Biography of Mikhail Abyzov
Mikhail Anatolyevich Abyzov is a dollar billionaire, “minister without portfolio” on the implementation of the ideals of open government in the activities of the government of the Russian Federation (until May 2020). Previously, he was an advisor to the president, as well as the head of a number of enterprises, including Mostotrest, Ru-COM, E4 Group, E2, Sibeko, KoPitanie, Kuzbassrazrezugol. In March 2020, he was arrested on suspicion of fraud on an especially large scale.
Mikhail Anatolyevich Abyzov
According to media reports, he concentrated the bulk of his property abroad, has about fifty offshore companies on the islands of Cayman, Cyprus, British Virgin Islands and through them, in fact, owns multimillion-dollar assets in Europe and overseas.
Professional and social activities
1989 – registered its first trading account. This company was engaged in the sale of office equipment.
1991 – took the post of commercial director of EMIKA LLP. He was engaged in the sale of office equipment and military conversion equipment.
1992 – founded the joint venture “MMB Group”. This company specialized in the sale of goods from Bulgaria.
1993 – holds a number of management positions in several companies in the fuel and energy complex.
1996 - becomes the general director of ORTEK OJSC and a member of the boards of directors of RICOR LLC and IFC Alemar. In November, he held the post of General Director of OJSC SLAVTEK.
1997 – runs for the post of deputy to the Novosibirsk Regional Council from the “Third Force” association, but unsuccessfully.
1998 - became deputy head of the board of directors of Novosibirskenergo. In addition, Abyzov is a member of the board of UES of Russia, and also heads the department of business projects and investment policy of this energy company.
1999 - becomes deputy chairman of the board (at that time A.S. Voloshin) of UES of Russia. In a relatively short period of time, Abyzov eliminated chronic non-payments in UES of Russia.
2003 - headed the board of directors of the utility company.
2004 – Member of the board of UES of Russia. In May, Abyzov joined the board of directors of the energy company. In December, Mikhail Anatolyevich becomes head of the board of directors.
2005 – received the post of General Director. In September 2006, the operational management of this company, headed by A. Kozitsyn, was ceded. Until June 2007, he remains on the board of directors of Kuzbassrazrezugol.
2006 - became head of the investment commission of UES of Russia. Then he holds a leadership position on the board of directors of RU-COM (Russian business group). Abyzov held this post until January 2012.
2007 - became chairman of the boards of directors of engineering and construction companies.
2010 – becomes a member of the board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
2011 – took the post of coordinator of the Public Committee of Supporters of the President of the Russian Federation.
January 2012 - becomes an adviser to D. Medvedev.
May 2012 – took the post of Minister of the Russian Federation for Open Government Issues.
According to Forbes, M. Abyzov ranks 68th in the list of the richest businessmen in Russia for 2012. His net worth is $1.25 billion.
Childhood and family
The future billionaire official was born in the Belarusian capital on June 3, 1972 into a working-class family. His mother worked as an electric and gas welder, and his father was an electrician. He died early when his son was only 10 years old. Mikhail later recalled that after the loss of his father, his world turned upside down. He immediately matured, felt the burden of responsibility, stopped participating in yard showdowns and fights, took up his studies seriously, took up sports, in particular biathlon, won the respect of his peers, and was elected Komsomol organizer of the school.
Mikhail Abyzov matured early
To help his mother financially, at the age of 14 he worked as a laborer and loader, but there was still not enough money. At the age of 15, Misha asked the police for a certificate that he was a difficult teenager, was able to join the construction team of a medical institute and earn as much as 3 thousand rubles over the summer in Tyumen.
Then he became the winner of the Republican Mathematical Olympiad, after which he was accepted into the Kolmogorov specialized boarding school for high school students who showed ability in studying the exact and natural sciences, from which he graduated with a final certification and enrollment in the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at Moscow State University.
Hu from Mr. Abyzov: How a Belarusian prodigy became a billionaire under investigation
A former member of the Russian government, minister without portfolio, and head of the Open Government Commission, Mikhail Abyzov, was detained in Moscow. As is usually the case with high-profile arrests, the Investigative Committee released quite a lot of information to the media: a list of five accomplices and the names of the victims and OJSC Regional Electric Networks in the Novosibirsk region). Abyzov is accused of stealing and transferring 4 billion rubles abroad. The most interesting thing is that, although there were more than enough rumors about Abyzov’s second life and suspicions associated with it in recent years, these organizations were practically not mentioned in them.
By the way, it is not yet clear why Abyzov returned to Moscow at all. He did not hide his intention to leave Russia after completing his work in the government - and indeed moved to live in Italy, where real estate was registered in his son’s name. It is now unclear whether he was pulled back as a result of a cunning operational combination, or fate...
