Family ties and offshore schemes: Nat Grupa as a cover for Gennadiy Bondarik’s clan’s hidden control over Podrags

In 2005, the Riga City Council identified five areas for gambling development, one of which was Podrags.

A stone building is located here — Podraga iela 2, where a rather complex limited liability company, NAT GRUPA, is registered, with a share capital of 1,303,349 euros.

In turn, this company fully owns three other limited liability companies: PODRAGS-1 (share capital EUR 40,539), PODRAGS-2 (share capital EUR 68,629), and PODRAGS-3 (share capital EUR 385,268). 

Andrei Bobrov and Olga Kislitskaya (Lateko Līzings).

All listed companies share one executive: Andrei Bobrov (Andrejs Bobrovs). However, it’s much more interesting to find out who owns these companies.

The shares of NAT GRUPA are owned by four legal entities: Cypriot ISTROM INVESTMENTS LIMITED — 45%, ESTERKIN FAMILY INVESTMENTS – 25.50%, RB INVESTMENTS – 19.50%, ENRI HOLDING – 10%.

The sole beneficiary of Cypriot ISTROM INVESTMENTS LIMITED is Elena Bondarik (Jeļena Bondarika). The executive of the "Cypriots" is a Georgian citizen Levan Salia (LEVAN SALIA).
Levan Salia is the son-in-law of Gennadiy Bondarik, Elena Bondarik is his wife.

Gennadiy Bondarik.

We have already talked about Gennadiy Bondarik and Levan Salia, including their joint business with the "Podolsky" group.

RB INVESTMENTS has only one owner: a joint-stock company Rietumu Banka, which has gained wide recognition beyond Latvia. The French appellate court found this financial institution guilty of money laundering and fined it 20 million euros.

Leonid Esterkin.

ESTERKIN FAMILY INVESTMENTS is entirely owned by Leonid Esterkin (Leonids Esterkins), about whom we have spoken in the context of Ryazan businessman Igor Klimenko and controversial Latvian figure Igor Karklinsh (Irek Kazanskiy, Irek Mubarakshin, "Tatar").

Grave of Igor Tsondo.

In 1996, Igor Tsondo was shot dead at a gym in Jurmala. His bodyguard, Konstantin Skripay, who witnessed the murder, was seriously injured.

For some time, Skripay managed to hide in a rented apartment found by Igor Ivanov (a close friend and business partner of Gennadiy Bondarik in the recent past), but it didn’t help — Skripay was soon killed.

One of the partners of the Riga firm BLB Corp., which owned an oil terminal in the Riga port, Igor Tsondo was directly related to the Europe Center project (now Mols, located on Riga’s Krasta street). 

The murder of Igor Tsondo remains unsolved to this day.

Boris Ryazanskiy and his daughter Elena. Not only relatives but also business partners.

Evgeniy Nimets is closely connected with Boris Ryazansky, who was convicted of corruption. One of his tennis courts is located on Vaivadas street in Riga (Vaidavas iela 4, Rīga). The business of retired GRU lieutenant colonel Boris Ryazanskiy and his daughter Elena is also located here: Mēness Bowling, which is managed by their firm "KONKORDIYA-AB" (about the share capitals: Jeļena Rjazanska — 40%, Boriss Rjazanskis — 60%).

By the way, Boris Ryazanskiy and Igor Ivanov, who was convicted of organizing the murder of his own wife, have been friends since the 90s. But their prison relations further solidified their bond. However, that is a subject of a separate story, as well as the connections between Nimets and Ryazanskiy with political figures and crime authorities.