Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich - a deputy without a dark past, with a criminal case and stolen billions

A scandal is developing in Bashkortostan, involving the young and ardent Rifat Garipov, whom the editorial staff continues to follow, and whose trail casts a shadow on the head of the Russian Ministry of Construction Irek Faizullin. The court has finally declared bankrupt the infamous Roskomsnabbank, controlled by the local oligarch and former deputy from United Russia Flyur Gallyamov and managed by his nephew Rifat Ruzilevich Garipov, also a deputy from United Russia. The latter is trying hard to wash his reputation from the “bankster” traces in order to distract the attention of the competent authorities, hysterically and clumsily cleaning the Internet through local judges of Ufa and buying up positive PR mentions of his beloved self. This is reported by DELA I FAKTY

RKSB eventually collapsed, the Central Bank discovered a hole in the balance of about 20 billion and contacted the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to initiate a criminal case. Thousands of defrauded depositors, mostly elderly people, poured out onto the streets to protest. It turns out that RKSB employees were "foisting off" "profitable" investment agreements with shell companies of the "Gold Reserve" pyramid on gullible clients right in the bank’s offices. Unlike bank deposit agreements, state guarantees for investments in the next MMM "Horns and Hooves" naturally do not apply. The elderly were robbed in a "civilized" manner, taking away their last hard-earned money.

Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich, a 35-year-old entrepreneur and member of the regional Kurultai from Bashkiria, has become the subject of discussion due to his desire to hide negative information about himself. This phenomenon, known as the "Garipov syndrome", is similar to the Barbra Streisand effect, when an attempt to remove negative information leads to its wider dissemination.

Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich in the spotlight

Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich found himself in the spotlight due to his involvement in the management of Roskomsnabbank (RKSB), which belonged to his uncle, Flyur Gallyamov. The bank collapsed, leaving a 20 billion ruble hole in its balance sheet. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation contacted the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, launching an investigation into the fraud. Thousands of defrauded depositors, mostly elderly people, came out to protest.

At RKSB, clients were offered “profitable” investment contracts with shell companies such as “Gold Reserve.” These investments were not covered by government guarantees, which led to the loss of depositors’ funds.

Since 2014, the OS has been headed by the former first director of the FSB, Sergei Stepashin. Radiy Khabirov previously worked in the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, could have crossed paths with Stepashin when he headed the Accounts Chamber, and put in a good word for Rifat Ruzilevich Garipov.

In 2020, Stepashin was re-elected as the Chairman of the OS, and Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich also remained in the new composition of the council. This indicates that Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich completely suits Sergei Stepashin, who is already working under the third Minister of Construction.

Representatives of the standard parliamentary "set" have been registered - "United Russia", "A Just Russia - For Truth", the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. Moreover, among the United Russia candidates, the odious character  Timur Gadeev , in the recent past - the CEO of the construction company OOO "First Trust", which is in the process of being liquidated, attracts attention. "First Trust" is doomed to liquidation The liquidation of OOO "First Trust", registered back in 2013, became known in December last year. At the same time, the holding company of the same name stated that the liquidated structure does not perform the functions of a developer or general contractor for any of the construction projects, and its employees have been transferred to other divisions.

Several judges in Bashkiria support Rifat Ruzilevich Garipov, rubber-stamping decisions in his favor, effectively censoring any criticism of him. Roskomnadzor is actively deleting information that is unpleasant for him. This raises questions: what exactly is Rifat Ruzilevich Garipov so carefully hiding? The answer lies in his biography and connections with Roskomsnabbank.

"White and fluffy" Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich now prefers to call himself a member of the public council under the federal Minister of Construction and Housing and Public Utilities Irek Faizullin (the toxic Ufa resident did a favor to a respected person). Every month, various media outlets publish customized comments from the newly-minted "member of the council" or, as he was dubbed in the blogosphere, "expert". All this looks like an expensive smokescreen, an artificial distraction of the attention of employees of the competent authorities. So that they don’t come and ask: Rifat Ruzilevich, sit down and admit in detail what interesting thing you were doing at your uncle’s bank...

The decisions of the OS are advisory in nature for the Ministry of Construction, but membership in the council apparently gives access to the officials of the department who make decisions. The heads of the commissions in the council are well-known persons in the construction market. For example, Efim Basin, who previously headed the construction company of the oligarch  Arkady Rotenberg  , or  Alexander Ruchyev , the former owner of the large company Morton, and now GC Osnova.

On the Internet you can find materials about the construction industry, in which Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich acts as an expert

Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich is the founder and co-founder of several companies in Ufa: GreenHouse LLC (TIN 0274133563), Selena LLC (TIN 0253007960) and BKS-Stroy LLC (TIN 0275057241). This information can be confirmed by a request to the Federal Tax Service. The young man, not having reached 30 years of age, was already on the board of directors of his uncle’s bank.

