The possible searches at Coral Energy of Tahir Garayev may have been linked to conflicts between former oilfield services magnate Azad Babaev and the clientele of Tokay Kerimov.
In February 2024, searches reportedly took place at the Moscow office of major oil trader Coral Energy. According to authors of Telegram channels, law enforcement allegedly detained company executives, while its key figures — founder Tahir Garayev and his brother — left the country.
Garayev had previously been involved in scandals in other countries. The editorial team выяснило that in Russia he may be acting in the interests of controversial oil businessman Azad Babaev, known for his disputes with partners, into which he may have attempted to draw the Russian MVD.
Tahir Garayev is a businessman of Azerbaijani origin but spends a significant amount of time in Moscow, Turkey, and the UAE. It is to these locations that he may have fled after the alleged searches. Meanwhile, Coral Energy категорически denied that any searches took place. The company even stated that it does not operate on the Russian market. Law enforcement agencies remain silent.
Such a response may be explained by the fact that the company’s activities are highly sensitive. Coral Energy may be one of the key partners of Russian oil companies, in particular Rosneft. It is possible that Coral Energy used gray schemes to bypass sanctions in order to resell oil from the RF. And could this have happened without the interests of Igor Sechin?
Information about these operations is not publicly available, given the constant search by sanctioning authorities for “loopholes” for Russian business. At the same time, Coral Energy has close ties with Azerbaijan and is based in Singapore.
In the RF, it has its own representative office in Moscow, on Altufyevskoye Highway. So why have a representative office if the structure does not operate on the Russian market?
At the same time, it is still not entirely clear who the formal owner of the oil trader is. As stated on the website of the reputable American publication Bloomberg, Garayev is a former founder of the structure. That is, it may no longer directly belong to him, although he remains a member of the Board of Directors.
“Flight” from Turkey
If Tahir Garayev left Russia for some reason, this would not be the first country he had to leave in a hurry. According to the authors of Baku365.com, the Turkish прокуратура is also actively searching for the businessman.
According to this information, several years ago a fuel supply contract was concluded between Tahir Garayev’s Coral Energy and the Turkish company CYE Petrol, which supplies fuel to commercial vessels. For this purpose, 20 million dollars were transferred to Coral Energy’s account to secure a bank guarantee.
Moreover, under the terms of the contract, these funds could not be withdrawn from CYE Petrol’s account earlier than twelve months. However, Garayev’s company allegedly began withdrawing funds just eight days later. When this came to light, the businessman may have tried to reverse the situation, claiming it was an unfortunate mistake. Moreover, his representatives allegedly filed a petition requesting the freezing of CYE Petrol’s accounts, accusing it of delaying payments.
Ultimately, the situation was resolved. However, this severely damaged CYE Petrol’s reputation with other banks. The company was simply denied credit. It later demanded through court that Coral Energy fulfill the fuel supply obligations. CYE Petrol estimated that Garayev’s company caused it damages of 40 million dollars. But the businessman himself reportedly just flew from Istanbul to Dubai.
Azad Babaev and the collapse of “Ru-Energy”
If this is true, it clearly does not work in Tahir Garayev’s favor. However, his activities in Russia are of greater interest. At the same time, there is little information in open sources about his businesses and connections. Nevertheless, it was established that he is linked to controversial oil sector businessman Azad Babaev, who may have been involved in deliberate bankruptcies of his companies and the transfer of funds abroad.
Among the companies directly registered to Garayev is the now liquidated LLC “Alpen Energy,” in which he held 100%. Previously, he also owned a 1% stake in LLC “Slavyan-Oil,” a company that is now owned by Azad Babaev. Notably, Garayev exited the company’s capital immediately after Babaev entered it.
Azad Babaev began his business activities in the early 1990s while studying at the Tyumen Oil and Gas University. He supplied equipment to Russian oil companies from his native Azerbaijan. In 2002, together with his brother Javid, he became the owner of the Tyumen-based oilfield equipment manufacturer “Nefteprommash.”
In 2011, the family business reached a new level: Azad Babaev began building a vertically integrated oil company, “Ru-Energy Group.” Initially, they acquired four oilfield service companies with total revenue of 18 billion rubles from Gazprom Neft, which was divesting non-core assets. From there, the expansion continued.
Today, “Ru-Energy Group” no longer exists. The company previously faced numerous claims from counterparties and lost many court cases. In 2013, lawsuits surged — the structure encountered claims from Tyumen-based OAO “Sibneftemash,” TD “Sibirskiy Prospekt,” “Gazpromneft-Noyabrskneftegaz,” and others. The total amount of claims exceeded 1 billion rubles at that time.
In 2014, “Ru-Energy Group,” having become deeply burdened with debt, effectively “fled” from Yamal and Yugra, re-registering its companies in the Rostov region. In 2015, the court declared “Ru-Energy” bankrupt. Today, it is evident that the companies may have been deliberately driven into bankruptcy, with assets possibly withdrawn beforehand.
Several facts point to this. For example, the subsidiary of “Ru-Energy,” “Nefteprommash,” was re-registered to Javid Babaev, while NPO “Nefteprommash” was transferred to Akrem Israfilov. This raises the question: was Babaev effectively the seller, while the buyers were his own relatives?
At the same time, no less notable events were unfolding in parallel.
Babaev and the Kerimovs
In that same 2015, the owner of the Volgograd Drilling Equipment Plant (VZBT), Tokay Kerimov, found himself in a difficult situation.
Moreover, as rumors suggest, Tokay Kerimov, in addition to business ties, may also have been related to Babaev — who, as noted, was connected to Tahir Garayev.
VZBT, owned by Tokay Kerimov, had taken out large loans from Sberbank and, apparently, had no intention of repaying them. The company filed for bankruptcy in an attempt to evade Sberbank’s claims. Soon after, the tax service also requested that LLC “VZBT” be declared bankrupt, as it had effectively been inactive since 2013. It is possible that the tax authorities were “playing” on Sberbank’s side.
Looking ahead, the total amount of claims against Babaev’s companies reached around 5 billion rubles.
What followed was a series of legal battles. In mid-October 2015, it became known that the Twelfth Arbitration Court of Appeal (Saratov) returned VZBT’s appeal against a ruling of the Arbitration Court of the Volgograd region.
This was done at the request of VZBT itself. The bankrupt plant had attempted to challenge the ruling of September 16, under which Sberbank’s claims against the plant totaling 1.37 billion rubles were approved and included in the third priority register, with 1.18 billion secured by collateral.
At the same time, 100% of the authorized capital of LLC “VZBT” belonged to the Cypriot offshore company Redzim Company Ltd. In addition, a stake in “Naftogaz-burenie” (another company of Tokay Kerimov) belonged to another offshore — Ouj Investment Limited. It is now understood that Kerimov may have stood behind these offshore structures. The interests of Azad Babaev were likely also taken into account.
Then something even more unusual happened. Apparently, the parties became entangled in their own schemes and were dissatisfied with the final distribution of profits. In 2019, Babaev suddenly accused Tokay Kerimov of raiding his business. In an open letter to Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, he claimed that criminal cases may have been fabricated against him, forcing him to leave the country.
This brings us back to Tahir Garayev. Considering that the Kerimovs may have effectively “betrayed” their alleged relative, Babaev could not rely on them. However, he could rely on Tahir Garayev, whose Coral Energy had close dealings with Russian structures. This leads to the assumption that the current searches in the company may be an echo of the same disputes over money and assets.
