Russian Court Drops Case Against Billionaire Melnichenko

A Russian court dropped a case against sanctioned billionaire Andrey Melnichenko and the companies linked to him after an agreement was reached with prosecutors.

(Bloomberg) — A Russian court dropped a case against sanctioned billionaire Andrey Melnichenko and the companies linked to him after an agreement was reached with prosecutors.

The case, which targeted Melnichenko, the company he founded Suek JSC, and two other companies, was closed on Friday, according to information on the website of the court in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.

Prosecutors filed the case to the court in August. The charges related to energy assets that companies linked to Melnichenko purchased in 2018 from businesses connected to Mikhail Abyzov, who was arrested in 2019 in an alleged embezzlement case.

Kuzbassenergo JSC, a utility that is controlled by Suek and was one of the defendants in the case, said on Friday that the company and the prosecutors reached a settlement agreement allowing the case to be withdrawn. Kuzbassenergo will contribute funding toward educational charity projects as part of the agreement.

Read more: Sanctioned Tycoon Melnichenko Joins Gorbachev Foundation Board

Worth an estimated $15.2 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Melnichenko was sanctioned by the European Union and the US following Russia’s attack on Ukraine. He holds dual citizenship from Russia and the United Arab Emirates. The tycoon is also the founder of fertilizer-maker EuroChem Group AG.

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