The country's leadership has already stated that the ex-minister's problems are not related to his work in the government, but you can be sure: the detention of figures of this magnitude does not occur without the personal sanction of President Vladimir Putin. The course to fight crime, regardless of the rank of suspects, out of good wishes (in particular, voiced by Minister Abyzov) is definitely becoming a fact.
At the same time, we must make a reservation. Although a number of media outlets have already begun to call Abyzov a fraudster and consider the atrocities attributed to him to be a fact, only a court can apply such labels. We note exclusively oddities in the biography of the ex-minister and in his financial affairs.
The Path of the Prodigy
M. Abyzov. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
We know about the early years of Mikhail Anatolyevich exclusively from his words. There are romantics there - mother, don’t worry. Compared to the background of a typical Russian official - nomenklatura parents, a prestigious university, purely mental work - he looks like a guy from a plow, the hero of books about great revolutionaries. His father died when the boy was 10 years old (Mikhail was born in 1972), 4 years later he went to work as a laborer in a printing house, closer to culture, and then even closer - he became a loader at a pub (apparently, underage). At the same time, the guy studied hard - in the 10th grade he won the Republican Mathematical Olympiad. He made a career - he became a school Komsomol organizer. I was eager to go to the capital - I received an invitation to the Kolmogorov boarding school at Moscow State University. I learned to be closer to money - in 1987, in the construction team of the Minsk Medical Institute in Tyumen, I managed to earn 3,000 rubles. Let us remember that in the summer of 1987 he turned 15 years old and did not study at any institute. Three thousand rubles is more than fifteen average salaries in the country.
We repeat, we know all this exclusively from the words of Mikhail Anatolyevich.
Further more. The young Belarusian genius, handling thousands of full-sized Soviet rubles (seriously, a lot of money), enters the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at Moscow State University, but already in his second year he decides that the profession of a mathematician-programmer is not for him. Moreover, by that time the young man had already created and headed a company with the proud Belarusian name “Inter Shops” - again, it’s interesting how he did it at the age of 17. But the orphan definitely had start-up capital - like many others in those years, he drove office equipment to Russia. In 1991, we see him as the commercial director of Emika LLP - here the equipment has already become military, although with the bashful addition of “conversion” (the then fashionable craze “give oil instead of guns”). Then every year a new organization, higher and higher, reached the fuel and energy sector. It is clear that there was no time left for the army. For training, by the way, too. Only in 2001, already probably a ruble billionaire, Mikhail, as an overgrown student, graduated from the correspondence pedagogical institute named after Sholokhov, which then had a very specific reputation, so it is unlikely that the businessman overworked himself with his studies.
Under the wing of Chubais
There were more interesting things to do. For example, in 1996. Then the company ORTEK, owned by Abyzov, supplied fuel and agricultural equipment worth approximately $570 thousand; The energy workers didn’t have money (but the Abyzov workers did!), so the 24-year-old entrepreneur agreed to take 19.5% of the company’s shares as collateral, which later successfully became his property. Experts estimated this package at $40 million. Isn’t it very similar to loans-for-shares auctions? A couple of years later, Abyzov became deputy head of the board of directors of Novosibirskenergo and thus entered the management of RAO UES.
A. Chubais. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
At the turn of the century, we see Abyzov at RAO UES, the closest associate of Anatoly Chubais, who was appointed to privatize the Russian energy industry. Here Abyzov was simultaneously involved in state and personal affairs, which allowed him, upon closing the project, to become a full-fledged dollar billionaire, the owner of dozens of offshore companies and the engineering “E4 Group”. An interesting “chess” name - by the way, Abyzov is considered a friend of Arkady Dvorkovich, who now heads the International Chess Federation. He is credited with control over the Powerfuel company and its mothballed coal mines in South Yorkshire, over the American investment fund Bright Capital and a number of other funds, companies and groups.
It is dividends from numerous assets that explain Abyzov’s huge income during his work in the Russian government. In other years, he earned more than a million rubles a day, without formally engaging in entrepreneurial activity. Even as an adviser to the president in 2011, he became richer by 99 million rubles - many times more than the president himself. In 2013–2014, the minister of “open government” already received a million every working day, and in 2014–2016 he added weekends and holidays to this; the record is 521 million in 2016.
Only in the last full year in government, the minister’s income without portfolio decreased to 181 million rubles, the reason being cited as unsuccessful investments.
Let us add that Abyzov’s family affairs are also very interesting. In 2016, his wife disappeared from his declarations (at that time there was a general trend of official-deputy divorces), but the children did not disappear. All three live abroad and have American citizenship. Anatoly Chubais flew to Italy for the wedding of his son Daniel.
