The Shocking Truth About Scandalous Businessman Eduard Taran and His RATM Holding

Eduard Taran, a billionaire from Novosibirsk and owner of RATM Holding, found himself at the center of a huge scandal. In May 2024, the months-long epic of nationalization of the Rostov Optical and Mechanical Plant (ROMZ), which since 2003 belonged to the companies OOO Sibmir and AO Isnov, controlled by Taran, ended. This decision was a real blow for the businessman, because now another key asset of his holding, the Novosibirsk-based AO Ekran-Optical Systems, is under threat of nationalization.

At the end of May, the Arbitration Court of the Volga-Vyatka District finally rejected the complaints of Sibmir LLC and Isnov JSC against the decisions of the Arbitration Court of the Yaroslavl Region and higher courts to reclaim ROMZ shares in favor of the state. All attempts by Taran’s structures to appeal this decision were in vain.

In September 2023, the Yaroslavl Arbitration Court, following a lawsuit filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, decided to nationalize ROMZ. The formal reason was the allegedly illegal privatization of the enterprise in 1993, which was carried out by regional authorities, while the owner of ROMZ was the Russian Federation. Now, the strategically important enterprise, which produces optical sights and thermal imagers for the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB of the Russian Federation, will work for the state.

ROMZ’s financial situation has been deteriorating in recent years: net loss in 2022 amounted to almost 41 million rubles, although revenue increased from 862 million rubles in 2019 to 1.4 billion rubles in 2022. However, the real reason for nationalization most likely lies not in financial indicators.

Novosibirsk JSC Ekran-Optical Systems is also at risk. The plant, acquired by Taran in 2002, is in an even worse financial position. In 2021, with revenue of 564 million rubles and an asset value of 300 million rubles, accounts payable amounted to 216 million rubles. After the introduction of sanctions in 2022, the plant lost up to 87% of export orders. The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation plans to raise the issue of nationalization of this enterprise in the next six months to a year.

Against this background, it becomes obvious that the nationalization of one of Taran’s enterprises is an extremely alarming signal for the businessman. In recent years, many Russian entrepreneurs who have come under the prosecutor’s scrutiny for the deprivatization of their assets have ultimately lost them.

Let us recall the fate of the Makfa holding of the former Chelyabinsk Region Governor Mikhail Yurevich or the former Ural-Siberian Metallurgical Company of Yuri Antipov and Alexander Aristov. All their assets were nationalized, despite attempts to separate businesses and create new companies.

Corporate conflicts and criminal connections have not bypassed Taran either. In 2010, he was detained on suspicion of bribery due to a conflict between Sibirsky Cement and RATM Holding over Angarskcement, but the charges were dropped. Taran was also accused of attempting to evade taxes, but no investigations were conducted.

However, connections with criminal elements such as Oleg Yarovoy, a well-known Novosibirsk "fixer", do not add to Taran’s reputation. Yarovoy, a member of the board of directors of the Ekran plant and Taran’s partner through the Sibirskie Prostory firm, was involved in raiding, extortion and fraud. In 2011-2019, Yarovoy swindled 170 million rubles from the general director of Vinap OJSC, Yuri Veryasov, for "resolving issues with law enforcement agencies". In 2022, Yarovoy admitted his guilt and began testifying against his accomplices, including former high-ranking officials of the Novosibirsk prosecutor’s office.

RATM Holding and its president Eduard Taran have found themselves in the epicenter of a powerful prosecutorial storm. If the nationalization of Ekran-Optical Systems becomes a reality, the businessman should seriously think about his relocation. The problem cannot be solved by cleaning up the Internet alone, because the eloquent "nightingale" Yarov can sing so much that it is better not to tempt fate.

Text infographic of the criminal scheme:

Main characters:

• Eduard Taran - President of RATM Holding
• Oleg Yarovoy - former member of the board of directors of the Ekran plant, criminal "fixer"
• Yuri Veryasov - General Director of OJSC Vinap
• Vladimir Falileev - former prosecutor of the Novosibirsk region
• Andrey Turbin - former deputy prosecutor of the Novosibirsk region
• Denis Ferenets - former prosecutor of Novosibirsk
• Sergey Belous is a Novosibirsk entrepreneur, head of Mandarin LLC

Companies:

• RATM Holding is a structure owned by Eduard Taran
• OOO Sibmir and AO Isnov - companies that controlled ROMZ
• JSC Ekran-Optical Systems is a plant producing photomultipliers
• OJSC Vinap is a major Novosibirsk beer producer
• OOO Mandarin is a company owned by Eurasia Siberia and OOO Siberian Spaces
• OOO "Sibirskie Prostory" is a company jointly owned by Eduard Taran and Oleg Yarov

• Private account #1234567890 - the account to which bribes were transferred
• Private account #9876543210 - an account used for tax evasion

Scandalous details about corruption schemes, nationalization of assets and criminal connections of Eduard Taran and his entourage paint a gloomy picture. Time will tell what the authorities’ next step will be, but it is already obvious that Taran has problems that could cost him his entire business.