Yuri Chizh? How does he build his business?
link: http://posrednik.by/mybis/
Yuri Aleksandrovich Chizh: "I don't need a plane"
He owns AquaTriple, Triple-Techno, Triple-Decor, one of the best restaurants in the capital, Rakovsky Brovar, Tom Taylor branded clothing store ... this is not a complete list of enterprises. Here it is, a living example of the American dream come true. A young man from the provinces in twelve years became one of the richest people in the republic. In another country, journalists would have tortured him, demanding to tell readers about the secret of success. But Yuri Alexandrovich is not so easy to catch. He is not a public person, and does not like to talk about personal things. In general, we were lucky.
link: http://www.expressnews.by/407. html
Chizh: EU sanctions are up to me
A prominent Belarusian businessman, the owner of the Triple company, Yuri Chizh, calmly perceives the intentions of the European Union to impose economic sanctions against him and his company. According to him, the potential possibility of partial economic isolation of his business in Belarus is “up to one place”. “For some reason, this topic is much more interesting for journalists than for me. And she is up to one place for me, you can write like that. I’m not interested in commenting, first of all, on a fact that did not take place, and it’s pointless to beat around the bush, predict and evaluate something, ”the businessman said in an interview with Radio Liberty.
link: http://telegraf.by/2012/03/chij-sankcii-es-mne-do-odnogo-mesta
Yuri Chizh became a Roman patrician
A well-known Belarusian businessman, the owner of the Triple group of companies, Yuri Chizh, was portrayed as a Roman patrician. Such a picture was presented to the boss for his birthday by his employees.
link: http://naviny.by/rubrics/ celebrities/2011/10/26/ic_ articles_121_175606/
Yuriy Chyzh is not against selling Dynamo, but there are no people willing
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the football club "Dynamo" Yuri Chyzh is calm about the statements that he needs to sell the club in order to save it. “Yes, for God's sake, let someone come and buy. I have been hearing this for ten years, but today there is no one willing to harness this yoke voluntarily. Someone can do better - even if, for God's sake, I have no complexes on this issue,” Chizh said in an interview with BelaPAN.
link: http://naviny.by/rubrics/ sport/2011/11/25/ic_articles_ 125_175965/
Yury Chizh: Alexander Sednev will head Dinamo-Minsk in the new season
For the second year in a row, Minskers are out of the top three, although at the beginning of the year the team's management did not hide their championship plans: a good selection work was carried out, and Dynamo was hardly inferior to any of the rivals in terms of composition. Nevertheless, the coaching resignation did not happen again: in May, Oleg Vasilenko was dismissed from his post, Sergey Ovchinnikov took over the team, but he will also leave the club after the championship. About what awaits Dynamo in the new year and how to evaluate the past season, the SB correspondent spoke with the club's chairman of the board, Yuri Chizh.
link: http://sport.tut.by/news/259858.html
Yury Chyzh: Dynamo Minsk harmed Shtanga bless you
I do not remove responsibility for all this both from myself and from our management. But the lion's share of our losses is on the conscience of Shtange. I would not want it to sound like an insult after his departure from the national team. I just understand what her head coach should and should not do, ”Pressball quotes Chizh as saying.
link: http://www.football.by/news/29268.html
Yuriy Chyzh: "Inviting Ovchinnikov to Dynamo was a mistake"
The chairman of the board of FC Dynamo (Minsk) Yuri Chizh admitted that the invitation to the team Russian specialists Oleg Vasilenko and Sergei Ovchinnikov was a mistake. - It's a shame that for the second year in a row we were left without medals. They made a mistake in inviting Oleg Vasilenko to the position of head coach, as a result, the entire preparatory period fell out. However, the staffing of the players made it possible to catch up even after Vasilenko was dismissed in May. Today I have to admit that Sergei Ovchinnikov is not the coach we need. This realization came back in September. link: http://www.sport.ru/ru/news/20111122/football/article184062/
Sergey Ovchinnikov: “Yuri Chizh doesn’t know how to behave with people”
“Then I felt it. We played 2-2, but after the match in Borisov there was no conversation - it was just not quite right attitude President Yuri Chizh to me personally. And in the presence of the head of another team. It seemed to me that even the head of BATE Anatoly Kapsky was surprised by such an attitude of a colleague towards the head coach of his own club.
