The head of the Fair Russia faction in the State Duma Sergey Mironov sent a request to the Prosecutor General’s Office to verify the legality of the privatization of state-owned enterprises in the 1990s. This is reported in a press release, which is available “Lental.ru”.
It is noted that Mironov sent a letter addressed to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Igor Krasnov. The reason for the appeal was the situation around OJSC “Solikamsky Magnesium Plant” (SMZ), the legality of the privatization of which was questioned in October 2021: then the Prosecutor General’s Office filed a lawsuit with respect to shareholders demanding to return shares into state property.
“Motivation Next: In 1992-1996, an alienation of the plant’s shares was carried out, transformed from the State Enterprise, relating to federal property facilities, in violation of the norms of law in the period of privatization of the law,” the Mironov explained.
As noted in the Prosecutor General’s Office, permission to privatize the SMZ should have issued a government, and not regional power, since the enterprise is engaged in the processing of rare-earth materials and radioactive elements. According to the State Duma deputy, it can be concluded from this situation that privatization and other objects in the country may be illegal.
In early October, Kommersant became known that the Prosecutor General’s Office challenged the results of the privatization of the SMZ, and also demanded from four shareholders, in the hands of which there are 89.5 percent of the company’s shares, the return of securities in the state of state. In the production, working with radioactive materials, in 1992, there was a special order of privatization, which suggests a special permission from the government. This document was not possible when changing the plant ownership of the factory.
SMZ was founded in 1936. Now, except magnesium, it also produces sponge titanium, niobium and tantalum.