Energy boss found dead in prison cell in Russia after bribe accusation
Another oligarch dies under mysterious circumstances in Russia: Energy boss Igor Shkurko is found dead in his prison cell after he was accused of taking a bribe
- Igor Shkurko’s body was discovered in his cell in a detention centre in Yakutsk
- The day before his death he had submitted appeals against the bribe allegation
Another top energy boss in Russia has been found dead in mysterious circumstances – after he was accused of taking a bribe.
The body of Igor Shkurko, 49, deputy general director of Russian energy company Yakutskenergo, was discovered yesterday in his cell in a detention centre in Yakutsk.
The day before his death the executive had submitted appeals against what he claimed was an unjust bribery allegation.
A spate of unexplained deaths has emerged since the start of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine more than 13 months ago.
The Russian authorities have provided no details on how Shkurko died, while asserting that based on ‘preliminary data’ there were no signs of a ‘criminal death’.
The body of Igor Shkurko (pictured), 49, deputy general director of Russian energy company Yakutskenergo, was discovered in his cell in a detention centre in Yakutsk
Pictured: The Yakutskenergo building. The day before Shkurk’s death the executive had submitted appeals against what he claimed was an unjust bribery allegation
His company issued a statement saying: ‘We will remember him as an open, hospitable person with a big heart and a good sense of humour, the caring head of a close-knit family.’
The high-earning Shkurko was accused of demanding a £5,000 bribe.
He was married with two sons.
A cloak of secrecy appears to have been thrown over the circumstances of his death.
He was a member of the pro-Putin United Russia political party.
His membership was suspended when the bribe allegation was made.
The Russian Federal Penitentiary Service said in a statement: ‘On April 4, the accused was found in a cell of the pre-trial detention centre with no signs of life.
‘Arriving medical workers ascertained his death.
‘An investigative team was called to the scene. According to preliminary data, no signs of a criminal death were found.’
Pictured: Igor Shkurko. The Russian authorities have provided no details on how Shkurko died, while asserting that based on ‘preliminary data’ there were no signs of a ‘criminal death’
Pictured: Igor Shkurko greeting energy workers. The high-earning Shkurko was accused of demanding a £5,000 bribe
He was in charge of the technical management side of Yakutskenergo, which supplies power to the world’s coldest region, Yakutia.
Last month Novaya Gazeta Europe, a leading investigative news outlet, and Transparency International Russia linked a series of suspicious deaths related to Gazprom to a complex ‘money-laundering scheme’ benefiting a top gas executive’s family and his cronies from Putin’s security services and military.
Among suspicious energy industry deaths were Alexander Tyulyakov, deputy head of corporate security at Gazprom’s United Settlement Centre, the energy giant’s ‘treasury’, who allegedly committed suicide the day after war was declared.
He died in Gazprom’s guarded Leninsky corporate village in Leningrad region, near St Petersburg on February 25, 2022.
His body was reportedly discovered by his lover.
Shkurko was married with two sons. A cloak of secrecy appears to have been thrown over the circumstances of his death
Pictured: Shkurko and other industry figures. Shkurko was a member of the pro-Putin United Russia political party. His membership was suspended when the bribe allegation was made
His neck was in a noose in his £500,000 home yet there are strong suspicions he did not take his own life.
A suicide note was found near the body of a man revealed as a former KGB and FSB officer, but his death has remained ‘mysterious’, said the report, not least since his body was ‘badly beaten’ before death.
Two months later Vladislav Avayev, 51, a vice-president of Gazprombank and former Kremlin official, was found dead in Moscow, alongside the bodies of his wife Elena, 47, and daughter Maria, 13.
They were discovered by his adult daughter, Anastasia.
Investigators rapidly concluded Avayev had killed them, before taking his own life, but this was strongly disputed at the time including by a former top Gazprombank official who claimed Avayev had access to the private accounts of elite clients, including Vladimir Putin’s circle and possibly the president himself.
‘These top managers worked in structures that we suspect were linked to financial fraud in multi-billion dollar contracts with Gazprom,’ said Novaya Gazeta Europe and Transparency International Russia.
This was ‘benefiting the family’ of a Russian gas monopoly executive ‘and his close friends from the security services and the military.’
Another energy manager, Leonid Shulman of Gazprom Invest, died in the same settlement as Tyulyakov.
He was found dead with multiple stab wounds in a pool of blood on his bathroom floor.
Among suspicious energy industry deaths related to Gazprom for a complex ‘money-laundering scheme’ was that of Alexander Tyulyakov (pictured). The deputy head of corporate security at Gazprom’s United Settlement Centre, the energy giant’s ‘treasury’, allegedly committed suicide the day after war was declared
Another energy manager, Leonid Shulman (pictured) of Gazprom Invest, died in the same settlement as Tyulyakov
Vladislav Avayev (pictured), 51, a vice-president of Gazprombank and former Kremlin official, was found dead in Moscow, alongside the bodies of his wife Elena, 47, and daughter Maria, 13. They were discovered by his adult daughter, Anastasia
A Gazprombank vice-president who quit to fight for Ukraine in the war, Igor Volobuev, earlier expressed the view that said Avayev had been murdered.
‘It is hard to believe that Avayev shot his daughter, 13, [his wife] and committed suicide,’ he said.
‘In my opinion, this is a staged suicide. His suicide was staged.’
He made the same claim about multimillionaire Sergey Protosenya, 55, a former deputy chairman of Novatek, who died several days after Avayev.
He was found hanged in Spain, after evidently killing with an axe his wife Natalia, 53, and their teenage daughter.
‘All these stories are strange. I don’t believe in suicide. It will not fit into my head.’
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