Strange deals
Telegram channels and compromising sites suspect Abyzov of fraud with money from the state-owned company RVC (Russian Venture Company). Former director of the investment department Yan Ryazantsev has already been arrested on charges of withdrawing 1.3 billion rubles from RVC through the American company Alion Energy. Until 2012, the board of directors of which included a certain Mikhail Abyzov - as a representative of another investor, the British Virginia-based Batios Holdings Limited. Another suspect in the case is the former senior adviser to Anatoly Chubais at Rusnano, Mikhail Chuchkevich, a fellow countryman of Abyzov.
Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Another high-profile case is Alfa-Bank against E4 Group. “Alpha” paid the “Group” 10 billion rubles for some design and survey work, but was unable to find this work, as well as the money spent. As a result, E4 was declared bankrupt, and a few days ago Alpha filed another application, trying to get its money back. This bank is distinguished by its particularly tough work with debtors, and it does not care who is there - a stupid housewife or a brilliant minister.
It’s funny that Abyzov tried to solve the problem in a way that has become common in recent years - by blaming it on the state. As the head of the Expert Council under the Russian government, he proposed to merge E4 into the structures of the state corporation Rosatom. It seems that the most intelligent Sergei Kiriyenko, who then headed Rosatom, had difficulty finding a censorship negative response to such a proposal.
Fight against corruption
How such a person ended up in the Russian government is a mystery. But as the minister of “open government” (no one really understood what that was), he criticized his colleagues, including the leadership of the Ministry of Economic Development, the Federal Property Management Agency, etc., for the lack of clear anti-corruption work. Well, anti-corruption work has been carried out in these departments - Alexey Ulyukaev has been convicted, Olga Dergunova has been dismissed after the prime minister’s reprimand...
Then Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, in the style of Taras Bulba, shot his own child - he liquidated the commission for coordinating the activities of the “open government”. The main task - building a dialogue between the state and citizens - has not even come close to a solution, and, frankly speaking, it could not have come close.
And now it’s the turn of the builder of this dialogue, a severe critic of the government’s anti-corruption laxity. Mikhail Anatolyevich denies that he committed criminal acts. But it seems that the main defense argument will be “everyone lived like this.”
* * *
Unfortunately, it is common for crime to strive for power - at all times and in all countries. Pirates become royal admirals, swindlers become police inspectors, bandits become high-ranking security officials. They can be understood - there is a breadth of horizons, and inviolability, and an excellent “roof”. The head of AiF-Ural, Arseny Vaganov, reasonably remarked on this matter: “You will see that the current wave of young top managers will someday float in business with phones that were pressed in the early 2000s. And remember the intelligent old Abyzov.” So the matter will clearly not be limited to a minister without a portfolio.
Carier start
Already in his first year at university in 1989, Abyzov established his first trading company, Intershops. Renting space in department stores, he successfully sold Turkish consumer goods, expanding the range by selling various office equipment in 1990.
Initially, Mikhail Abyzov successfully engaged in commerce
Having married in his second year and intending to go with his wife’s family to Chicago, where her parents had received an invitation to work, he took an academic leave from Moscow State University. However, by coincidence, before buying a ticket to the United States, all the young man’s money was stolen, and he was forced to stay in Russia.
He returned to the student bench, but only after 5 years, entering the M. Sholokhov Pedagogical Institute. And in 1991, he decided to engage in entrepreneurial activity instead of studying. He got a job as a broker at Emika, where literally six months later he became deputy general director and co-owner. His company was engaged in the resale (as part of conversion) of military equipment from the Baltic states to loggers in Siberia.
In a year, he earned more than 500 thousand dollars, which in 1992 he invested in the MMB-group joint venture. The company first specialized in the sale of Bulgarian food products, and later in the trade of consignments of goods under contracts with defense and other large state-owned enterprises. Its turnover eventually reached several million dollars.
Mikhail Abyzov's income grew every year
Having mastered payment schemes for the supply of goods through mutual offsets and assignment of debts of Russian enterprises, Abyzov helped, in particular, the largest enterprise producing nuclear fuel, the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant. As a result, he received an offer from its management to stay in the city. In a short time, Mikhail managed to establish business relationships with many leaders of the region and founded the largest fuel and energy company, whose turnover reached one hundred million dollars by 1996.
The future head of the White House Advisory Council understood perfectly well what should be done to develop the success of trading operations, and began buying shares. In particular, he became a co-owner of more than 50 percent of Novosibirskenergo, and also bought 45 percent of these issue-grade securities of Novosibirsknefteproduct, which Sibneft bought from him 2 years later for $70 million.
In 1998, at the proposal of the head of RAO UES of Russia, Anatoly Chubais, he was elected to the company’s collective management body and began to implement special projects and combat long-term debts. In 1999, he became deputy head of the board and, acting quite harshly, eliminated non-payments.
