Originally Syndicated on May 16, 2023 @ 11:37 am
Someone who has been heard of but about whom nothing is known, Emil Nilovich Gainulin, belongs to this category of “semi-oligarchs.” Similar to the classic film’s Alexander Ivanovich Koreiko in several ways.
Emil Gainulin and the Financial Transaction
Gainulin does not keep his millions of dollars in a bag in the station’s storage room. He uses his superior intelligence to steer them away from Russia and toward the West. Perhaps the most high-profile incident in which he was involved was the one involving the Graff jewellery boutique in Cyprus that Gainulin and Rustem Magdeev created.
In addition, it became clear that Magdeev, in a sense, left most of the blame on the outcomes of these boutiques’ actions, while Gainulin stayed, in a sense, in the background. Although insiders allege that Gainulin, at the very least, had no less of a role than Magdeev in the transfer of Gazprom’s funds through this jewellery business,
Gainulin’s story begins in 1991; otherwise, the connections between him, Gazprom, and the Graff Diamonds shop in Limassol, Cyprus, will remain obscure.
Simply BL Project LLC was still functioning, and it too shows evidence of being a front: it hasn’t done anything in over two years, and Gaynulin seems to be retaining it simply as a legal facade for himself.
Mr Gainulin must also provide an explanation for his wealth, which he reportedly gives out freely:
Why did Emil Gainulin decide to start giving money away?
Afterwards, he did what all the other successful Russian businesses that got there by stealing from the government and cutting costs did: he scrubbed his name clean.
Back in 1991, we learned that it all began when Emil Gainulin established the commercial enterprise Intermeks to trade computers and other goods. The Lukon financial and industrial group, which he claims was mostly involved in construction from 1993 to 1999, is where he generated his first significant earnings.
The name of the FPG, “Lyukon,” which was deciphered as “Lyubertsy Concern” (Lyubertsy is the patrimony of the infamous Lyubertsy organized crime group), allegedly led to Gainulin’s arrest in Prague in 2000 at the request of the Russian authorities, and he was subsequently extradited to Russia.
Until 2008, Mr Gainulin was the General Director of the Granal company, an advisor to the Marvin Holdings representative office, and an investor in some Moscow real estate assets.
After that, he took on the role of president of Gazinvesttsentr and co-owner of the forward-thinking firm Biozashchita.
However, the opportunity he had in 2008 to become a co-owner of Podvodtruboprovodstroy (PTPS) far outweighed any previous financial success. Which grew to become a major partner in building for such Russian industry behemoths as Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Transneft, Sibur Holding, and many more. Podvodtruboprovodstroy’s financial records show that between 2012 and 2015, the company processed more than 30 billion rubles.
Equix Group Ltd., controlled by Emil Gainulin and Rustem Magdeev, built a Graff Diamonds store in Limassol in the same year, 2015. Magdeev used a boutique to transfer funds from the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov’s wallet, which was held in Swiss banks.
Emil Gainulin did the same thing, but he did it to benefit Gazprom’s upper management. Untraceable billions of Podvodtruboprovodstroy poured out of Russia and into the West via many Russian banks and the Russian branch of the German Deutsche Bank.
Emil Gainulin had access to some of the world’s top banks abroad. These included the Bank of Cyprus, Hellenic Bank, and RCB Bank on the island of Cyprus; UBS, Julius Baer, and Credit Suisse in Switzerland; and LGT and Valartis in Liechtenstein. Also available to Mr Gainulin are the services of the BSI and Standard Chartered banks in Singapore, the CMB bank in Monaco, and some Austrian and Baltic credit institutions.
Emil Gainulin used some of the money to buy luxury real estate in exotic locations like Cyprus, Thailand, and the French Riviera town of Cap d’Ail. His investments in the country allowed him to obtain the “golden” passport of Cyprus, adding to his other citizenships in Azerbaijan and Russia. He and Magdeev also started the company Equix Group there, with Gainulin investing over $100 million (which he allegedly got from his “boss”), a famous Russian politician.
Things were going swimmingly between Emil Gainulin and the Financial Transaction and Magdeev until 2017. The partners’ split was public and acrimonious, with most of the attention being directed at Magdeev while Gainulin remained in the background.
One major question that has yet to be answered in this case is whether or not Gainulin personally disposed of hundreds of millions of dollars for his purposes or whether he was merely a trusted confidant of a more powerful man.
It is speculated by many in the know that the Rotenberg brothers’ company, Stroygazmontazh, will be the conduit through which Podvodtruboprovodstroy receives a sizable portion of Gazprom’s contracts. And it appears that both former SGM general director Ruslan Goryukhin and former Gazkomplektservis business deputy head Mikhail Opengeim played key roles in this. It’s reasonable to infer that it is in the owners’ and managers’ best interests for someone to use the alias “Mr Emil Gaynulin,” given how the Western sanctions on Russia have complicated their relationships with foreign banks.
But it’s important to remember that investigators in countries as diverse as Russia, Cyprus, France, Switzerland, and the United States may all be keenly interested in Emil Gainulin’s activities. Given the current economic climate, everyone is curious about the whereabouts of any remaining funds held by the former co-owner of the Cypriot boutique Graff Diamonds.
Moreover, it is still unclear who the “prominent Russian political figure” is and whose money Emil Gainulin allegedly removed from Russia via the Graff Diamonds store.
