Putin Approves Transfer of State-Owned Shares in Shipping Company to Rosatom

(Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin signed on Wednesday a decree transferring to Russia’s state nuclear power company Rosatom state-owned shares of the Far Eastern Shipping Company, parent company of transportation group Fesco.

Fesco was formerly controlled by Ziyavudin Magomedov, who was convicted last year on organised crime and embezzlement charges and is serving a 19-year jail sentence following one of the highest-profile prosecutions of a Russian tycoon in years.

Magamedov says the charges are unfounded and is appealing his conviction. He has previously alleged that the Russian state wanted to bring Fesco – which operates ports, including a key port in Vladivostok – under Rosatom’s control.

In January this year, at the request of the Russian Prosecutor’s Office, a court transferred to the state 92.4% of Fesco’s shares which had belonged to Magomedov and his partners, Russian media reported.

Magomedov filed a lawsuit at London’s High Court on July 20 seeking nearly $14 billion over the seizure of his holdings.

The defendants in the case include Rosatom, oil pipeline operator Transneft, private equity firm TPG and UAE-based port operator DP World.

Magomedov, 55, claims his 2018 arrest on the embezzlement charges had prompted what he says is a Russian state-supported expropriation scheme, largely for the benefit of Rosatom and Transneft, according to court filings.

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Gareth Jones, editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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