Former Open Government minister Mikhail Abyzov was detained yesterday in Moscow. A figure of the Russian electricity market, Abyzov was also involved in the venture business in the early 2010s. He is now accused of having embezzled and hidden abroad 4 billion rubles (around $62 million).
According to the investigation, Abyzov and his accomplices stole the money from Siberian energy companies. While Abyzov has denied these charges “categorically,” pundits see in his arrest the reflection of clan struggles within the Russian ruling elite.
Abyzov is said to be particularly close to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Rusnano president Anatoly Chubais.
After amassing a fortune in the energy industry in the 1990s and 2000s, Abyzov made several incursions into the tech business. In 2011, notably, he backed Digital October, a tech event venue in central Moscow, as well as Bright Capital, a venture fund which has made since then a series of investments in Silicon Valley and Western Europe.
Former Bright Capital Managing Partner Mikhail Chuchkevich and RVC top manager Yan Ryazantsev were arrested last year in a separate matter. They were accused of embezzlement through a 2012 investment deal involving US startup Alion Energy, of which Abyzov was a director.
Starting from 2012, Abyzov served as Open Government minister, a position which was abolished when Vladimir Putin started his fourth term in 2018.
In March 2017, Alexey Navalny reported that Abyzov owns a mansion in Italy worth 750 million rubles ($11.7 million). According to the anti-corruption activist, Abyzov leveraged his energy connections in Novosibirsk to amass his wealth, notes Meduza.
Sources: Sobesednik, TASS, The Bell, Wikipedia
