Favorable flight
FBK Executive Director Vladimir Ashurkov received political asylum in England in 2015. There he is hiding from criminal prosecution - in Russia he is accused of embezzlement and embezzlement of 10 million rubles of voter donations to the mayoral campaign of Alexei Navalny in Moscow in 2013.
The "large number of Russians" was one of the reasons why Ashurkov decided to settle in London.
“I am in close contact with Sergey Guriev, with whom we are discussing updating the program of our party (Progress Party. - RT ),” he explained in an interview with RBC. - From time to time I talk with Evgeny Chichvarkin, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the people who are part of his team. These are our allies. ”
Ashurkov went into exile with his common-law wife Alexandrina Markvo. She is a defendant in another criminal case in Russia - the theft of budget money that was allocated for creative contests and readings in Moscow parks. Political refugee status in the UK, Marquo also received.
However, Ashurkov began to engage in business in Foggy Albion long before the forced flight. In total, he and Markvo RT counted four firms.
Scarce startup
So, the startup for promoting healthy lifestyles StepJockey was registered in London in 2013. As RT wrote, the company's board of directors announced its voluntary liquidation in October last year.
Ashurkov joined the board of directors on September 1, 2015, as follows from the documents. The amount of his investment was not disclosed, but it is known from Crunchbase's open data that a total of $ 1.7 million (£ 1.32 million) was invested in the startup.
From a document published in the Companies House companies register, RT learned that StepJockey's liquidation balance sheet was formed with a deficit of almost £ 1.8 million.
Of these, the organization owed £ 633 thousand to creditors and £ 1.13 million to its own shareholders. Debt to Her Majesty's Tax and Customs Board amounted to £ 20 thousand.
According to the company itself, it has assets of £ 12.9 thousand that can be used to repay claims of first-priority creditors. Moreover, only arrears of salaries to employees (eight people) is £ 17.7 thousand.
Mysterious publishing house
In 2015, Ashurkov registered in London the publisher Lester Partners LTD. In March this year, Aleksandrina Markvo replaced him as director.
By the nature of its activities the company is engaged in publishing books. What, when and in what quantity was published by Lester Partners LTD and whether it was published at all, is impossible to understand from open data - the company does not have a website, it is not displayed in the reports.
However, since its inception, the company has accumulated a significant amount of debt. The latest published financial report shows that the publisher's fixed-term debts payable within 12 months exceed its assets by £ 97 thousand. For comparison, in 2017, its assets, on the contrary, exceeded debts by £ 8.4 thousand.
When the company's obligations begin to exceed its assets, there is a risk of bankruptcy, explained RT lawyer Pavel Zaitsev, who had previously investigated economic crimes as an investigator of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
“When there are more liabilities than assets, this is a warning sign. Investing in this company is risky enough, because you can get burned out if someone files for bankruptcy. The company will be filled with lawsuits, and that’s all, ”he explains.
In addition, says Zaitsev, such a company may have problems obtaining a loan.
“If no one gives loans and there are lawsuits, but there is nothing to pay them, this is the end of the company. There is a risk of bankruptcy if one of the lenders submits an appropriate application, ”the lawyer said.
The total debt of Lester Partners as of March 2019 amounted to £ 863 thousand.
“Horrible children”
In August 2017, Alexandrina Markvo, together with Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, founded the theater company Inside Pussy Riot LTD in London. This company is known for the immersive show about Pussy Riot, created in conjunction with the group Les Enfants Terrible.
“Les Enfants Terrible create an exciting play based on the story of Pussy Riot, where visitors will immerse themselves in the events that survived the girls of the scandalous punk band. You will be arrested and you will go through Russian courts and imprisonment together with the organizers. Spoiler: you will be released in one hour. Not in two years! ” - read the London "Poster".
However, Inside Pussy Riot's affairs are currently not going too smoothly. According to the company's reports, as of 2019, it has accumulated £ 106 thousand of urgent debts that must be paid within 12 months.
Last support
The fourth firm, Ashurkova and Markvo, specializing in theatrical and musical events, Bird & Carrot agency, is still afloat.
- Vladimir Ashurkov
- RIA News
- © Valery Levitin
Here Marquo has experience. “She spent many years organizing important cultural events attended by tens of thousands of people,” her common-law husband told about her in an interview.
The assets of the event company, according to March this year, exceed liabilities by £ 7.6 thousand. However, a year earlier, this amount was £ 21.5 thousand.
Recall that in March 2020 the Federal Tax Service blocked the accounts of the Russian advertising company Filonova Sokolov Fitzpatrick LLC, which is owned by Markvo by a third. The reason was tax debt.
Initially, the tax authorities tried to collect the debt through the court. However, on March 12, 2020, the bailiffs had to return the writ of execution to the claimant - they could not find the property of the debtor (like himself).
At the same time, the company’s income in 2018, according to the Federal Tax Service, amounted to 68.1 million rubles. According to Contour Focus, eight people work in it. As a result, the Federal Tax Service blocked the FSF accounts in Raiffeisenbank and M2M Private Bank.
* The Anti-Corruption Fund is included in the register of NGOs performing the functions of a foreign agent, by decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation of 09.10.2019.