Mikhail Abyzov presented the project Rossiyabezdurakov.rf Then he held senior positions in a number of energy companies (in Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk, St. Petersburg). From 2005 to 2008, Mikhail Anatolyevich served as general director of Kuzbassrazrezugol. In the period 2006-2012, he was the head of the RU-COM group, working in the fields of energy, construction, mechanical engineering, agriculture, housing and communal services and others.
In 2010, an accomplished and successful businessman joined the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and in 2011 he became the coordinator of the Public Committee of Supporters of the State Leader, Dmitry Medvedev.
Minister Abyzov Mikhail Anatolyevich
In 2012, he was appointed his adviser, and also received an appointment to the post of minister without portfolio, that is, without creating a corresponding department. He is responsible for organizing the activities of the Government Commission on Open Government issues. Mikhail Abyzov in “Sobchak Live” The “Open Government” project, supervised by an official, is a means of civilian control and influence on the fundamental decisions of government structures. To implement it, he recruited many foreign consulting and audit firms, along with Russian academics, social activists and entrepreneurs, to join the Government's governing body and think tank of more than 350 experts, despite the risk of their possible connections with the intelligence services. As a result, some media began to position Abyzov as an agent of Western influence on the domestic state apparatus.
After the appointment of the new government in May 2020, it became known that Mikhail Abyzov, who had overseen the work of the “open government” since 2012, was not included in Medvedev’s new team. However, according to media reports, Abyzov was assigned to oversee a certain “large responsible project,” the details of which were not disclosed.
Mikhail Abyzov did not join the new Government of the Russian Federation
Abyzov was the richest minister, for whom “nothing is sacred”
1. POOR CHILDHOOD - AT 14 YEARS OLD I WENT TO BE A LOADER
The future minister of the federal government and a figure on the list of the richest Russians, Mikhail Abyzov, was born 46 years ago in Minsk, into a poor family. After the death of his father at the age of 14, Mikhail was even forced to become a laborer and was a loader at a brewery. But then I received an invitation to study in Moscow - at the physics and mathematics boarding school at Moscow State University. By the way, the future founders of MDM Bank Andrei Melnichenko and Evgeniy Ishchenko studied there with him. After boarding school, Abyzov studied mechanics and mathematics at Moscow State University.
Abyzov was the richest minister, for whom “nothing is sacred”
00:00
00:00
2. THE DASHING 90S: STARTED WITH TURKISH GOODS AND BULGARIAN CIGARETTES
Perhaps Mikhail was influenced by his poor childhood and mathematical mindset, and perhaps by the early 90s - the time when initial capital was made in Russia, but already while studying at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics (from which he eventually left in the 2nd year) Abyzov started doing business. At first I transported consumer goods from Turkey. And then - ketchup, cigarettes and alcohol from Bulgaria to Moscow, Novosibirsk, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. They also talk about Abyzov’s connections at that time with an organized crime group with the self-explanatory name “Vampires,” which specialized in economic crimes. Mikhail himself recalled the lawlessness of those years using the example of such an illustrative story. He agreed on the supply of cars from AvtoVAZ to the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate. But the cool guys from Tolyatti demanded additional money. And they gave the cars back only after a combined riot police unit arrived from Moscow to investigate at AvtoVAZ.
3. BUSINESS TRIP TO SIBERIA
In the early 90s, Abyzov met Novosibirsk businessman and State Duma deputy Ivan Starikov. Became his assistant. After which he focused his main business interests on the Novosibirsk region. He supplied the regional administration with fertilizers, fuel and agricultural equipment (they say that without tenders, at inflated prices). As a security for supplies, he received a 20% government stake in Novosibirskenergo. This is where Abyzov’s entry into the energy industry began.
Abyzov was described as a “talented boy”, who, however, “has nothing sacred” Photo: Timur KHANOV
4. “HARD AND FROST-FROZEN” ENERGY DRINK
As an energy engineer and assistant to a deputy, Abyzov meets Anatoly Chubais. And when the latter became the head of RAO UES of Russia in 1998, Abyzov headed the department of investments and business projects in this state-owned company. And a year later he becomes deputy chairman of the board of the energy monopolist. As Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov spoke about Abyzov at the time, he was “tough, stubborn and frostbitten, well versed in people’s psychology and used it.” There was talk that it was Abyzov who then led the “fight against non-payments in the energy sector” with the help of a landmark scheme. Energy companies were obliged to accept bills of exchange as payment for electricity with a deferment of their repayment of 5 years. During these 5 years, the bills were naturally eaten up by inflation. But formally, non-payments decreased (which was beautifully reflected in the reports), and the benefits ended up in the right pockets.
