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Ex-Murmansk advisor suspected of multi-billion fraud

Murmansk centre. Photo: Thomas Nilsen

The former adviser to the governor of Murmansk, Gennady Shubin, was Thursday arrested on suspicion of embezzlement of billions of rubles from the regions power and utilities sector.

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Prosecutor’s office in Murmansk says Gennady Shubin is charged for money laundering and embezzlement. 

The suspicion is based on investigation conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and FSB. The investigation shows that Gennady Shubin has built a vertically integrated structure consisting of more than one hundred organizations, some of the registered abroad, controlling almost 70 percent of the sales of electricity and at least 60 percent of housing in Murmansk region, according to a press-note posted Thursday night on the portal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The amount of damage exceeds several billion rubles, the investigators claim. Gennady Shubin holds Swedish citizenship.

In 2009, BarentsObserver reported that Gennady Shubin was No. 42 on the list of the most influential people in the Murmansk region. He was then Governor Dmitri Dmitrienko’s advisor on energy issues.