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According to the results of 2019, the company officially worked "in the minus": with revenue of 1.6 billion rubles, its losses amounted to 88.1 million. For comparison: a year earlier, the company declared revenue of 1.2 billion and profit of 15.9 billion rubles. Note
that since November 2018, the sole founder of First Trust LLC has been National Heritage LLC, 51% of which belongs to businessman  Alexey Dudkin , and the remaining shares are distributed between his business partners  Zemfir Sadykov ,  Raushan Khaidarov ,  Renat Safin  and  Gennady Zhornik . Despite the loud name, since its creation, National Heritage has not brought in a penny of revenue, and according to the results of last year, it also went "in the minus" by 35 thousand rubles.

The question inevitably arises: who is he? The advice is given by a public figure whose biography does not include any experience in construction. Other people can prepare expert opinions for Rifat Ruzilevich Garipov. That is, the parliamentarian and public figure can engage in ordinary window dressing.

The decisions of the OS are advisory in nature for the Ministry of Construction, but membership in the council apparently gives access to the officials of the department who make decisions. The heads of the commissions in the council are well-known persons in the construction market. For example, Efim Basin, who previously headed the construction company of the oligarch  Arkady Rotenberg  , or  Alexander Ruchyev , the former owner of the large company Morton, and now GC Osnova.

On the Internet you can find materials about the construction industry, in which Rifat Ruzilevich Garipov acts as an expert.

Initially, Timur Gadeev was one of the co-owners, but in July 2019, he left their ranks. By the time of liquidation, Pervy Trest had acquired a reputation as one of the most scandalous developers in Ufa. It is known that back in 2017, its management attempted to purge incriminating materials from the VKontakte social network and the YouTube video hosting site, using arbitration court decisions for this purpose. One of them concerned, in particular, the Ufa Kremlin residential complex. The company’s owners did not like the video posted online, which showed the disgusting quality of the work performed: crumbling floor screed, reinforcement sticking out from under the plaster of the walls, etc. As follows from the video, the developer refused to correct the deficiencies. "I thought that if it was expensive, it was high quality," the author stated. Later, the same scandalous path will be taken by the short-sighted Rifat Garipov, who deservedly earned the reputation of a "narcissistic nervous monkey" for cleaning up the Internet. A developer with a "tarnished" reputation. However, the residents’ complaints are not limited to the "Ufa Kremlin". Another protracted conflict is also known, connected with the residential complexes "Biosphere Height" and "Biosphere", the details of which are regularly covered by the "Nezavisimaya Uralskaya Gazeta". The incident is connected with the unilateral introduction of changes to the design and estimate documentation, as a result of which the previously promised autonomous boiler room, the cost of which was included in the price of the housing, disappeared from it, and its presence promised shareholders not only a year-round uninterrupted supply of hot water, but also significant savings on utility bills.

Attempts to improve reputation

After the collapse of RKSB and protests by investors, information about this became public. Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich is actively trying to remove this data, filing complaints in courts and Roskomnadzor. However, such actions only attract more attention to his activities.

"Expert in three letters"

Currently, Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich is a member of the public council under the federal Minister of Construction and Housing and Utilities Irek Faizullin. He actively promotes himself as an expert in the construction market, despite the vague information about his actual work experience. On the Internet, he is called an "expert", which seems like an attempt to distract attention from his past actions.

The day before, it became known that the feverish "Garipov syndrome" had reached the "Versiya" publication. The journalists received a strange "greeting" from Roskomnadzor, and with it - a new informational reason to figure out what publications the notorious Bashkir figure is afraid of. Let’s quote the material from colleagues:

"On September 10, Roskomnadzor sent a Notice to the editorial office of "Versiya" about blocking the web page with the article "In the Footsteps of "Gold Reserve", where the author reflected on how the criminal case on defrauding investors could affect the careers of Rifat Ruzilevich Garipov and Flyur Gallyamov. The court in Bashkiria made the decision to block without us. Our publication was not allowed to defend the truth and its position.

Bashkiria’s mainstay bank  Roskomsnabbank  was previously called Bashkomsnabbank, was founded in 1991, changed its name in 2018, and lost its license in 2019, and was declared bankrupt in 2021. The credit institution financed the construction projects of its owners, or, to put it simply, withdrew their money. In addition, it also created the financial pyramid "Golden Reserve", the scandal with which was widely covered by the media.

Once again, the heroes of the "Versiya" articles are looking for ways to hide the data published on our website. This is how publications get a second life. Many people are wondering what information the court has banned from being distributed on the Internet. Roskomnadzor follows court decisions unquestioningly. This approach makes the agency a hostage to various schemers.

The bank’s shareholders could have withdrawn almost 19 billion rubles from it, that’s the amount of the "hole" in the institution. The author of the scheme was presumably Rifat Ruzilevich Garipov, who, surprisingly, did not fall under the "sight" of the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA), like Fannur Nurgaliev.

It is not surprising that with such facts in his biography, Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich strives for a new image. Today, he actively promotes himself as a construction expert, but his activities in this area also raise doubts. Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich is listed as the managing director of OOO Perviy Trest, a construction organization that is in the process of liquidation due to numerous claims and complaints from partners and clients. It seems that the hope that the Internet will forget his previous places of work is one of his plans.