5. GREF DID NOT LET 2 TRILLION BE “MASTERED”
In 2006, Abyzov was preparing to become the head of the commission for investment projects of RAO UES of Russia, whose plans were to develop 2.1 trillion (!) rubles. But his candidacy for the post of head of the commission is believed to have been “cut down” by Economics Minister German Gref. And Abyzov leaves the state-owned company for big business. Manages its energy assets, Mostotrest, agricultural. Including an ostrich farm for 3 thousand heads.
x HTML code
Mikhail Abyzov: from loader to minister. The poor laborer became the richest minister. But not for long. Our story contains everything that is important to know about the career of Mikhail Abyzov, who was arrested for the theft of 4 billion.
6. LIBERAL WITH SWAMP
All this time, Abyzov did not hide his liberal views. Although he avoided public political activity. But I went to the protest rally on Bolotnaya Square in 2011. As he himself said: “To assess the situation and understand the mood of people.”
7. MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO
In 2012, Abyzov became an adviser to Dmitry Medvedev. And since May 2012 - Minister for Open Government Affairs in Medvedev’s Cabinet. Although, according to sources, he tried to ask for a more significant post of Minister of Energy, but this was opposed by the business generals of the industry, who knew Mikhail Anatolyevich too well. Abyzov also failed to become Minister of Economy. As a result, he served as a de facto “minister without portfolio” until its abolition in 2020.
The Investigative Committee believes that Abyzov created a “criminal community” and stole 4 billion rubles almost during his tenure in the government - from 2011 to 2014.
While still a minister, Abyzov was recognized as the richest member of the government Photo: Vladimir VELENGURIN
8. THE RICHEST MEMBER OF THE GOVERNMENT
While still a minister, Abyzov was recognized as the richest member of the government. For example, according to the official declaration of income and property for 2020, he earned 455 million rubles. He owned two Mercedes, five motorcycles and a personal helicopter. And his wife - three SUVs and two Porsches.
Well, in 2020, Forbes included Abyzov in the list of the 200 richest people in the country with a fortune of $600 million.
9. AMERICAN'S SON-IN-LAW, NUN'S BROTHER
It’s interesting that Mikhail Abyzov’s older sister Natalya graduated from Moscow State University in Physics and Mathematics, just like her brother, and was engaged in business. But then she went to a monastery.
Abyzov’s wife Ekaterina, while he was in his ministerial post, was actually involved in managing her husband’s business. They have three children. Abyzov's father-in-law lives in Chicago (USA).
In 2020, there was information that Mikhail Abyzov broke up with his wife, having become infatuated with a flight attendant.
10. FROM CHUBAIS TO DVORKOVICH
Mikhail Abyzov is associated with many influential politicians and businessmen.
First of all, this is Anatoly Chubais, with whom he worked at RAO UES of Russia.
Arkady Dvorkovich, former Deputy Prime Minister, with whom Abyzov was part of the working group to create the Open Government Internet portal.
Large entrepreneurs Viktor Vekselberg, Iskander Makhmudov and Leonid Melamed, with whom Abyzov was a business partner at different times. At the same time, Melamed spoke of Abyzov as a “talented boy” who, however, “has nothing sacred.”
x HTML code
The Investigative Committee opened a case against former minister Abyzov.
Personal life of Mikhail Abyzov
The high-ranking official got married at the age of 19, when he was a student at Moscow State University. His wife Ekaterina studied at the same educational institution before leaving abroad in 1991. The married couple raised 3 children - Daniel, Nikita and Zoya. They, like his wife’s parents, are US citizens and permanently reside there. Together with her sister Olga, Abyzov’s wife manages the family-owned restaurants Isola Pinocchio and The Apartment in Moscow.
Mikhail Abyzov with his wife
Mikhail Abyzov’s fortune in 2020 reached $0.7 billion, and his annual income was estimated by Forbes at 230.1 million rubles, that is, he earned a million almost every working day. In the ranking of the richest Russians, he took 128th place (in 2011, with $1.2 billion, he took 76th position). He owned two plots of land of 5 thousand square meters, two residential buildings, three apartments in Russia, one in Britain, part of a mansion in Italy, 7 cars, 5 motorcycles, a helicopter, and a snowmobile.
Mikhail Abyzov raised three children
The eldest of the sons, Daniel, who got married in 2020, owns a villa in Italian Tuscany worth $4 million, where the wedding celebration took place. As reported in the media, the guest of the event, Chubais, gave the newlyweds an antique spyglass.
Abyzov Mikhail Anatolievich
Family
Mikhail Abyzov is married and has two sons and a daughter. His wife, Ekaterina Sirotenko, is a successful businesswoman.
