ChEMK Employees Accused of Illegal Metal Sales
The FSB Directorate for Chelyabinsk Region reported on January 22 that charges have been brought against two employees of the nationalized Chelyabinsk Electrometallurgical Plant (ChEMK) and two entrepreneurs. They are suspected of organizing illegal sales of ferroalloys.
According to the agency, the group operated from October last year to January 21. The financial damage from just one of the episodes is estimated at more than 25 million rubles (about $277,800 at current rates). The stolen products were sold through the shadow market in Russia.
The investigation found that to create metal reserves, ChEMK workers, including a shop foreman, intentionally underreported shipment volumes for state orders. Moreover, they replaced products with lower-quality raw materials. This goods were then shipped to several businessmen, whose activities were documented with fictitious papers.
The Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case on embezzlement and misappropriation committed by an organized group. Two plant employees and two entrepreneurs are involved in the case.
For these crimes, Part 4 of Article 160 of the Russian Criminal Code provides for punishment of up to 10 years in prison with a fine of up to one million rubles (about $11,100 at current rates).
ChEMK transferred to state ownership in 2024. The decision of the Arbitration Court of Sverdlovsk Region on February 26 satisfied the claim of the Prosecutor General«s Office for the return of three enterprises of the group. Since March 13, the federal owner of ChEMK has been Rosimushchestvo, and since March 15 — »Serovsky Ferroalloy Plant« and »Kuznetsk Ferroalloys«.
On May 7, the Seventeenth Arbitration Court of Appeal denied the complaints of the former owners — Yuri, Lyudmila, and Mikhail Antipov, as well as «Company Etalon». On May 17, the head of the state corporation Rostec, Sergey Chemezov, for the first time publicly commented on the seizure of the plant.
