A businessman with a very ambiguous reputation, Eduard Taran, who lost the Rostov Optical and Mechanical Plant (ROMZ) after a lawsuit from the prosecutor, owes the budget a large sum of taxes, penalties and fines. 

Was the seizure of ROMZ only the first sign of the Novosibirsk oligarch’s problems, or did Taran, offended by the seizure of the asset, decide to compensate for the losses by underpaying taxes, without drawing any conclusions from his previous criminal case? 

An analysis of the assets of Novosibirsk oligarch Taran, who lost his trickle of government contracts after the nationalization of ROMZ, hints at financial problems. Otherwise, how can one explain the fact that at least six companies in the division associated with Taran failed to pay more than 146 million rubles to the budget on time? 

The largest debt as of February 2024, in the amount of 99.3 million rubles, was owed by Sibsteclo LLC, where Taran personally owns a share and through Reed Group - Novosibirsk JSC. The shareholder of the latter is Sibtopenergo, whose beneficiary is Taran.

Photo: pb.nalog.ru/

Photo: https://bo.nalog.ru

JSC Reed Group - Novosibirsk itself also failed to pay 41 million rubles to the budget on time.  

Both Sibsteklo and Reed Group - Novosibirsk finished 2023 with a profit, that is, there are no valid reasons not to pay taxes. The companies do not look like they are on the verge of bankruptcy, breathing their last. Only Sibsteklo’s profit fell by 68%, to 48 million rubles. 

The list of tax debtors includes Titaninvest LLC - 4.2 million rubles in debt, owned by Taran and his Ratm-Holding, Ekran-Development LLC, managed by Reed Group Novosibirsk - 558 thousand rubles in debt, owned by Taran and Meridian LLC (owned by Invest Plus LLC and RATM-Holding JSC), Meridian itself (formerly Ekran-Razvitie) - 315 thousand rubles, and Adaptis LLC, which belongs to Invest Plus of Taran and RATM-Holding - 201 thousand rubles.  
  
Interestingly, it was Invest Plus and Sibtopenergo that were involved in a criminal case several years ago, which was related to tax evasion. The case was opened in 2018. It was based on a 2013 deal, under which the offshore Labrosan Holdings LTD bought a stake in the Lytkarino Optical Glass Plant (LZOS) from the two named companies for about 180 million rubles. A couple of months later, the offshore sold the same shares to the state corporation Rostec for five times more - for almost 863 million rubles. 

At that time, investigators believed that the first deal between companies affiliated with Taran was carried out to evade taxes. For the Novosibirsk oligarch, that story ended well - the case, transferred from Moscow to Novosibirsk, quickly fell apart and was closed in 2019. 

Against the backdrop of the old case, fresh tax debts shine with new colors. 

By the way, when Meridian was still Ekran-Razvitie, the tax authorities already tried to bankrupt it for debts in the fall of 2023. The claim was withdrawn after the debt was fully paid.

Photo: kad.arbitr.ru/

Echo of the nationalization of ROMZ

The nationalization of ROMZ, which brought a nice little stream of government contracts into his pocket, was a financial blow to Taran. The privatization of the former state asset was declared illegal by the court. And after the court’s decision, a very curious audio recording appeared on the Internet, in which a certain citizen, in a voice very similar to Taran’s, discusses the possibility of "whitewashing" the former beneficiaries of the plant from RATM and obtaining compensation from the state in the amount of billions of rubles.

There are also suggestions that, at the instigation of Rostec and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the enterprise may again be transferred to the management or even ownership of RATM Tarana. Ambitious, don’t you think?

However, such impudence could be based on Taran’s connections, which he "collects". For example, he has a joint business (OOO "National Research Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics - Otkrytie" (NIITO-O) with the former Minister of Sports of Krasnoyarsk Krai Sergey Gurov, namesake of the former Deputy Governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai Lyudmila Selivanova (during the governorship of Alexander Lebed). The director of NIITO-O - Sergey Skulkin is also a former official. He headed the investment development agency established by the Novosibirsk mayor’s office. 

In addition, former governor Viktor Tolokonsky became Taran’s advisor several years ago, and also joined the board of directors of the Ekran plant. 

Dmitry Verkhovod, former deputy head of the Novosibirsk Region administration and former head of the Department of Property and Land Relations, also made his mark in Taran’s close circle. 

Through the Green Standard Foundation, the oligarch also has connections with the former deputy of the Novosibirsk interdistrict environmental prosecutor, Aleksey Zgursky, who coordinates the United Russia project on the green economy. Considering that the head of the Novosibirsk branch of the party is the current governor, Andrey Travnikov, Taran’s connections are difficult to overestimate.

In our opinion, it is unlikely that Taran will have a chance to return ROMZ. Today, the courts continue to hear claims from the Yaroslavl prosecutor (at the place of ROMZ registration), who is terminating contracts where the nationalized plant and its assets acted as collateral for loans from the oligarch and his division.

Today, one of such lawsuits is being heard in the arbitration court of the Yaroslavl region. The prosecutor demands that the encumbrance in the form of a pledge be lifted from ROMZ shares for loans issued by Bank Finservice JSC. This means that Taran will have to provide the bank with other property as collateral. It is unlikely that the creditor will want to be left without collateral.  

Photo: kad.arbitr.ru/ 

And this lawsuit may be just the first in a long chain of problems.  

Meanwhile, Taran himself continues to replenish his business piggy bank, apparently hoping to improve his affairs also through government contracts, including medical ones. As previously reported by UtroNews, in April 2024, through his companies, he established LLC "World Orthopedic Medical Technologies" (MOMT), which has now been renamed "Global Orthopedic Technologies". 

In addition, in May 2024, Taran registered a construction company in his name - OOO SZ Kaskad-1, which was previously legally owned by the top manager of his division - Dmitry Simagin, who was the general director of OOO Regional Industrial Development GRUPP. The new director of Kaskad is interesting - Denis Sinyuk. 

Sinyuk is the namesake of the construction director of OOO ElinAlfa, which built an ice arena in Novosibirsk commissioned by local authorities. So Sinyuk has experience in government contracts.

Photo: rusprofile.ru

The overall situation hints that troubles are just around the corner for the Novosibirsk oligarch, and not only because of the shut-off tap with ROMZ. Such an approach to paying taxes can backfire and connections won’t help. Playing with the state, as we know, doesn’t lead to anything good. It’s time for Taran to understand this.