[4] The production was export-oriented and connected by a pipeline with a length of about 2500 kilometers to the Odessa Port Plant, which ensures the transshipment of ammonia to tankers.
[9] In 1999, the Russian Federal Property Fund (RFPF) conducted an inquiry into the implementation of the Transammiak investment program and the purchase of Togliattiazot shares by Tafko.
The investigation revealed that although the pipeline was upgraded, the branch lines for other producers were never built, and the purchase of the 6.1% stake in Togliattiazot had been a sham transaction.
These violations prompted the RFPF to file a claim to Samara Regional Arbitration Court seeking to return the stake to public ownership.
[12] In 2002, due to the breach of the investment agreement that allowed other ammonia producers tapping into the pipeline, Minudobrenia appealed the Ministry for Anti-monopoly Policy (AMP), which deemed the actions of Togliattiazot illegal.
[14] In January 2003, Moscow Arbitration Court sustained Minudobrenia's claim against Togliattiazot and Transammiak, and ordered both to allow their competitors access to pipeline.
[10] In 2004, the AMP filed a formal complaint to the Prosecutor General’s office asking to institute criminal proceedings against Togliattiazot for breaking anti-monopoly laws.
The investigators deemed that Makhlai committed fraud by acquiring a 6.1% stake in Togliattiazot without implementing the investment agreement, thereby causing damages of 3.2 billion rubles to the government.
[18][19] On 3 October 2007, Avtozavodsky District Court of Togliatti ruled the 2005 tax evasion case against Makhlai illegal, arguing his actions did not constitute a criminal offense.
[23] The case was returned for retrial to Samara Regional Arbitration Court, which in May 2006 declared void the 6.1% stake sale in Togliattiazot to the Russian-Swiss firm Tafko, an entity allegedly close to the Toaz owner Vladimir Makhlai.
However, business observers believed that fulfilling it was impossible, given that Tafko was no longer in possession of the shares in question, as they were probably transferred to one of the Vladimir Makhlai-controlled offshore entities.
[25] In July 2006, in a lawsuit filed by Federal Property Management Agency, Samara Regional Arbitration Court ruled the deal in which 6.1% in Togliattiazot was exchanged for 51% in Transammiak void.
[29] On 30 September 2008, the Russian Supreme Arbitration Court declared the privatization of Transammiak legal, thereby dismissing the lawsuit filed by Federal Property Management Agency.
[30] In December 2009, the Saratov Arbitration Court of Appeal dismissed the claim filed by the Federal Property Management Agency seeking to declare privatization of 6.1% of Togliattiazot shares illegal.
[31] Togliattiazot minority shareholder Tringal Equities sued the company board in 2006, and in 2007 for seeking $84 million in damages to offset the losses incurred by fraudulent export pricing policies.
[34] In August that same year, Toaz faced new tax claims from the FTSD for 2004 to the tune of 2.582 billion rubles, which the company dismissed as an attempt to destabilize the plant.
[41] Uralchem subsequently went to court requesting the documents confirming the ownership rights, annual meeting of shareholders minutes and branch regulations.
The move was prompted by Korolev's refusal to provide documents pertaining to extraordinary general meetings, and the sales to Nitrochem Distribution AG at an understated price, which, according to Uralchem, caused damage to the plant and its shareholders.
[42] On 10 February 2012, criminal proceedings began over Uralchem's complaint in connection to Toaz's refusal to grant a minority shareholder access to the documents.
According to the investigators, shareholders were deprived of a significant part of dividends, with Uralchem incurring $550 million in damages and the government receiving fewer taxes than it was due.
[48] In January 2013, Uralchem asked to open a criminal investigation against the Toaz management and owners for committing fraud as an organized group.
[50] In April that year, Toaz CEO Evgeny Korolev was put on an international wanted list for his role in organized fraud.
[56] On 26 December 2014, Nitrochem Distribution AG director Beat Ruprecht was arrested for misappropriating Togliattiazot products worth $3 billion.
[1] In December 2017, the case about a misappropriation of 85 billion rubles was transferred by Prosecutor General's office to Komsomolsky District Court of Togliatti for trial.
RAPSI, Russian legal and judicial newswire, reported that a group of people led by Vladimir Makhlai was suspected in committing a number of serious economic crimes during the period 2005 – 2013.
To facilitate the crime, Court found, settlement and currency accounts of Togliattiazot OJSC were opened in Togliattiimbank, 100% owned by Sergey Makhlai.
[75] He is reportedly also investigated in Ukraine on suspicion of bribing a state official, Viktor Bondyk, former CEO of a state-owned company that manages the cross-country ammonia pipeline.
[76] In January 2020, a new criminal case was initiated against Sergei Makhlai, who was in wanted list, under Part 3 of Article 30 and Part 5 of Article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – giving a bribe on a particularly large scale to judges of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation for canceling a decision to recover tax arrears from Togliattiazot.
The defendants acted together with "unidentified persons" and did not carry out their intentions to the end, as the Supreme Court issued a ruling on the refusal to transfer the cassation appeal to the Board of Economic Disputes.
[78] At the end of July 2020, the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, spoke about the most dangerous crimes in Russia.