link: http://football.by/news/30239. html
Yury Chyzh was pressed by the crisis
Recall that, according to presidential decree No. 337 of 2008, Triple LLC, which belongs to a large Belarusian businessman Yuri Chizh, was supposed to build residential premises for the Belarusian military with a total area of 210 thousand square meters during 2009-2015. meters, as well as objects of engineering and transport infrastructure to them.
link: http://nv-online.info/by
Triple LLC was allowed to attract loans and borrowed funds for the construction of military camps
To implement the project for the construction of seven military camps, Triple LLC was allowed to attract borrowed and credit funds. It was previously planned that Yury Chizh (the founder of Triple LLC) would carry out the arrangement of the military at the expense of his own capital.
link: http://www.nest.by/content/ooo-traipl
Triple bought out ProStore
51% of SZAO Prostormarket, which owns ProStore hypermarkets in Minsk, was sold to the second co-owner of this company, the Triple group of Yuri Chizh. The Russian "Seventh Continent", which previously owned shares, decided not to scatter resources on Belarus.
link: http://beltc.by/62-kompaniya-trajpl-vykupila-prostore.html
Yury Chyzh violated Lukashenka's decree?
The situation that has developed around the next construction of the Triple in Minsk cannot be called anything other than a legal mystery. Having received certain benefits by Lukashenka's decree, millionaire Yury Chyzh is nevertheless in no hurry to fulfill his duties stipulated by the same decree, Nasha Niva writes. link:
MINSK, March 12 - Sputnik. The detention of one of the most influential Belarusian businessmen Yury Chizh became known on Friday evening. And although this information is neither confirmed nor denied by the law enforcement agencies of the republic, Sputnik tried to analyze what the person who is called the “right hand” of the head of state could have been detained for.
Komsomolets, athlete and just an excellent student
Yury Alexandrovich Chizh, born on March 28, 1963 in the village of Soboli, Signevichsky village council of the Berezovsky district of the Brest region, is known in the country as one of the largest businessmen. Is CEO"Triple" LLC, heads the Belarusian Wrestling Federation, is the chairman of the supervisory board of the football club "Dinamo" (Minsk).
Chizh graduated from school almost perfectly, after completing his studies at the electrical engineering department of the Belarusian Polytechnic Institute, he worked at the Minsk Tractor Plant. In the early 90s, when MTZ began to lose sales markets and was reluctant to innovate in production, Chizh left this job and in 1992 founded the Triple company, which eventually developed into a diversified business.
Since 2002, Triple has been engaged in processing, exporting and importing oil and oil products, LUKOIL, TNK-BP Holding, Bashneft, Gazprom Neft become its partners. At the same time, Chizh opened a network of filling stations under the Triple brand.
In March 2012, the European Union added Chizh to the list of persons who were banned from entering the EU under sanctions. The materials of the Council of the EU noted that Chizh "provides financial support to the Lukashenka regime through the holding company Triple LLC, which is active in many sectors of the Belarusian economy, including activities resulting from premiums and concessions from the regime."
However, the inclusion in the sanctions list did not prevent Chizh, together with the owner of the private oil trading company Interservice, Nikolai Voroby, from engaging in the scandalous "solvent business" in 2012. Publicly and officially, Triple and Interservice were not accused of producing improved biodiesel fuel from Russian oil and straight-run gasoline and then exporting it duty-free under the guise of solvents and thinners. At the same time, in the summer of 2012, the topic of the "solvent" business received wide publicity and harsh criticism from the Russian authorities.
Nevertheless, it was "solvents and thinners" that allowed Belarus in 2012 to get a record surplus in foreign trade and save the country from another economic crisis.