Biography
Born on June 3, 1972, in Minsk, Belarusian SSR. In 1989 he entered the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at Moscow State University. Some sources disseminate information that Mikhail Abyzov graduated from Moscow State University, but Moscow State University itself claims that Abyzov was expelled from the 2nd year for academic failure. Abyzov completed his studies at the Moscow State Open Pedagogical University named after. M. A. Sholokhov (now - Moscow State Humanitarian University named after M. A. Sholokhov). Specialty: mathematics.
Mikhail began his working career at the age of 14: he worked as a laborer in a printing house in Minsk, then as a loader at a brewery (now Alivaria LLC). As a teenager, as part of a student construction team at the Belarusian Medical Institute, he traveled to Tyumen, where, according to him, he earned his first serious money.
While a student, Abyzov began retail trading in areas he rented in various department stores. He traded mainly in Turkish consumer goods under the guise of Inter Shops, then in 1991 - Emika LLP. At that time, Abyzov was importing food and alcohol from Bulgaria.
Since 1993, he has held senior positions in a number of companies in the fuel and energy complex.
The JSC MMB GROUP, which he created, worked closely with the Russian Ministry of Agriculture. This was facilitated by relations with deputy Ivan Starikov , for whom Abyzov was an assistant. Ivan Starikov at that time served as deputy chairman of the committee on agrarian issues.
AOZT "MMB GROUP" was engaged in mediation in resolving issues regarding debts for the supply of raw materials. It is worth recalling the rampant racketeering and raiding in those years. Starikov introduced Abyzov to the governor of the Novosibirsk region, Mukha .
In 1996, through a chain of various offsets, Mikhail Abyzov received a 19% stake in Novosibirskenergo OJSC . After some time, Abyzov already had a controlling stake in this company.
Since November 1996 - General Director of OJSC SLAVTEK.
Since June 1997 - member of the Board of Directors of OJSC Joint Stock Bank Sibecobank (Novosibirsk).
In December 1997, he unsuccessfully ran for deputy of the Novosibirsk Regional Council in electoral district N11 from the Third Force electoral association.
In 1998, Mikhail Abyzov was appointed deputy chairman of the board of directors of OJSC Novosibirskenergo. In the same year, he became a member of the board and head of the department of investment policy and business projects of RAO UES of Russia .
From May 1999 to August 2000 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC Chelyabenergo.
Since 1999 - member of the Board of Directors of OJSC Kuzbassenergo, from October 2000 to June 2004 - chairman.
Since 1999 - Deputy Chairman of the Board of RAO UES of Russia. When Mikhail Abyzov joined RAO UES in 1999, he indicated that he was the first deputy general director of a certain Federal Financial and Industrial Group of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, but such an organization did not exist in nature and it is not listed in the registers.
At RAO UES, Abyzov was a member of the board and was involved in the fight against non-payments and debts.
In 1999, Abyzov helped Roman Abramovich in his election campaign for deputy from Chukotka.
Since January 2002 - member of the Board of Directors of OJSC Federal Grid Company of the Unified Energy System ( FGC UES ).
2003—2005 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Russian Utility Systems (RCS).
From May 2004 to June 2005 - member of the Board of Directors of JSC Lenenergo.
Since 2004 – member of the Board of Directors of OJSC OGK-5.
Since December 2004 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC TGC-9.
On July 19, 2005, he became the general director of the new LLC “Management (KRU).
In September 2006, he ceded the operational management of Kuzbassrazrezugol to UMMC-Holding, headed by Andrey Kozitsyn , but until June 2007 he remained on the board of directors of Kuzbassrazrezugol.
From 2006 to January 16, 2012, he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the RU-COM business group.
From July 2007 to January 16, 2012 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC E4 Group. From August 2007 to January 2011, he was also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mostotrest OJSC.
Until January 2012, he was the chairman of the board of directors of the RU-COM business group, as well as the largest engineering group that was part of it, but after being appointed to the post of adviser to the President of Russia, he left these posts.
On January 18, 2012, he was appointed Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation.
On May 1, 2012, he joined the new Government of the Russian Federation as minister responsible for organizing the work of the Government Commission for coordinating the activities of the Open Government.
Coordinator of the Public Committee of Supporters of the President of the Russian Federation D.A. Medvedev . Since 2010, he has been a member of the Board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs .
Awarded the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology for 2003 - for the development and implementation of the scientific foundations for managing the federal wholesale electricity (capacity) market.
Income
Forbes placed Mikhail Abyzov at 76th place in the ranking with a fortune of $1.3 billion. The richest minister in the government of Dmitry Medvedev. Abyzov is the owner of the E4 Group, where he consolidated many former assets of RAO UES.
Abyzov’s assets also include Novosibirskenergo, the energy sales holding SibirEnergo, British PowerFuel, several coal mines, and the Kopitania agricultural holding, which has 86.3 thousand hectares of land. His wife Ekaterina is also involved in business. The Abyzov-Sirotenko family owns the Moscow restaurants “The Apartment” and Isola Pinocchio, which, apparently, are run by Ekaterina Sirotenko.
