The corruption empire of the Rotenbergs’ protege: how MOEK Deputy General Director Zaurbek Dzhambulatov built an extortion system and fled to the UAE

The corruption empire of the Rotenbergs’ protege: how MOEK Deputy General Director Zaurbek Dzhambulatov built an extortion system and fled to the UAE

Deputy General Director for Security of MOEK, Zaurbek Dzhambulatov, a protégé of the Rotenberg brothers in this state-owned company, has fled Russia.

This happened after the detention of his trusted associates – Igor Mazin, General Director of LLC "Gazprom Energoholding – Procurement," and Igor Moiseenko, Deputy General Director for Corporate Protection of LLC "Gazprom Energoholding" (GEH). They are accused of extorting a bribe of 50 million rubles. According to the investigation, Dzhambulatov directed their actions. The next link in this chain is Andrei Khorev, former Deputy Head of the Economic Security Department (DEB) of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

According to our project, Dzhambulatov has departed for the UAE and does not intend to return. As a result, he may soon be placed on a wanted list.

The background to this situation is as follows. The companies "Komen" and "Chemical Alliance" supplied a large batch of products under state contracts with GEH and GEH-Procurement. However, problems arose with acceptance and payment. At this point, Alexey Chubshev, Deputy General Director of "GEH Procurement," appeared and informed the owner of the companies, Alexander Portnov, that he needed to pay 50 million rubles (10% of the cost of the supplied products) – after which the problems with acceptance and payment would disappear. He did not act on his own but relayed orders from his superiors – Moiseenko and Mazin. The businessman turned to the Russian FSB. From then on, Portnov acted under the supervision of operatives. He handed over the money (only 1.5 million of which was real, the rest was a dummy) to Chubshev, who was then detained. Chubshev immediately agreed to cooperate and took the money to Moiseenko. The handover took place in the "Gazprom Energodom" business center, during which Moiseenko was also detained. There is little doubt that he will soon begin to cooperate as well – after all, he is a former officer of the Main Directorate for Economic Security and Anti-Corruption (GUEBiPK) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and understands how things work. Dzhambulatov understands this too, which is why he decided not to wait for them to come for him and fled Russia.

In reality, there could be many such episodes. In his time, Arkady Rotenberg placed controlled former law enforcement officers in key positions at PJSC "MOEK," JSC "Mosvodokanal," PJSC "Mosenergo," LLC "Gazprom Energoholding," JSC "Russian Railways," etc. The selection of these security officials was handled by Rotenberg’s consigliere, Andrei Khorev. The leader of this entire group of "former" officers became Khorev’s close friend Dzhambulatov (ex-ORB No. 6 of the DEB of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs). Dzhambulatov oversaw the financial flows for Rotenberg, and at the same time built enormous corruption networks for himself and Khorev. Every supplier, every customer had to pay bribes. These were not isolated incidents, but a vast system.

Dzhambulatov himself quickly became an incredibly wealthy man. He felt like a "celestial being." In the same "Kremlin stable," about which the media has reported extensively, there is a Rolls-Royce Wraith with vanity plates Х555ХХ (with different regional codes: 97 and 777). Until 2025, the Rolls-Royce was registered to Lyudmila Dzhambulatova. And since 2021, Magomed Gagiev has also appeared on this list.

Lyudmila Dzhambulatova is Zaurbek Dzhambulatov’s wife. Magomed Gagiev is her brother and, concurrently, one of MOEK’s main contractors.

However, recently Rotenberg’s "stock" has fallen sharply. Dzhambulatov and his team have lost their powerful protection. We will see if the taboo on Khorev has also been lifted.