The Biography:
Born in 1961 in Kiev, in a family of leading scientist-metallurgist. He finished school in 1978. After the school he worked as fitter’s apprentice at the Kiev experimental factory of non-standard equipment; became a fitter of the 2nd category; took great interest in boxing. In 1979 he enrolled in the Industrial-Pedagogical College, graduated in 1982 with honors. He entered the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISA), the Faculty of ferrous metals casting. That was the place he got acquainted with Mikhail Fridman and Alexei Kuzmichev - future partners in the Alfa Group.
In 1988, Khan began to work in cooperative "Cosmos", rented space in TsUM (unified shopping center) and got engaged in wholesale of garments, footwear and jewelry. Alexander Furman became his first business partner. In 1989, Khan and Furman created their own cooperative “Alexandrina”, in which Furman was engaged in tailoring, and Herman Khan – in supplying works and sales and formally taking up the post of deputy chairman of the cooperative. In March 1989, Herman Khan and Friedman united their businesses. The latter had had the JV "Alfa-Ecoby” business by that moment. In 1990-1992 Herman Khan was the head of the wholesale trade, then the head of the export department of the company “Alfa-Eco"- that was engaged in selling carpets from the Caucasus and Central Asia, perfumes, Czech lamps, agricultural products, sugar under the Cuban contract, liquors, and tea.
In 1992 Herman Khan took over the oil program "Alpha". In 1995, he headed the raw materials department of “Alpha-Eco”. Later "Alpha" had got a number of projects with Achinsk Alumina Refinery and Zapsib. They traded a bit on the coal market; started delivering oil to Ukhta refinery in the Komi Republic and to Lisichanskiy refinery in Ukraine.
In 1996 Herman Khan obtained the post of president of the company “Alpha-Eco”. The Company began to export oil. The first customer was the company “Galaxy” owned by Leonid Minin, a well known person in the criminal circles in Ukraine. Since early 1998 Herman Khan had become the deputy chairman and the first vice-president of the “Tyumen Oil” Company.
Currently Herman Khan obtains the post of Executive Director of TNK-BP and supervises all operational activities of the company, except for the gas sector; he is a shareholder of TNK-BP and Alfa-Bank and also a board member of the management company "TNK-BP Management”; member of the Board of Directors of “Alfa-Bank” and “Slavneft” and member of the Russian Presidium of the Jewish Congress.
Herman Khan lives in the settlement Razdory of the Odintsovo district, Moscow region; has a gun registration (pistol IZH-71 ") as a security guard of Ltd."PSA "Alfa-Garant".
Khan is married to a stewardess of "Transaero"company, brings up two daughters: 1995 and 2001 year of birth
RB.RU RUSSIAN BUSINESS http://www.rb.ru/biz/people/show/10077/
The Dossier:
The first scandal with the name of Herman Khan appeared in the press in April 1995. Members of the Headquarters of Combating Organized Crime of the RF Interior Ministry raided the “Alfa-Eco”offices to detect drugs and discreditable documents. The search was provoked by the fact that in late March - early April 1995 a group poisoning of Khabarovsk residents with sugar had happened. During the investigation it came out that a high dose of drugs contained in sugar had caused the poisoning. It was found out that the containers with sugar had been previously rented by “Alfa-Eco" and used for transportation of consignment to the company «Harmaty and Co» , while Han was one of its founders.
http://lpl.org.ua/biography-13.aspx, newspaper "Version", 06.06.1999
The press released information that the secret drug-related operations were carried out by the company “Alfa-Eco", headed by Herman Khan. He was also a founder of a number of firms, including the Hungarian «Harmaty and Co» (jointly with «Harmaty ech Tarrna») and the Czech «Alfa-Eco» (jointly with «Altex Ltd»). According to the constituent documents, both of those firms were engaged in export and sales of carpet products to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. However according to sources in the law enforcement bodies, their statutory activities served as a cover. In fact, «Harmaty and Co» and «Alfa-Eco» were involved in international drug trafficking and narcotic dollars laundering through some of the employees. In particular the companies were the chain links on which the transit of drugs from the South East Asia to Europe had been carried out.
www.peoples.ru
In July 10 2003 the Moscow Arbitration Court (Case number A40-49954/02-21-494) acknowledged that the information did not correspond to reality and discredited the honor and business reputation of the Open Company “Alfa-Eco”.
In 1999, as a member of the board of directors of the oil company “Sidanco”, Herman Khan undertook attempts to establish the "Alfa-eko" companies’ control over the enterprises of “Sidanco” which were located in the Saratov and Irkutsk regions. To have an impact on managers and shareholders of "Saratovneftegaz" and "Saratovnefteprodukt" Khan involved criminal structures. They helped to wreck the shareholders’ meetings in both companies twice, local RUOP also assisted to Herman Khan in that case. Moreover Khan pressed in person the business leaders and even the governor of the Saratov region, Dmitry Ayatskov.
