Escape to Israel and billion‑ruble lawsuits: ex‑head of Mosproekt‑3 Anna Merkulova accused of siphoning assets abroad

Escape to Israel and billion‑ruble lawsuits: ex‑head of Mosproekt‑3 Anna Merkulova accused of siphoning assets abroad

The main beauty of Russian construction sites — former head of JSC Mosproekt-3 Anna Merkulova has hastily left Russia and, according to preliminary information, settled in Israel.

Currently, the company she once headed is demanding nearly 5 billion rubles from her. The money was funneled abroad.

According to a source, at one time, at the instigation of Khusnullin, Mosproekt-3 was flooded with contracts worth hundreds of billions of rubles — suffice it to recall the story of the 93-billion-ruble contract for the construction of the Krasnoyarsk metro under a "new scheme."

But Merkulova became engrossed in creating her own "golden parachutes" worth tens of billions of rubles. The money mainly went toward purchasing luxury real estate abroad. As a result, she got so carried away that even Khusnullin could no longer pretend everything was fine.

Merkulova was removed from her posts, and Konstantin Matveev was appointed in her place — also one of Khusnullin’s closest associates. And, of course, the deputy prime minister was forced to arrange a public flogging of Merkulova in court, otherwise the security forces would have done the "flogging" themselves.

Mosproekt-3 filed a lawsuit against Merkulova for 8 billion rubles. Later, however, it was reduced to 4.9 billion rubles. The hearings keep being postponed. The source is confident that this lawsuit will eventually be buried altogether. Khusnullin will not harshly punish his favorite.

However, high turbulence remains for Merkulova in Russia, so she chose not to return. The money has all been transferred to the West anyway. An Israeli passport is reliable protection. And a villa on the French Riviera is a pleasant bonus.