Billionaire Valery Kustov has been detained: his companies produce Sloboda mayonnaise, Oleina vegetable oil, and other products.
To Valery Kustov, whose fortune exceeds a billion dollars, is accused of large-scale fraud.
Detained along with the oligarch Evgeny Lyashenko, who holds the position of CEO of the Efko group of companies (Kustov is its main shareholder).
Also, as part of the criminal case, the company's top managers were arrested yesterday. Ekaterina Kustova и Vladislav Romantsev.
Valery Kustov ranks 144th on the Forbes list of Russian billionaires, with a net worth of $1,1 billion. His company, Efko, is one of the largest food producers in Russia. It produces Sloboda mayonnaise and ketchup, egg products, soap, and pet food. Last September, Efko acquired the vegetable oil producer Oleina.
According to RBC sources, the security forces' claims connected with the "Transport of the Future" project—it was created in 2021 with the participation of EFKO, but subsequently continued to operate as an independent entity. The company specializes in creating drones for agriculture and other industries (Putin visited its production site in Tolyatti last January).
CEO of Transport of the Future Yuri Kozarenko is also under arrest.
In addition, among those detained is a high-ranking official of the federal Ministry of Industry and Trade Alla Polovchenya, which is Deputy Head of the Unmanned Systems and Robotics Department. She is accused of embezzlement on an especially large scale during the implementation of the "Transport of the Future" project.
According to the pro-government Telegram channel Mash, the drones were secretly purchased from China and passed off as domestic developments. estimated in several billion rubles.