Newspaper "Version", 06.06.1999
In early 2000 they said Herman Khan had a relation to Lieutenant of the General Ministry of Internal Affairs Alexander Orlov, a former assistant and second-hand of the Interior Minister, Vladimir Rushailo. Orlov carried out especially delicate orders of the ministerial command. There was a considerable quantity of materials in special services on Alexander Orlov’s contacts with the prominent businessmen. Herman Khan acted as one of Orlov's friends and sponsors. Thank to Orlov the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs took the side of the businessman and other oligarchs in conflicts with their creditors and debtors: upon the request of one side they beat the debts out of the others. The cost of this was about 50 percent of the amount of the debt.
"Novaya Gazeta" 28.05.2001
In the middle of 2001 Herman Khan was accused of gathering compromising material on the former Natural Resources Minister, Vitaly Artyukhov. At that time the Artjuhov’s file appeared in the editor’s office of “Novaya Gazeta”. It included information on legislation infringements by Artyukhov and in particular denounced Artyukhov of aiding and abetting to plunder of budgetary funds while being the Minister of Natural Resources. The possible reason of Khan’s interest to Artyukhov might have lain in the position of the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources. He could be a figure in a chain of many moves allowing the oligarchs, including Khan, to have an insider in public office, who would be obliged to protect the commercial interests of a certain circle of people.
"Novaya Gazeta", 30.07.2001
The scandal around the name of Herman Khan took place in December 2002. That time «Alfa Group" formed an alliance with “Sibneft”, and as a result they won an auction sale of the state shares of “Slavneft”. This tactic deprived the government of an additional income that could be obtained through the more competitive auction. "Alfa-group" had been often criticized for its aggressiveness. At that time they started calling Herman Khan the most ruthless businessman of the country.
«The Financial Times», 29.08.2003
In 2003, the State Duma deputy Vladimir Yudin appealed to the General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Ustinov with inquiry concerning the activity of the “TNK-BP” management. Yudin pointed out that the District Court of New York was preceding the trial against the heads and owners of the company OAO “Tyumen Oil Company” (TNK). In the inquiry the deputy also pointed to the names of Herman Khan, Joseph Bakaleinik, Viktor Vekselberg, Semyon Kukes and Leonard Blavatnik. According to Yudin, the above-stated persons had flagrantly infringed Russian laws on mineral resources, bankruptcy, joint-stock companies, etc. in order to expand their oil business. While doing this they descended on the direct pressure on managers, court and law enforcement agencies. With reference to the documents received from Canada, in particular from the company Norex »(Norex), Yudin claimed that the U.S. court accused the above persons of the criminal cases, such as racketeering (extortion), threatening of physical violence to the heads of ZAO Yugraneft", OJSC " Chernogorneft "and" Norex ".
Interfax, 02.12.2003.
At the bottom of the conflict between Norex and TNK was the JSC "Corporation" Yugraneft ", created in 1992 by the Canadian company (60%) and" Chernogorneft (40%) for the small deposits development. In 2000, the bankrupted "Chernogorneft" went to “TNK”, and in summer 2001 the TNK management appointed its own general director of "Yugraneft". The Khanty-Mansiysk Arbitration Court invalidated the Norex’s contribution to the charter capital of “Yugraneft”, and the share of “TNK” got increased up to 80%. Norex was unable to defend their interests in the Russian courts, and in 2002 filed the lawsuit in New York.
The newspaper "Vedomosti", 03.12.2003
Press had also exaggerated the visit of Herman Khan to Ukraine in April 2005 in order to decide an issue of introduction of limited selling prices for fuel. Shortly before the visit of Khan to the government of Ukraine, agency “Interfax-Ukraine" had circulated information that the Prosecutor General of Ukraine sent a complaint to the State Property Fund and “TNK-Ukraine" on the illegal privatization of the Lisichansk refinery, owned by TNK-BP. This information allowed the Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to make Herman Khan agree on selling gasoline at filling stations on the prices set by the Ministry of Economy. Immediately after the meeting with Khan, the Prime Minister said that TNK-BP was going to lower prices for gasoline at the filling stations to the level established by the Government.
www.newsru.com, 22.04.2005
Herman Khan appeared to be in the conflict epicenter in September 2005, when lawyers, attracted by the International Union of veterans of the armed forces and law enforcement officials had indicated that the “Alfa Group”, co-owned by Herman Khan, had been doing the oil business with law infringements. Herman Khan, Mikhail Fridman, Alexei Kuzmicheva, Leonard Blavatnik and Viktor Vekselberg were accused of fraudulent embezzlement of 40%-stake of TNK, of usage of transfer pricing, tax evasion and fraudulent establishing control over the "Nizhnevartovskneftegaz” and artificial bankruptcy of "Chernogorneft .
