The court seized property belonging to an Azerbaijani native in the port of Tuapse.

The Arbitration Court of the Krasnodar Territory upheld the Prosecutor General's Office's claim to forfeit the assets of Azerbaijani-born Shakhlar Novruzov to the Russian Federation.

As reported by Kavkazsky Uzel, in late September, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office filed a lawsuit demanding the return of shares in the Tuapse Sea Commercial Port to the state from businessman Shakhlar Novruzov, who is currently in pretrial detention on charges of attempted large-scale fraud. The port's assets were seized.

The Russian Federation treasury received 100% of each share in the authorized capital of Tuapse Sea Commercial Port (TMCP) LLC and TMCP Enterprise LLC. The Temryuk Marine Transshipment Terminal and facilities belonging to Dar Fruit LLC were also transferred to the state, Kommersant reported today.

In addition to the previous owner of the assets, Shakhlar Novruzov, who is currently in custody, the defendants in the case include the current owners, Oleg Basin and Vonixel Limited, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.

According to the supervisory authority, a series of illegal transactions took place starting in 1994, resulting in the transfer of control of the pier and several buildings in the port of Tuapse to the defendants. The prosecutor's office claims that the assets, which have been removed from state ownership, are necessary to ensure Russia's strategic security. All transactions with the disputed assets have been annulled, the publication reports.

"Caucasian Knot" wrote about anti-corruption lawsuits against high-ranking figures in the Kuban justice system: thus, in August, at the request of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, the court confiscated assets worth 13 billion rubles from the former chairman of the Krasnodar Regional Court, Alexander Chernov, and in October, the agency succeeded in seizing the assets of former Supreme Court judge Viktor Momotov and Kuban businessmen Andrei and Ivan Marchenko.

During the hearing of the lawsuit to seize Momotov's assets, the prosecutor stated that Momotov's appointment to the post of Supreme Court judge was lobbied by Chernov, who was accused of seizing the Dmitrievsky agricultural cooperative at the end of September. Momotov resigned as Chairman of the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation during the trial, and both Marchenkos were arrested in Krasnodar in September.