Refreshing news from Sweden this morning: Fredrik Bjorkman reports that the Swedish Security Service (SAPO) has finally taken an interest in the entire ‘reorganization’ farce involving Nynas Bitumen. This is excellent news. It is the opinion of this site that any somewhat subjective investigation conducted by individuals without a direct economic interest in the matters of Nynas can only yield one outcome: that the entire ‘reorganization’ process is illegal.
Originally, two parties (PDVSA and Neste) were supposed to be involved. However, that was not the case, as Nynas used to source all its raw materials from Venezuela, specifically from Petrozamora, a joint venture formed between the Venezuelan Oil Corporation (CVP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PDVSA) and Gazprombank Latin America Ventures B.V., a Dutch shell company owned by Boris Ivanov (read Gazprom) and Francisco Convit and Alejandro Betancourt (the main thugs of Derwick Associates).
Petrozamora’s interests in Nynas, namely the receivables, were represented during the ‘reorganization’ by GPB Energy Services B.V. (another Dutch ghost controlled by Ivanov), which managed not only to appoint a lawyer (Johan Strömbäck from Setterwalls) but somehow also took on the representation of PDVSA’s interests. It is inexplicable, unless you consider corruption, how the largest shareholder of Nynas (PDVSA) allowed itself to be represented in the proceedings by the lawyer of GPB Energy Services B.V.
Ivanov is not the only dubious Russian involved. As this site exposed at the end of 2019, Vladimir Anisimov, former deputy head of the FSB of Russia and a protégé of Nikolay Patrushev, is also directly involved in Petrozamora’s affairs.
Most astonishingly, SAPO and other Swedish authorities ignored all of this and allowed Nynas to continue with a ‘reorganization’ that reeked of corruption involving FSB agents from Russia, Russian entities sanctioned by the Treasury, and criminals wanted by the Venezuelan Department of Justice. Even worse, the U.S. Treasury, which had imposed sanctions on PDVSA (thus on Nynas) and related Russian entities such as GPB Energy Services B.V., also turned a blind eye to the whole affair.
After the ‘reorganization’ was completed, Neste announced that it had sold its stake in Nynas (49.9%) to Bitumina Industrid Ltd. PDVSA’s majority stake was split: 35% to a foundation controlled by Nynas’s previous/new management, and 15% remained in PDVSA’s hands.
Bitumina would then declare bankruptcy in London. Enter Davidson Kempner with a bid of 5 million euros according to Björkman’s article. While it’s stated that the total consideration owed by Bitumina to Neste was 12 million euros (24 million euros valuation for all of Nynas?), Björkman reports that Bitumina only paid 100,000 euros to Neste for its 49.9% share of Nynas. Björkman cites British court documents as his source. Before engaging with Bitumina, Neste had previously written off its investment in Nynas.
SAPO of Sweden must focus on the deal concerning PDVSA, namely GPB Energy Services B.V., Setterwalls’ Johan Strömbäck, Ivanov, Vladimir Shvarts, Anna Grygorian, Convit, Betancourt, Alvarado, Anisimov, the former/new management of Nynas, as well as other Swedish parties involved in the ‘reorganization’ (Lars Eric Gustafsson and Mikael Kubu, ultimately enabling the entire scam to take place). SAPO is investigating the national security angle, as reported by Björkman. Having FSB agents and their Venezuelan criminal counterparts controlling/executing the majority stake in a significant refinery in Sweden is, undoubtedly, a risk.