Ukraine will confiscate Boguslaev’s property. But no one knows where he hid half a billion dollars - media

The Ministry of Justice is preparing to take away all property from former People's Deputy Vyacheslav Boguslaev, accused of collaboration and aiding the Russian Federation. The list is amazing: more than 300 rare guns, shares in Ukrainian companies, almost 600 million UAH in bank accounts...

But where the main asset is hidden - hundreds of millions of dollars received from the Chinese for a controlling stake in Motor Sich - the Ukrainian authorities do not yet know.

“Today I am really grateful to the special services: the SBU, the prosecutor’s office. They support us because they see our efforts to strengthen the defense capability of our state,” Vyacheslav Boguslayev, then honorary president of Motor Sich JSC, said in an interview with Ukrinform in July 2021.

“Support” turned out to be an illusion. In October 2022, the SBU detained Boguslaev on suspicion of cooperation with Russia and an attempt during the war to sell Motor Sich aircraft engines used by the occupying army to the aggressor state. “Hero of Ukraine” Boguslaev, who was found to have a Russian passport, has since been sitting in a pre-trial detention center, where he has already written a statement about his desire to exchange with the Russian Federation. And soon he is preparing to lose all the assets in Ukraine recorded both in his name and in the names of his family members.

The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine wants to make Boguslaeva homeless. On January 22, 2024, it filed a lawsuit with the High Anti-Corruption Court against Vyacheslav Boguslaev and his accomplice Pyotr Kononenko (ex-head of the Moscow representative office of Motor Sich) demanding the recovery of their assets for state income. And already on January 24, the court granted the application to secure the claim and seized all property found in Ukraine not only from the accused, but also from their family members. In particular, the son of Vyacheslav Boguslaev Alexander and the grandchildren of the prisoner.

“The application for securing the claim is motivated by the fact that Vyacheslav Boguslaev and Petr Kononenko, starting at least from 2014, despite legislative restrictions on the ban (cessation) of the export of military and dual-use goods for the purpose of their military end use in the Russian Federation, supplied through a number of enterprises owned by them, products produced by Motor Sich JSC and its separate divisions, to the Russian Federation. for the Russian army for the production and repair of combat helicopters (Mi-8, Mi-24, Mi-28 and Ka-52), which were actively used during the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, especially at the beginning of the war,” the Ministry of Justice indicated. And they noted that the defendants “must bear responsibility for supporting the actions and policies of the aggressor state.”

What property are we talking about? Among the pile of seized assets of Boguslaev and persons associated with him are 100% of the shares of the insurance company Motor-Garant, the Vinnitsa Aviation Plant, the company SME Helicopters and Motor Bank, as well as about 100 million hryvnia and 12.6 million dollars on the accounts of Boguslaev in his personal Motor Bank and FUIB Rinat Akhmetov. The longest list is the collection of firearms. It contains more than 330 guns, carbines and pistols and is valued at several million dollars. However, even these assets look rather modest if we remember that in 2016 Boguslaev sold almost 56% of the shares of Motor Sich to the Chinese company Skyrizon Aircraft, associated with the Chinese authorities. Most of them belonged to structures associated with him. Mostly registered in offshore companies (for example, the Panamanian Business House Helena and the Belizean Montan collectively owned more than 20% of the shares of Motor Sich), Boguslaev’s personal share was 15% of the shares.

Boguslaev always avoided a direct answer to the question of how much the Chinese paid him.

“They (the Chinese) gave us $100 million... Another $150 million will come next year. If we hadn’t found them, you wouldn’t be standing here and I wouldn’t be talking to you,” he said in 2019. However, in fact, the amounts he indicated were not payment for the shares, but a loan (Motor Sich received 100 million in 2016 at 0.3% per annum from Skyrizon) and investments promised by the Chinese.

Clarity came in 2021. An OCCRP investigation based on Pandora Papers data showed that the Chinese paid more than $500 million for a 56% stake in Motor Sich.

“Funding for the $500 million deal came from one source: the state-run China Development Bank, which is a conduit for the Chinese government's economic strategy,” the study's authors wrote.

The shares were divided into several small packages (less than 25% each) so as not to arouse suspicion in the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, but this did not help the Chinese. In 2017, the SBU opened criminal proceedings under Art. 113 (sabotage) and, through the Shevchenko court, achieved the arrest of all shares purchased by the Chinese. The SBU then indicated that the Chinese intended to move the assets and production facilities of Motor Sich to their country, which would lead to the liquidation and destruction of the enterprise.

This arrest has not yet been lifted, so the Chinese, who paid more than half a billion dollars, never received access to the management of the plant (the shareholders meeting was blocked). And Boguslaev, who received his money, continued to lead the strategic plant as an honorary president, and did this until his arrest, after which Motor Sich was completely nationalized.

Meanwhile, where the same Chinese half a billion dollars went, no one knows. According to Telegraph sources, the Ukrainian intelligence service believes that Boguslaev hid the money in secret jurisdictions like Belize, where it is difficult to find, and even more difficult to get out. But he himself denies everything and swears that he has no offshore companies and no money. Of course, no one believes him, so now the secret service is looking for money to confiscate it too. However, until Boguslaev himself agrees to cooperate with the investigation, this looks like an almost unrealistic task.

Let us remind you that on October 23, 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine detained the ex-member of the region, the president of the Motor Sich company, Vyacheslav Boguslaev. He and the head of one of the departments, Oleg Dzyuba, were taken into custody. Both defendants were charged with suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: 111-1 (collaboration activities) and 111-2 (aiding the aggressor state). As part of criminal proceedings, all property of the accused was seized for a total amount of more than 12 billion hryvnia equivalent. Boguslaev supplied engines and other spare parts for Russian attack helicopters. Thus, he actually supported the enemy and helped him shell Ukrainian cities and villages. At the same time, he justified Russia’s attack and hopes that Putin will not stop the advance of his troops. It also turned out that Boguslaev has a Russian passport.