Who runs the airline Vim Avia. Russian airline "VIM-Avia"
The Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) detained the general director and chief accountant of the VIM-Avia airline in a fraud case. This was reported by official representative of the department Svetlana Petrenko.
“As part of a criminal case of theft Money passengers by employees of the VIM-AVIA airline (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The Main Directorate for Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Investigative Committee of Russia detained the general director of the said company, Alexander Kochnev, as well as the chief accountant Ekaterina Panteleeva,” she said.
They will be charged in the near future, and then the investigation plans to petition the court to impose a preventive measure against them.
At the same time, Petrenko stated: “The co-owners of the company, Rashid and Svetlana Mursekaev, hastily left the country, and according to the information available to the investigation, they are abroad. In this regard, measures are being taken to establish their whereabouts.”
The situation with VIM-Avia flight delays worsened at the end of last week. Later, the airline officially announced that it did not have enough money to continue flights and was stopping charter flights. The intervention of the Ministry of Transport and the Federal Air Transport Agency was required. The airline's total debt to creditors, according to the Federal Air Transport Agency, amounts to 7 billion rubles. The prosecutor's office began an investigation, and the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case of theft.
The day before, the Ministry of Transport agreed with airports and fueling companies on uninterrupted service for all VIM-Avia flights. Passengers on regular flights will be transported until October 15. The media also reported that VIM-Avia will receive 500 million rubles from the state as a VAT refund for the third quarter.
Today it became known about the detention of the general director of the Vim-Avia company. He is suspected of stealing passengers' funds. The court is expected to consider the issue of his arrest tomorrow. The chief accountant of Vim-Avia is also now answering the investigators’ questions.
Meanwhile, thousands of passengers are now waiting for their departure at airports in both Russia and other countries. Other companies, including foreign ones, are already involved in transportation.
The leaders of Vim-Avia were summoned to the Investigative Committee, first as witnesses. But after the interrogations, their status changed: from witnesses they became suspects.
“As part of a criminal case regarding the theft of funds from passengers of the Investigative Committee of Russia, the general director of the said company, Alexander Kochnev, as well as the chief accountant Ekaterina Panteleeva, were detained. They will be charged in the near future, after which the investigation plans to petition the court to impose a preventive measure against the defendants in the criminal case. The co-owners of the company, Rashid and Svetlana Mursekaev, hastily left the country and, according to the information available to the investigation, are abroad. In this regard, measures are being taken to establish their whereabouts,” said Svetlana Petrenko, official representative of the RF Investigative Committee.
The airline's general director Alexander Kochnev and chief accountant Ekaterina Panteleeva, according to their lawyers, refuse to testify at this stage. Formally, they refer to fatigue. Like, more than one sleepless night is behind us. It is known that they did not admit their guilt in the fraud case. And they claim: there was no theft on their part.
Meanwhile, according to the investigation, throughout the last week, airline officials, knowing that there were not enough funds even to purchase fuel, continued to sell tickets. The Investigative Committee is now calling on all passengers who have suffered from the actions of Vim-Avia to submit appropriate applications. They will also be involved in the case.
The day before, at a meeting with the government, Vladimir Putin harshly criticized the situation with Vim-Avia: “Tens of thousands found themselves in a very difficult situation. It would be good if it was the first time, but this has been going on for years. And we just can’t develop normal legal regulation that is efficient and effective. I understand perfectly well that you want to create conditions for normal business conduct; you don’t want to burden your business with additional costs associated with various forms of ensuring people’s interests, insurance, and so on. But without this there can be no normal business either. In the end, business is not for businessmen, but for people who use these services. And I want to say to the minister: I declare you to be incomplete for service. If you deal with this situation quickly and effectively, then Dmitry Anatolyevich and I will think about what to do with incomplete service compliance. If you can't handle it, we'll think about it too. I ask you to quickly and effectively close this problem.”
After these words from the president, the Ministry of Transport and other departments are trying to quickly resolve the airline’s problems. A meeting took place today operational headquarters, which, in addition to the Ministry of Transport, included representatives of the Federal Air Transport Agency, Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports, employees of fueling companies and the Federal Tourism Agency. Fundamental decision: urgent assistance will be provided primarily to those tourists who cannot return home from abroad.
“Now we are faced with the task of bringing our tourists from abroad. A large number of We are now in Turkey. This is the first priority. At the same time, regular flights and passengers on regular flights will also be transported. And only after this we will begin the program of operating those flights for which passengers have purchased tickets, but the date has not yet arrived,” said the adviser to the Minister of Transport Russian Federation Zhanna Terekhova.
The return of people who are currently vacationing in foreign resorts, but must fly out in the near future charter flights to Russia, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia will also be involved.
“Unfortunately, it is simply technically impossible to cope today with the help of the tour operator community. Therefore, lists are now being formed and a queue is being formed. Those tourists who did not get on their flights abroad continue to relax today at the expense of tour operators. I don’t know how much, so to speak, this vacation is pleasant or unpleasant for them, but in any case, tour operators provide hotel accommodation and meals,” said Alexander Osaulenko, director of the “Tour Pomosch” association.
According to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, a detailed action plan for the export of Russian tourists with VIM-Avia tickets from Turkish Antalya and other foreign airports. The daily flight schedule must be ready within 48 hours. As for regular flights, they will operate until October 15 inclusive. It is recommended to return tickets for flights after this date. At the same time, the money spent should reportedly be returned. We also managed to reach an agreement with airports and fueling companies on uninterrupted service for all VIM-Avia aircraft. State guarantees provided.