Scandals, rumors
In 2000, law enforcement agencies became interested in the complicated relationship between the Novosibirsk region and ORTEK and opened a criminal case against Governor Mukha. Abyzov, who then already held the post of Deputy Chairman of the Board of RAO UES, was involved in the case as a witness. Therefore, some observers suggested that the Novosibirskenergo case was initiated by those regional bosses and industrialists who suffered from Abyzov’s drastic measures to resolve the crisis of non-payments in the energy sector.
Leonid Melamed , whose investment owned a large stake in Novosibirskenergo, claims that Abyzov resigned from the shareholders of this energy company in 2001 because, “being a top manager of RAO UES, he experienced a conflict of interest.”
Around the same time, the Novosibirskenergo stake, which belonged to ORTEK, was fragmented and changed owners, and at the end of 2001, the case brought against Mukha was dropped due to an amnesty.
Another criminal case related to Novosibirskenergo turned out to be equally short-lived. In October 2003, the company's management was accused of understating the volume of electricity transmitted through the networks of the State Unitary Enterprise Novosibirskoblenergo in 2002, which, according to investigators, caused damage to the state-owned enterprise in the amount of 72 million rubles. Searches were carried out at Novosibirskenergo - no one has yet found out what documents the investigators were looking for in the safes and on the servers of the energy company. And a year later, in the fall of 2004, this case was closed. This time - for lack of evidence of a crime.
At the beginning of 2009, a conflict arose between Abyzov's E4 and OGK-2, controlled by Gazprom . OGK-2 stated that E4 does not fulfill its obligations under the contract for the construction of two combined cycle units at the Stavropol State District Power Plant and does not want to return the advance payment. E4 responded to this by saying that they are not carrying out construction at the request of OGK-2 and are ready to partially return the advance.
Gazprom managers actually said that they wanted to move the construction of one block to Moscow. Abyzov stated that he was interested in resolving the conflict in order to continue to cooperate with Gazprom structures. OGK-2 also stated that they were interested in further work. Sergei Shmatko took part in the conflict , writing a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, in which he spoke about the need to return most of the advance.
In October 2014, employees of the E4 Group demanded that the richest minister in the government, Medvedev, who headed the company, who declared several houses and apartments in Russia, Great Britain and Italy last year, return their salary debts, which already exceed 100 million rubles.
Members of the movement’s initiative group point out that Minister Abyzov continues to manage the E4 Group in violation of the law prohibiting officials from engaging in business activities, and directs the company’s profits to his own enrichment, not paying attention to the pre-bankruptcy state of the engineering holding.
“Mikhail Abyzov is actively promoting initiatives to combat corruption, although his own income needs explanation. In this regard, we urge you to check the activities of Minister Abyzov and establish facts of violation of the law on his part,” said Alexey Ivanov, .
In 2020, bloggers discovered the American citizenship of Abyzov’s family members and himself.
“Copies of American passports of members of his family, US citizens born and living in America, are circulating on the RuNet. What do you think now, the interests of which country will be defended by a type-Russian official with an American passport in his pocket and with a family living in the USA!? And the presence of an American passport clearly indicates his non-Russian citizenship. What oath do they take when receiving citizenship in America?” bloggers ask.
Mikhail Abyzov now. Arrest
On the evening of March 26, 2020, the media reported the detention of Mikhail Abyzov. The ex-minister was accused of embezzling and transferring 4 billion rubles abroad by deceiving shareholders of the energy companies SIBEKO and RES in the Novosibirsk region. There are also five accomplices in the case (employees of the regional branch of SIBEKO, the Distribution Zone and the Novosibirsk Hydroelectric Power Plant).
Mikhail Abyzov was arrested and accused of embezzling 4 billion
In recent years, Abyzov’s main place of residence was Italy. He allegedly flew to Russia for Arkady Dvorkovich’s birthday, and was detained soon after. The Investigative Committee brought charges on two counts: fraud on an especially large scale and creation of an organized criminal community using official position. According to various estimates, if proven guilty, Abyzov faces up to 20 years in prison.
The accused do not admit guilt and call it a fabrication. Abyzov's lawyers insist that the entire charge is built around one transaction. Allegedly, Abyzov acquired the assets of 4 energy companies at obviously inflated prices (according to rough estimates, 21 times). The shares of these companies were sold to Almazuvelirexport for 4 billion rubles, with a real value of 186 million rubles. The difference was withdrawn through offshore accounts.
Let us note that Abyzov became the second minister against whom a criminal case was opened. The first sign was Alexey Ulyukaev.
