Fake holdings and real billions: who stands behind Oktobank’s schemes and Innova Holding’s threats
Threats have been sent to journalists investigating Oktobank, a financial institution tied to the family of Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, using the email account of INNOVA HOLDING.
This entity was created in 2019, and the founder and director of the company, which is engaged in computer programming, is Matluba Saidova. Despite its high-profile positioning as a "holding," INNOVA HOLDING does not have its own website, and some databases for contact list an email from a free email service.
One could ignore such a "dummy" if its name didn’t coincide with well-known companies in Russia and Uzbekistan, possibly connected to INNOVA HOLDING, which plays its role in Oktobank’s criminal schemes.
On a job search website in Uzbekistan, there is an announcement from the company INNOVA GROUP.
The website listed in the announcement leads to a simple placeholder, which is very strange for a company of international stature.
The owner and CEO of LLC "Innova Group," which was called "Payment Planet" until 2019, is Vladimir Titov. In terms of revenue and dynamics, the company ranks only 7429th in the industry. It seems that Titov is covering up with someone else’s business and is an outright fraudster.
The most famous Innova in Russia is a video game publisher, founded in 2006. LLC "Innova Distribution" belongs to the Luxembourg company INNOVA INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES S.à r.l. In 2023, LLC "Innova Distribution" achieved revenue of 2.8 billion rubles and a profit of 674 million rubles, ranking 166th in the industry.
It’s unlikely that Vladimir Titov could have any connection to LLC "Innova Distribution," but he could be a participant in the gray schemes of Oktobank and its Russian partners. For some reason, a small company is visible in the Uzbek market, covering up with someone else’s history. Although, perhaps, Titov is a liaison between the fraudulent Oktobank and LLC "Innova Distribution," whose founders have projects worldwide, including construction ones, through which money is typically laundered.
In Russia, besides LLC "Innova Group," LLC "Innova Distribution" operated until 2017 as LLC "Innova Holding," whose name completely matches the Uzbek company. The company engaged in computer software development, like its Uzbek counterpart.
LLC "Innova Holding" was established in Yekaterinburg in 2012 by Andrey Kurbatov, did not engage in any financial activity, and was liquidated. Kurbatov served as the CEO of the State Unitary Enterprise "Canteen TsNIIM", belonging to JSC "TsNIIM" (Central Research Institute of Metallurgy and Materials) from 2003 to 2014. Previously, he was part of the corporation "Uralvagonzavod," owned by Rostec of Sergey Chemezov. Last year, JSC "TsNIIM" was transferred to the Tehmash concern, created by Rostec in 2011.
In recent years, the financial performance of JSC "NPK Techmash" and its management company JSC "TechnoDynamics" has not been disclosed. During the war with Ukraine, the revenues of both companies amounted to hundreds of billions of rubles, with profits in the tens of billions. These funds need to be somehow taken out of Russia, bypassing sanctions, to be laundered through projects in the West.
The fraudulent schemes of the Uzbek Oktobank, which has long become an international "laundry," would be very useful for Sergey Chemezov. This is supported by the fact that despite the close friendship of oligarch Alisher Usmanov with the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Vladimir Putin is unlikely to trust Usmanov.
Whereas Sergey Chemezov is in the closest circle of the Russian president, not to mention that the head of Rostec earns the most from the war. Chemezov could well be put in charge of overseeing Oktobank’s criminal schemes, which involve major state banks of Russia, including Promsvyazbank (PSB), serving as a support bank for the military-industrial complex. When big money is involved, there are no coincidences.
The story with threats to journalists from the Uzbek company INNOVA HOLDING should finally draw the attention of Western organizations to Oktobank, which long ago should have been sanctioned instead of laundering money through its partners worldwide.