At the same time, deputy Nikolai Pavlov complained to the General Prosecutor that representatives of Alfa Telecom offered him a compensation in case he testified at the trial of "MegaFon" (it was a long-lasting lawsuit of “Alfa Telecom” and Bermuda fund IPOC for 25.1% shares of cellular operator "MegaFon"). They assumed that the owner of IPOC, Jeffrey Galmond helped the Union of Veterans of the armed forces “to expose” the Herman Khan’s company.
The newspaper "Vedomosti" 26.09.2005
In spring 2008, the shareholders of TNK-BP came into a conflict because of the consortium AAR (Alfa Group by Mikhail Fridman, Access by Leonard Blavatnik and Renova by Viktor Vekselberg's) which was representing the interests of the Russian shareholders demanded the resignation of the operating director of TNK-BP, Robert Dudley. They asserted he had been managing the company in interests of the British. One of the main accusations against Robert Dudley was the fact that he exceeded the amount of capital investment over the agreed limit of 3.5 billion pounds up to 900 million pounds. In their turn, the British experts of BP argued that according to the analysis results of TNK-BP and BP reports and data of Forbes magazine about the states of the richest people in the world, Herman Khan had received 2.1 billion dollars of dividends, as well as 1.7 billion dollars on the growth of shares rate of TNK-BP Holding. In early September, the shareholders of TNK-BP agreed that Robert Dudley was going to leave the post of the operating director; the new one would be nominated by BP and approved by the Board of Directors of the company. Insiders of TNK-BP reported on their fears that Russian main shareholder, Herman Khan could use the interim period to take the company under his control and use the financial crisis to restructure the company at his own discretion. In November 2008 TNK-BP announced the reduction of workplaces on 15% due to the rapid decline of oil prices. Some former heads of BP argued that Khan used the reduction as an excuse to oust the former BP representatives from the company.
www.newsru.com, 01.12.2008
In January 9, 2009 the owners of TNK-BP signed an amended agreement on joint management of the company. The election of a new independent president of the company and inclusion of three independent members to the board of directors caused conflict of the shareholders around the TNK-BP.
www.newsru.com, 11.01.2009 g.
At the same time, the British media reported on the prosecution, which could have led to freezing of the accounts of Herman Khan in the western banks. The conflict occurred because of confrontation between BP, on the one hand, and the Russian partners in TNK-BP, as well as the Russian authorities, on the other hand (the American Robert Dudley who had been appointed by BP to the post of chief executive officer of TNK-BP, left Moscow and went into hiding in Europe). At that time the representatives of BP sought for legal advice in order to initiate proceedings in the commercial court of Sweden against the Russian shareholder consortium AAR (Alfa Group by Mikhail Fridman, Access by Leonard Blavatnik and Renova by Viktor Vekselberg). They charged the shareholders with infringements of corporate domestic law.
Kompromat.ru, 28.07.2008
The conflict occurred in the TNK-BP during the TNK-BP shareholders negotiation with the former general director of Norilsk Nickel, Denis Morozov. Morozov was proposed to take a post of CEO of TNK-BP. According to one of the versions, the shareholders promised that the new director would be able to form his own management team. However in January 2009 they announced that managers-shareholders and operating directors -Viktor Vekselberg and Herman Khan – were going to stay in the new rule. Morozov in his turn insisted on clear delineation of his responsibilities and the powers of the shareholders. Khan and Vekselberg disagreed with Morozov and began to search for the new candidates.
www.newsru.com 21.01.2009 g.
At the same time, the British shareholders supported the candidature of Denis Morozov and demanded the resignation of Herman Khan. Otherwise the Denis Morozov’s authority in the company would be significantly limited.
www.newsru.com, 19.01.2009 g.
The decision was taken in November 2009 - Board of Directors of TNK-BP unanimously supported the decision to appoint Maxim Barski to the post of the Chief Executive Officer starting from 1 January 2011. Till that time Mikhail Fridman, an executive chairman of the Board of Directors of TNK-BP had been acting as temporary chief operating director.
Lately they have been connecting Herman Khan with the Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Sechin. In the next month or two, an administrative attack on the Agriculture Minister Elena Skrynnik (protege of vice-premier Viktor Zubkov) might be organized by the concerned group of officials. With support of Sechin they try to promote the co-owner of “Rostselmash”, Konstantin Babkin to that place. "Rosagroleasing" is also expected to get changed as they plan to convert it into a state corporation. In this connection a staffing struggle of Sechin against Viktor Zubkov may be initiated in order to relocate AIC. To strengthen his position, Sechin picks up a strong team and Herman Khan is a part of it.
www.newsru.com, 10.02.2010 r.