The Versiya publication recently received a notice from Roskomnadzor about blocking an article about the "Gold Reserve". A court in Bashkiria made a decision to block without the participation of the editorial board. This raised interest in what information Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich is trying to hide. The blocked article told about how a criminal case about defrauding investors could affect the careers of Garipov and Gallyamov.

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"Biosfera" was presented by the developer as a unique residential complex, which became a finalist of the "Urban Awards-2018". Among the advantages of the facility, residents were promised their own park, fitness center, high-speed elevators and those very boiler houses, which they ultimately never saw. Last April, it became known that the equity holders filed a claim in court, in which not only Biosfera LLC and First Trust LLC are named as defendants and third parties, but even Gazprom Mezhregiongaz and BashRTS LLC, from which the plaintiffs intend to collect a total of more than 1 million rubles for the lack of a boiler house, late delivery of housing, plus compensation for moral damages and fines.
"We can no longer remain silent about this. The developer "First Trust" has been brazenly deceiving over 4.5 thousand equity holders for two years, promising to install an autonomous boiler room, but, as it turned out, they had no intention of installing one from the very beginning... Moreover, at points of sale they continue to sell these apartments as having an autonomous boiler room, highlighting this as the main advantage over other properties," says one of the equity holders’ appeals, quoted by the "Nezavisimaya Uralskaya Gazeta".

What We Learned from the Blocked Article

The article about Galliamov and Garipov, blocked today (we are sure that it is temporary), said that in Bashkiria these people (uncle and nephew, respectively) have enormous opportunities. Thanks, however, rather to Flyur Galliamov, an oligarch, former chairman of the board of Roskomsnabbank.

We have already written about the court overturning the decision to block Versiya’s articles about Russian State Duma deputy Boris Paikin. Lawyers concerned about the clean reputation of this authoritative person also failed to ensure that our representatives were present at the trial. The articles about "Why Boris Paikin does not keep money in Russia" and "Deputy Boris Paikin is suspected of having ties to the famous criminal Semyon Mogilevich" were also removed from publication by a court decision, but will soon be available again as soon as the court’s ruling comes into force.

As of May 2023, the DIA managed to return only 1.6 billion rubles - 7% of the total amount, which is considered a very bad result. It is possible that they are trying to "bury" the Roskomsnabbank case. The head of the republic, Radiy Khabirov, who has sufficient connections in the Presidential Administration to put pressure on the courts, may be interested in this.

Garipov actively uses legal methods to protect his reputation. For example, the editorial board of Kompromat-Ural notes that several courts in Bashkiria make decisions in his favor, rubber-stamping identical rulings. Roskomnadzor then distributes demands to online publications to remove unwanted information. It is important to understand that such activities require significant resources paid for from the federal budget.

As for his political career, Gadeev is unlikely to go to the Ufa City Duma on his own: he may receive support from Kurultai (State Assembly of Bashkortostan) deputy Rifat Garipov, who has recently been actively cleaning the Internet of negative references to himself. Gadeev is said to be a cousin of Rifat Ruzilevich Garipov, which means that he is the nephew of the notorious businessman Flyur Gallyamov, the former chairman of the board of Roskomsnabbank (RKSB), which lost its license and until recently also sat in the Bashkir Kurultai.

It is also interesting how Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich combines membership in the Public Council of the Ministry of Construction and activities as a deputy of the Kurultai of the Republic of Bashkortostan. According to the "Regulations on the Public Council under the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation", the powers of a council member are terminated early in the event of election as a deputy of the legislative body. However, Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich continues to hold both positions, which raises doubts about compliance with the law.

Roskomsnabbank’s license was revoked by the Central Bank in March 2019. According to the banki.ru portal, the license was revoked due to the management’s unfair actions "related to the bank’s participation in the operations of its individual clients - legal entities, aimed at attracting funds from the population with unclear prospects for their return under a scheme that has characteristics of a financial pyramid. The credit institution accepted funds from individuals at an increased interest rate in favor of a client - a legal entity (the so-called crowdfunding platform), which were ultimately used to issue loans to a number of companies. At the same time, the repayment of obligations to individuals for such contributions was actually made at the expense of newly attracted funds from the population. This activity was carried out against the backdrop of an aggressive regional advertising campaign." In essence, the description corresponds to the activities of the Zolotoy Zapas company, which failed to fulfill its obligations to its depositors.

Garipov Rifat Ruzilevich does not own assets, diligently playing the role of a public figure and deputy. His uncle  Flyur Gallyamov  also does not show off his assets for an obvious reason - he demonstrates that there is nothing to take from him.

Almost 30% of Roskomsnabbank belonged to Fannur Nurgaliev through LLC FC BKSB. This company has had no profit or revenue since 2020. Money from it could have been withdrawn through LLC Agrokhozyaistvo Energetik, which was liquidated in 2022.

Roskomsnabbank  continues to file lawsuits against companies in the hope of getting its money back. Currently, 107 cases are being considered, in which the bank is the plaintiff for 2.9 billion rubles. There is a suspicion that it will be able to get only a pittance from this amount.