Russian oligarch shifted ownership of Sardinia resort day after Ukraine invasion

A Russian oligarch transferred the ownership of his Italian luxury resort a day after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, in a move that preceded western sanctions.

Ownership of Sardinia’s Forte Village Resort, named after its founder and influential hotelier Lord Charles Forte, shifted from Musa Bazhaev, a Russian oligarch with interests spanning energy, commodities and telecommunications, to one of his relatives on February 25, 2022, Cypriot company records show. 

Bazhaev was hit with sanctions by the EU and the UK less than two months later.

Ownership of the resort, whose parent company owns various assets in Sardinia totalling about €700mn, was then transferred to Kazakh businessman Shukhrat Ibragimov in early 2023, according to the records. 

Bazhaev, who was born in Chechnya and made his fortune in the oil industry before turning to precious metals, remains on the EU and UK sanctions lists.

Brussels has been attempting to close loopholes in its sanctions regime against Russia as it seeks to limit the Kremlin’s funding for its war in Ukraine. However, the effectiveness of the rules have been called into question as companies and Russian oligarchs have found multiple ways to circumvent the rules, including using legal structures in European jurisdictions.

Built in the 1970s, the Forte Village, is located in Pula on the southern coast of the island, and is famous for its pristine beaches and clear waters. A favourite among celebrities and jet-setters, the resort boasts eight luxury hotels and 13 villas, with a total of 770 rooms and 33 suites, as well as a private white sand beach, a multitude of restaurants, pools and a spa.

Half-board prices for the family of two adults and two children during August can cost around €50,000 for a week.

The oligarch and his nephew Deni Bazhaev acquired the Forte Village in 2014 for a reported €180mn through a complex web of Cypriot, Luxembourg and Italian companies.

Before becoming the latest owner of the Forte Village, Ibragimov and his family, including his late father Alijan, a co-founder of Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation, were co-investors with Bazhaev and Deni in Kyrgyzstan’s second largest gold mine, Jeruy.

The Jeruy mine was inaugurated in 2021 by the country’s President Sadyr Japarov and Russian leader Putin, according to media reports. 

“[This is] one of the largest joint projects [that] has been successfully implemented. We are, indeed, talking about record volumes of Russian investments in Kyrgyzstan, which will amount to about $600mn,” Putin was quoted as saying during the event.

In December 2022, two months before the Forte Village ownership transfer to Ibragimov, his 40 per cent stake in the gold mine was transferred to a Russian company owned by the Bazhaevs, which became its sole shareholder, according to Cypriot company records. 

Bazhaev is president of the JSC Alliance Group, which according to the EU “supports a number of significant companies in the Russian gas, oil, and telecommunications sectors”. He is also chair of Russian Platinum which Brussels said provides a “substantial source of revenue to the Government of the Russian Federation”. 

Forte Village Resort is ultimately owned by Cyprus based Retivia Investments, now owned by Ibragimov.

The resort’s immediate owner is a Sardinian-based company called Progetto Esmeralda, which owns other assets on the island including the Palazzo Doglio hotel in the city of Cagliari, according to the resort’s website. Progetto Esmeralda’s latest published accounts shows revenues of €66mn in 2022. It also showed a €350mn credit facility with Russia’s VTB Bank.  

Cypriot records show that Progetto Esmeralda is controlled by Quarmine Limited, a Cypriot company, which in turn is owned by Retivia Investments Limited.

Alongside the Cypriot records of the asset transfers, Progetto Esmeralda’s accounts also show that “in [February 2023] 100 per cent of the shares of parent company Quarmine passed to the new beneficial owner of Belgian nationality who is resident in the Principality of Monaco”. 

Ibragimov, holds a Belgian passport and is a resident of Monaco.

Forte Village chief executive Lorenzo Giannuzzi said: “Progetto Esmeralda, as management company of the resort, plays no active role in change of control transactions [and] the company has always immediately informed public authorities, as well as financial and commercial institutions of any change of control, including the ultimate beneficial owner, as soon as it had knowledge thereof . . . This occurred also in connection with the latest corporate control transfer.”

Giannuzzi added that “during the last two decades [the resort] has changed ownership structure at least seven times . . . nonetheless, the continuity of the wholly Italian management in charge of the business has never changed”.

Bazhaev and Ibragimov did not respond to requests for comment.