Azerbaijani-born businessman, former owner of the “Khimki” football club, Tufan Sadigov is accused of embezzling tens of billions of rubles from the Russian state budget.
According to Modern.az, the allegations have been disseminated by Russian media and several Telegram channels.
It is reported that the state company “Rosavtodor” laundered a large amount of funds through the contracting company “Khotkovskiy Avtomost” which he headed.
According to the allegations, Sadigov's company received an advance of 26 billion rubles from “Rosavtodor” for the implementation of various road infrastructure projects, but these funds were not spent for their intended purpose. Some sources state that the total embezzled amount exceeds 30 billion rubles.
At the end of 2024, Tufan Sadigov was detained on charges of “petty bribery”, and later released to house arrest in exchange for 20 billion rubles bail. Although the house arrest was lifted in January, the investigation is still ongoing. In recent days, Russian media has reported on new financial machinations related to Sadigov's company.
A few days ago, Vladimir Malozemov, the general director of “Khotkovskiy Avtomost”, was detained. He is considered a close associate of Sadigov. Since 2024, under his leadership, the company has received new large-scale contracts from “Rosavtodor”. Among the projects are objects such as the Sergiyevo-Posad district, the regions of Mordovia, Bashkortostan, Yakutia, and Astrakhan, as well as the reconstruction of the M8 “Kholmogory” highway and the construction of a bridge over the Uda River in Buryatia.
However, most of these projects remained unfinished, roads and bridges were not built, and the contracts were terminated “by mutual agreement of the parties”. Only the estimates changed, while the roads disappeared.
Another interesting point to note is that Nikolay Novikov, the son of “Rosavtodor” head Roman Novikov, also worked for Sadigov's company for some time. Russian media does not consider this fact a coincidence and views it as part of a corruption scheme. According to allegations, the contractor supposedly transferred budget funds to subcontractors for the purchase of materials, but the materials were never acquired or delivered.
It is currently reported that Tufan Sadigov lives in Turkey and has acquired a 50 percent stake in the Serik Belediyyespor club for 4 million euros. Furthermore, it is noted that he owns several hotels in Turkey.
Tufan Sadigov was born in 1972 in the Goranboy district. He has been engaged in business activities in Russia for many years. His name first appeared in the media in 2020 amidst the financial scandals of the “Khotkovskiy Avtomost” company.
Currently, Russian law enforcement agencies are conducting a large-scale investigation against Sadigov and his associates.