“Six flights will be carried out, from Moscow three planes will go to Antalya and return passengers to Russia. They will fly back empty to Antalya today and return with passengers. In total, one and a half thousand people will be transported from Antalya. In addition, the Greek airline "Elineir" will today return 245 passengers of the airline "VIM-Avia" from Heraklion, these are also charter passengers. Passenger transportation on regular flights continues. Today the flight to Blagoveshchensk was carried out. In total, 22 regular flights are planned for today alone. Yesterday one was completed regular flight"- noted the official representative Federal agency air transport Sergey Izvolsky.
Despite the measures taken, the situation remains difficult. Tens of thousands of passengers remain abroad alone.
Many people are waiting for departure at the capital’s Vnukovo airport, which temporarily became the base for the troubled airline. VIM-Avia planes are released from here almost manually - each flight individually. The most difficult situation is with flights to Anadyr and Magadan. They were combined, but all the passengers could not fit on one plane. Nerves to the limit.
“They took my luggage, and after a while they told me: there is no way you can board the flight, there are no seats! Nobody cares how we are here,” says Angela Sekach.
“We were not provided with water or food. Nobody worries like we do here,” says Oksana Mikalyuk.
And one more nuance. Journalists managed not only to find out where the legal address of the airline, which was one of the ten largest, is located, but also to find it - a dilapidated one-story building, a garage next door. Only a sign reveals in this house, located in Tatarstan, about a hundred kilometers from Kazan, the office of a company that transported over two million passengers a year.
Alena Panarina, an employee of the VIM-Avia press service, told RBC that she does not comment on the movements of the owners.
According to SPARK-Interfax, Svetlana Mursekaeva owns 99% of VIM-Avia, Rashid Mursekaev - 1% (previously 20% of the airline belonged to the Liechtenstein Hercules Partners Fund Gemini-Gemini II).
On September 25, after massive delays of VIM-Avia flights and information appeared that the airline did not have the funds to pay for fuel, Mursekaev admitted that “the airline has a difficult economic situation, working capital has run out and financing has been frozen.” “Since the airline cannot operate flights without additional funding, we are exploring the possibilities of introducing external crisis management,” Mursekaev said in an interview with Rossiya 24.
On Monday, September 25, against unnamed officials of VIM-Avia under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of Russia (fraud). They are suspected of receiving 1 million rubles. through the sale of tickets, knowing at the same time that the airline does not have money to purchase fuel and operate flights.
On the evening of September 27, an investigation against VIM-Avia officials was carried out on behalf of the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, for the investigation of particularly important cases.
The situation with VIM-Avia on Wednesday with members of the government, which was chaired by President Vladimir Putin. The head of state expressed bewilderment at the fact that the airline, according to officials, meets all the criteria, but at the same time cannot operate.
In the early 1990s, Rashid Mursekaev was involved in the supply of food products from Asia to pay off debts for the supply of Russian weapons, together with Sergei Nedoroslev (now the chairman of the board of directors of the Kaskol group of companies). The partners established the Belukha company, which bought shares of defense and aviation enterprises. Subsequently, Mursekaev went into independent business - he consolidated 68% of the shares of the Far Eastern Shipping Company, which he sold to Sergei Generalov for $60 million in 2002. In 2002, Mursekaev became a partner with the founder of VIM-Avia, Viktor Merkulov, and in 2003 bought 75% from him. in an air carrier. In 2003, as Forbes wrote, Mursekaev spent $160 million on the purchase of 12 used Boeing aircraft.
Airline "VIM-Avia"
VIM-Avia airline was founded in October 2002. The carrier operated its first flights mainly in the Asian direction (Vietnam, China, Thailand). The airline's fleet consists of Boeing 777-300, 777-200, 767-300, 757-200 and Airbus 319-111, 330-200. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the founders of VIM-Avia LLC are Rashid (1%) and Svetlana (99%) Mursekaevs. They are also listed as the founders of Invest Holding PJSC, which was declared bankrupt in July 2017.
Financial indicators
In 2016, the company showed a net profit of 89 million rubles. with revenue of 17.174 billion rubles. The value of assets as of December 31, 2016 was 10.481 billion rubles, and net financial debt was 7.007 billion rubles. (source: GMC Rosstat).
Transportation volumes
According to the Federal Air Transport Agency, in 2016 the VIM-Avia company transported 2.076 million passengers, showing an increase in this indicator by 30% and taking ninth place in the industry. The company itself associated this growth with the introduction of new aircraft(four Boeing 737-500, two Boeing 767-300, six Boeing 777-200 and one Airbus A330-200). From January to August 2017, the number of passengers carried continued to grow compared to the same period last year - by 31.4%. Nevertheless, the company dropped to tenth place, behind North Wind.
Airline problems
In 2016, the company had problems implementing passenger transportation. VIM-Avia allowed massive flight delays of many hours. In July 2016, Rosaviatsia warned VIM-Avia about the possibility of limiting its air operator certificate due to massive delays and gave it a week to resolve all problems. The carrier's spokeswoman noted that the delays were due to the high season and the attempted coup in Turkey. The day after the warning was issued, the company announced that the transportation situation had stabilized and reported that the problems had been resolved thanks to the introduction of new ships.
The company ran into problems again in 2017 when dozens of flights were canceled after delays in early June. A representative of Rostransnadzor then explained the failure of the charter program by delays in aircraft repairs. The number of victims due to problems at VIM-Avia in June 2017 was estimated at approximately 30 thousand people. As a result, the airline's share of delayed flights this month was 13.56%. In July-August, problems remained: in July the share of delayed flights was 13.83%, and in August - 19.45%. In September, the airline delayed more than 40% of its flights.
In January-September 2017, the Department of State Aviation Supervision and Supervision of Transport Safety in Privolzhsky federal district carried out seven inspections at the airline, mainly at the request of citizens.
