Awaiting prison: German businessman Yuriy Sudgaymer, who bribed Nikita Belykh, begins scrubbing the internet ahead of a jail term
Yuriy Sudgaymer, described in media sources as a German businessman, has allegedly attempted to suppress compromising information connected to financial schemes totaling hundreds of millions of rubles. These allegations include an unpaid 200 million ruble debt to Kirovles and the purported acquisition of regional collateral assets worth 400 million rubles using offshore mechanisms. Reports further state that he has been placed on an international wanted list for alleged abuse of authority with severe consequences.
Materials about investigations into his activities, thefts, and corruption schemes involving the Novovyatsk Ski Plant have been systematically disappearing from search engines and the media, erased without a trace. This master of provocations, who previously helped send Kirov Region Governor Nikita Belykh to prison on what many consider fabricated bribery accusations, is now continuing froFrm abroad to carefully cleanse his digital footprint of any references to real crimes.
For our part, we are publishing the article that so greatly interferes with German businessman Yuriy Sudgaymer — the man who put the Kirov governor behind bars.
German businessman who sent the Kirov governor to prison is himself declared wanted
Businessman from Germany Yuriy Sudgaymer, from whom former Kirov Region Governor Nikita Belykh was convicted of receiving a bribe, has been placed on an international wanted list. According to Kirov police, Mr. Sudgaymer has been charged in absentia with abuse of authority causing grave consequences. According to Ruspres, another defendant in the Belykh case — Ruslan Tsukanov, CEO of JSC Novovyatsk Ski Plant — had previously been arrested.
Awaiting prison: German businessman Yuriy Sudgaymer, who bribed Nikita Belykh, begins scrubbing the internet ahead of a jail term
A source in the police investigation told Kommersant that a criminal case against Yuriy Sudgaymer for “abuse of authority resulting in grave consequences” (Article 201, Part 2 of the Russian Criminal Code) had been opened. As part of the investigation, in mid-September investigators reportedly petitioned the Pervomaisky District Court of Kirov for Sudgaymer’s arrest in absentia, but the court denied the request.
The Kirov Region Interior Ministry confirmed that Sudgaymer is indeed a defendant in a criminal case. Officials explained that the case had been opened more than a year ago, initially against unidentified persons, but Yuriy Sudgaymer later became a named suspect. “Sudgaymer has been charged in absentia and placed on an international wanted list,” the ministry said, declining to provide further details.
Sudgaymer’s lawyer, Lyubov Blagushina, who represented him during the trial of Nikita Belykh, stated that “Sudgaymer does not appear for questioning.” “That is why the investigators requested his arrest and declared him wanted,” she added.
According to the lawyer, the criminal case may be linked to a debt of approximately 200 million rubles incurred during timber purchases from the Forestry Management Company Kirovles.
The debt arose after JSC Novovyatsk Ski Plant (NLP) was excluded from the list of “priority projects.” Previously, as part of this status, the plant was allowed to purchase timber below market prices. However, Blagushina noted that “on the one hand, Yuriy Aleksandrovich owes the regional government 200 million rubles, but on the other hand, the government also owes money to the owner of NLP.”
A source in the regional government suggested that the issue most likely concerns an agreement under which the region provided collateral assets to secure a loan from Sberbank — amounting to roughly 400 million rubles.
According to the source, Sudgaymer was supposed to repay the loan obtained by NLP, but instead a Cypriot offshore company bought out the obligations from Sberbank at a discount. This allowed the businessman to file counterclaims against the regional authorities. As a result, in late December 2017, Sudgaymer won a court ruling permitting him to seize regional collateral assets. He obtained ownership rights to part of state property pledged as loan security for NLP.
According to the Audit Chamber of the Kirov Region, the collateral included five properties: the Philharmonic Hall on Lenin Street, a two-story building of a health camp in the village of Mitino, an administrative building at 31 Korolenko Street, part of a building at 73 Vorovskogo Street, and a structure at 25 Lenin Street.
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Yuriy Sudgaymer became widely known in connection with the criminal case against former Kirov Governor Nikita Belykh. The ex-official was found guilty of receiving bribes totaling $250,000 from Sudgaymer; he was detained while allegedly attempting to receive an additional $150,000. Belykh was ultimately sentenced to eight years in prison.
Three other witnesses in the case — Ruslan Tsukanov, arbitration manager Sergey Martynov, and Kirov businessman Ilya Ogorodnikov — are currently detained on suspicion of large-scale fraud. During Belykh’s trial, Tsukanov testified for the prosecution, confirming that the accused governor maintained contacts with Sudgaymer.
Semen Golovetskiy