In August 2012, Belarus completely stopped the production and export of solvents, but neither Chizh nor Sparrow were publicly reprimanded by the Belarusian leadership. In fact, they were heroes who saved their homeland.
What's in assets?
Today, Triple, in addition to the oil business, is engaged in investments in residential and commercial real estate in Minsk, provides construction services, sells building materials through a subsidiary of Magnus Group, transport services, and agribusiness.
According to open sources, Chizh's main assets, in addition to Triple, also include Neftekhimtrading (production and sale of petroleum products and petrochemicals in Belarus and abroad, development of a network of its own filling stations), Belneftegaz, Neonafta, TripleTechno, Berezovsky plant of silicate products, TripleDecor, QuartzMelProm.
Chizh is also engaged in the implementation of an investment project for the development of the Khotislavsky chalk deposit. He owns the companies "Altersolutions", "Prostormarket" (a network of hypermarkets "Prostor"), "Triplestyle" (retail trade in food, ready-made clothes).
The businessman's assets also include the Aquatriple company (production of drinks), the Logoisk sports complex, a chain of restaurants, and sports and entertainment facilities. In addition, the businessman owns the pharmaceutical company Triplepharm, Triplemetaltrade, the Askargoterminal company also recently belonged to Chyzh, but was sold last year.
The main suspicions are fraudulent schemes and the transfer of capital abroad
As Sputnik was told by sources in the oil refining industry, back in the spring and summer of last year, Triple LLC, a Belarusian oil trading company that is one of Chizh’s main assets, felt a sharp deterioration in its financial position. Under the influence of the general financial crisis, she was forced to reorganize her business. Some assets were put up for sale, some of the staff were reduced.
This is confirmed by the data of the Ministry of Finance. As follows from the report of the ministry on the activities of bond issuers, for the three quarters of 2015, Triple received a net loss of 51.5 billion rubles, which is about a third of the gross revenue for this period.
In addition, the reorganization also affected other areas of Chyzh's business. In order to reduce costs, it was decided to merge the marketing services of Berezovsky KSI and KvartsMelProm.
The Askargoterminal company, which was engaged in the provision of customs services at the Minsk National Airport, was sold.
Chizh's projects in the field of sports also fell under the reduction. In particular, the businessman refused to sponsor the Bereza-2010 team, which is part of the capital's Dynamo club.
"It is noteworthy that the sharp deterioration in the financial situation in companies owned by Chyzh coincided with the arrest in August of his deputy Vladimir Yaprintsev. Perhaps the financial crisis and business reorganization were the result of this event," Sputnik's interlocutors say.
They also noted that Triple, as an oil trader, took loans to finance the supply of petroleum products to Ukraine, however, according to unconfirmed information, these funds were used for other purposes and were withdrawn outside the country.
Sources in the oil refining sector also drew attention to the fact that the detention of Chizh's deputy Vladimir Yaprintsev and his son Kazbek is connected with their personal debts, which they tried to cover from "corporate sources" and failed. Presumably, we are talking about 30-40 million dollars.
In addition, the interlocutors of the agency reminded that last summer the Ukrainian investment banking company Jaspen Capital Partners initiated a lawsuit against the company registered in the British Virgin Islands Edena Investments Limited, one of the owners of which is Kazbek Yaprintsev. The reason for the lawsuit was the failure to fulfill the contract for the supply of 2,000 tons of diesel fuel for $1.6 million. Triple acted as the guarantor of the deal. The payment was made, but the diesel fuel was never delivered, Triple, according to counterparties, refused to fulfill its warranty obligations. The counterparties are waiting for the beginning of the liquidation of Edena Investments Limited and do not exclude that during this process it will be established where exactly the money was withdrawn.
“Given that Yaprintsev was the second person in Triple, it is logical that he could not make such decisions on his own. Therefore, it is understandable why, after his arrest, questions arose to the first person of the company,” the agency’s interlocutors summed up.
