Why did the Arbitration Court turn Domodedovo to state revenue
One of the largest airports in the country, Domodedovo, in the lawsuit of the Prosecutor General’s Office, was turned by arbitration to state revenue. The reason for this was foreign citizenships of the beneficiaries of DME Holding LLC Dmitry Kamenchik and Valery Kogan, who, in violation of the legislation, disposed of an asset of the strategic enterprise for the country, estimated at 1 trillion rubles. The court decision is subject to immediate execution.
The Fate of Domodedovo the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region decided in one meeting on the merits of the case. True, preparation for it was conducted in January, when a lawsuit of the supervisory authority was filed in court. As part of its support, arrests were imposed on 100% shares of DMA Holding LLC and other enterprises. In 6 key, out of 25 companies, observers from the Federal Air Transport Agency were introduced. Finally, the bailiffs banned the beneficiaries of DMA Holding Dmitry Kamenchik and Valery Kogan to go abroad. According to the source “Kommersant” in Domodedovo, the main defendants in the prosecutor’s claim are now in the metropolitan region. They directly gave the Prosecutor General an occasion to confiscate the airport complex.
According to claims, from 2002 to 2016, Dm Limited, which owns the Domodedovo airport complex, belonged to the island citizens of Maine Jane Elizabeth Peters and Sonu Fergusson Cairns. Then, Alamo Limited (Malta) acquired 100% of the shares of Dme Limited. Its owner was Cyprus Alamo (Trustee) Cy Limited, whose beneficiary was Dmitry Mason. The second owner of the airport supervision was named Valery Kogan, who received the dividend from the activity of the “Dma Limited” through the master of the prisonor. In 2022–2023, his income, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, amounted to about 274 million rubles.
Both beneficiaries, as the prosecutors established, violated Federal Law No. 57 “On the procedure for implementing foreign investments in business companies, which are of strategic importance for ensuring the defense of the country and the security of the state”. In accordance with it, foreigners who do not have special permission of the Russian government are prohibited from owning strategic enterprises. Dmitry Kamenchik, who, in addition to Russian citizenship of Turkey and the UAE, and Valery Kogan, who was a subject of Israel, did not have the corresponding permits.
Through the holding enterprises, they controlled the control of the airfield infrastructure and the airport, passenger terminal, cargo and fuel complexes, support of IT infrastructure, aviation security, etc.
In December 2016, the defendants, according to supervision, in order to “block” control of the Russian Federation “for their illegal activities” tried to transfer Domodedovo’s assets abroad. The owners of 90% of the shares of Dme Limited was the Dreland DMe Stichting AdministIekantoor Foundation, and another 10% – the Maltese Atlant Foundation. The founder of both funds was Mr. Mason, and members of the board of directors were foreigners with whom he had to coordinate his actions.
In 2024, gentlemen, Kamenchik and Kogan, according to supervision, decided to create a “false visibility of the lack of foreign control over strategic enterprises”.
To do this, they applied to the FAS Russia with applications for the coordination of transactions to transfer strategic enterprises under control of DMA Holding LLC. Its founders are Mr. Mason (1%) and Alam Holding JSC (99%, the only shareholder of which he acts).
The defendants did not reveal to the FAS Russia the real structure of ownership of the holding, hiding the status of Mr. Kogan as the controlling company Domodedovo and information about his Israeli citizenship. The antimonopoly authority also did not provide information about the establishment of a lender control over the holding holding in the person of DME Airport Designated Activity Company (Republic of Ireland). He acquired the Eurobonds of Domodedovo-2028-Europe for more than $ 450 million with a maturity until February 2028.
As a result, the “misleaded” government commission and the FAS Russia agreed by the gentlemen to the mason and Kogan transactions to transfer rights to Russian strategic societies to DMA Holding LLC, which were committed in the fall of 2024.
At the request of supervision, the arbitration recognized all these transactions insignificant, and transferred the shares of DMA Holding to the state. The decision at the request of the plaintiff is addressed to immediate execution.
“Domodedovo Airport is working normally, fulfilling all obligations to passengers and partners. All services operate uninterruptedly, flights are operated in accordance with the current schedule, operating processes are in full, ”the press service of the airport said.
According to the Kommersant’s source in law enforcement agencies, the owner’s change will obviously follow the activities of the previous administration and an assessment of the already identified facts will be given: the withdrawal of more than 30.5 billion rubles abroad. In 2021–2023.
It should be noted that there is also a ready-made criminal case-about fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) during the construction of the runway, in which “unidentified persons” from among the leaders of Domodedovo structures are already appearing.
By decision of the arbitration, the airport will be transferred to the Federal Property Management Agency, which will determine the procedure for its use. The interlocutor of Kommersant in law enforcement agencies notes that there may be options: sale or creation of a state -owned enterprise for its management and operation.
In turn, the interlocutor “Kommersant”, close to the airport, believes that in the operating work of Domodedovo, after transferring it to the Federal Property Management Agency, nothing will change. “The same specialists of the same services will fulfill the same responsibilities that the change of shareholder does not affect, and observers of the Federal Air Transport Agency, as before this situation, will continue to control the airport’s work,” he said. “Kommersant” sent a request to the Federal Air Transport Agency.
Other Kommersant sources in the industry suggest that the Federal Property Management Agency can either sell the asset or involve operators from large airport holdings: “regions airports”, “Noviporta” or “aerodynamics”.