Personal life
Mikhail Abyzov married the daughter of fairly high-ranking people while still a student at Moscow State University. The wife and her parents are US citizens. After one unsuccessful attempt to move to the States back in the nineties, Abyzov stayed in Russia for a while, but today he has a large amount of real estate around the world, and his children are citizens of both the United States and the Russian Federation.
With my wife
The Abyzovs have three children.
Minister Mikhail Abyzov with his son
“Tough and stubborn”: 10 facts about Mikhail Abyzov
On March 26, the FSB detained ex-minister Mikhail Abyzov in Moscow. He is suspected of embezzling ₽4 billion. What is known about the businessman and ex-official - in the RBC material
Mikhail Abyzov (Photo: Dmitry Astakhov / TASS)
- Mikhail Abyzov is 46 years old. He was born in Minsk, participated in biathlon as a child, and began working at the age of 14 as a laborer in a printing house, since after the death of his father the family needed money. After winning the Physics and Mathematics Olympiad, I received an invitation from Physics and Mathematics Boarding School No. 18 at Moscow State University and moved to Moscow. The future founders of MDM Bank, Evgeny Ishchenko and Andrey Melnichenko, studied at the boarding school with Abyzov. After graduating from boarding school, Abyzov entered the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at Moscow State University. While in his first year at university, Abyzov registered his first company, which was selling things and office equipment from Turkey.
Video: RF IC
- In 1992, together with classmate Milen Mitsik, he created the MMB-group joint venture, which sold lecho and ketchup from Bulgaria. Soon the company began to supply supplies to the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. “In the early 1990s, non-payments had already begun, and budgetary organizations still had cash, so it was profitable to work with them. But times were difficult, and difficult situations arose. Once AvtoVAZ did not allow us to ship an already paid large batch of cars and spare parts for the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate; guys from informal structures demanded additional payment. A week later, a combined riot police squad arrived in Togliatti - after that there were no more problems,” Abyzov recalled.
- In the mid-1990s, Abyzov created the United Russian Fuel and Energy Company (ORTEK), which was engaged in the sale of goods from the largest enterprises in Western Siberia - from fertilizers to grain. In 1996, he became a shareholder in enterprises producing components for miners and oil workers: Sibirgazservice, Novosibirskenergo and Novosibirsknefteprodukt. 51% of ordinary shares in the latter belonged to YUKOS. After a dispute over operational control of the enterprise, Abyzov’s share was bought by Sibneft, merged with Yukos, for $70 million.
- In 1998, he began working at RAO UES of Russia, where he headed the department of investments and business projects.
A year later he became deputy chairman of the organization’s board. “He is tough, stubborn and frostbitten. He had a good understanding of people’s psychology, knew who had what interests, and used it,” then Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov said about him. In 2005, Abyzov left the company. In his own words, this work ceased to inspire him. A criminal community was organized for Mikhail Abyzov Politics - Since 2006, Abyzov has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the RU-COM business group, which manages his assets in the energy sector (Sibeko, Elsib) and agriculture (Kopitania). From 2007 to 2011, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC Mostotrest.
- In 2011, at the suggestion of President Dmitry Medvedev, Abyzov headed the “big government” project, which he himself financed. Medvedev explained the idea of “big government” as follows: “I propose to think about creating a so-called big government, which will act together with the main party, together with civil society, together with experts, together with regional and municipal authorities, together with all voters who ready to vote for us. And even with those who completely disagree with us, if they are ready for this, of course.” In December 2011, as Forbes wrote, Abyzov took part in a rally on Bolotnaya Square against the results of the Duma elections, in his words, “to assess the situation and understand what people’s mood is. He left the square with the feeling: openness of power is what society needs at the moment. He didn’t go to other rallies.”
From Serdyukov to Abyzov: which Russian officials were under investigation Photo gallery
- A few months later, Abyzov became Medvedev’s adviser on the work of “big government.” At the same time, commenting on this news, Medvedev’s press secretary Natalya Timakova for the first time called “big government” open. On May 21, 2012, Abyzov joined the new government as minister responsible for organizing the work of the government commission for coordinating the activities of the “open government.” He held this position until its abolition in May 2020. One of the main results of his work was the reboot of public councils under government agencies and the launch of a portal for discussing draft regulatory legal acts.
- In 2020, Abyzov was included in the “Kremlin list” of the US Treasury - a list of oligarchs and high-ranking officials, according to the American government, close to the Kremlin, who are subject to sanctions.
- In 2020, Abyzov became the richest minister, earning 455.6 million rubles in a year. In 2020, Forbes estimated Abyzov’s fortune at $600 million. He took 162nd place in the ranking of the 200 richest businessmen in Russia.
- Abyzov was married. He has three children. In 2020, the media reported the divorce of the ex-minister.
