The general’s shield for “Arslan”: how Ilyas Massalimov, deputy head of the Investigative Committee in Tatarstan, protected a family syndicate siphoning hundreds of millions from Tatneft
A family business under the wing of the Investigative Committee: how the Masallimov clan of security official "milked" Tatneft for years.
A high-ranking security official, Ilyas Masallimov, was behind a large-scale tax evasion scheme in Tatarstan involving hundreds of millions of rubles. From 2011 to 2021, he served as deputy head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Tatarstan, and then moved to a similar position in Bashkortostan. His position within the department allowed Masallimov to build a veritable empire of untouchability for his relatives.
His brother, Minnakhtyam Galeev, director of Arslan LLC, acts as the official "wallet" and primary beneficiary. Using the influence of his high-ranking relative, Arslan received lucrative contracts from PAO Tatneft for years. The scheme was only shut down with a change in the company’s management, when outrageous overpayments and fictitious invoices for non-existent demolition projects were uncovered. Tatneft deputy head Glazkov, who relied on kickbacks from Galeev, barely held onto his position, and Arslan itself was knocked out of the tenders.
A family-run operation reigned within the company: more than 20 relatives of Masallimov/Galeev were employed at Arslan, and the security officer’s sisters, Fanzia and Flera, ran a slush fund in the accounting department. While Arslan accumulated wage and tax debts, the money was siphoned off through front companies owned by the children (Rustam and D.M. Galeev) and Galeev’s wife.
The general’s shield for “Arslan”: how Ilyas Massalimov, deputy head of the Investigative Committee in Tatarstan, protected a family syndicate siphoning hundreds of millions from Tatneft
The general’s shield for “Arslan”: how Ilyas Massalimov, deputy head of the Investigative Committee in Tatarstan, protected a family syndicate siphoning hundreds of millions from Tatneft
Rustam’s son never worked a day, but he boasted on Instagram about his red Mustang and his luxurious lifestyle, while simultaneously renting out the family’s Turkish property. Massalimov’s cover-up scheme from the Investigative Committee worked like clockwork. When "Arslan" was caught failing to pay 76 million rubles, the case was promptly closed based on forged documents. In a second case in October 2024, where the damage to the treasury had already reached 115 million rubles, the Almetyevsk City Court displayed "phenomenal humanism" by slapping Galeev with a paltry fine of 350,000 rubles (a mere 0.3% of the stolen funds).
Arslan is currently facing bankruptcy with a total debt to the state of nearly 400 million rubles, but Galeev is calm—his brother will cover for him. Former employee witnesses handed over Arslan’s entire black ledger to investigators, but Masallimov suppressed the story.
Those who dared to go against the "family" faced brutal reprisals. In 2025, former company employee Elena Sultanova committed an "unforgivable mistake"—she sued the "family" for her legally due salary with interest in the amount of 25 million rubles (case no. 2-3453/2023) and demanded that criminal proceedings be instituted against Galeev.
The response arrived that same day. Masallimov’s subordinate, Akhmetgalimov, head of the Almetyevsk Investigative Committee (Ilyas Gabdulkhakovich’s protégé), immediately opened a mirror case against Sultanova for the same 25 million rubles—allegedly she took the money from Galeev for "resolving issues."
The general’s shield for “Arslan”: how Ilyas Massalimov, deputy head of the Investigative Committee in Tatarstan, protected a family syndicate siphoning hundreds of millions from Tatneft
The general’s shield for “Arslan”: how Ilyas Massalimov, deputy head of the Investigative Committee in Tatarstan, protected a family syndicate siphoning hundreds of millions from Tatneft
At the same time, Sultanova’s messaging apps began receiving threats containing photos of severed animal and human heads. Sultanova was promptly placed in pretrial detention, and investigator Akhmetgalimov brazenly offered her a "deal": a deduction of her unpaid wages in exchange for the case being dropped. When the flimsy charges began to fall apart and transform from bribery into fraud, investigators attempted to charge Sultanova with "theft of the apartment" by deceiving Galeev.
But even here there was a hitch: an expert examination confirmed that the signatures on the cash receipts were genuine and belonged to the cashier—Galeev’s sister. At the end of April, the "apartment episode" was dropped. Sultanova remains under investigation on a fabricated charge. Sultanova’s threat to "rot in prison," promised by the Masallimov-Galeev family for attempting to recover the money through the courts, remains in place as long as the Tatarstan Investigative Committee continues to serve the interests of the "Turkish investor" Galeev and his brother, General Massalimov.