Cherchesov "scores" in fish nets

According to the correspondent of The Moscow Post, the head coach of the Russian national football team Stanislav Cherchesov took up the fishing business - he entered the capital of the Ossetian Arlan Fish company. His business partner is football agent Alan Aguzarov, the son of Cherchesov's childhood friend Murat Aguzarov and the nephew of the departed head of North Ossetia Tamerlan Aguzarov.

The famous coach and Aguzarov Jr. were repeatedly accused of allegedly having corrupt ties. Moreover, there is an assumption that the current head Vyacheslav Bitarov, who is definitely familiar with the Aguzarovs-seniors, may also be associated with Arlan Fish. Does it mean that influential Ossetian politicians, together with a well-known coach, earn money on fish?

We will not belittle the merits of the head coach of our national football team, because, in 2018, Russia entered the quarterfinals of the World Cup under the leadership of Cherchesov, being in the top eight.

Anyway, the fishing business will give Cherchesov a good increase to the coaching salary: Arlan Fish is one of the largest fishing enterprises in North Ossetia with an annual revenue of 67 million rubles. However, it is possible that the coach has long been "fed" from it, because the company was founded in 2017 by Alan Aguzarov, with whom the coach has a very close relationship. The fact is that Cherchesov grew up with his father and uncle in Alagir, all three of them played football for the first time together.

Only Cherchesov made an impressive sports career out of this trio of friends, but the life of the Aguzarov brothers was also successful. Thus, Alan's father Murat Aguzarov headed the Republican Rosreestr for more than ten years, ran for the State Duma in 2016, and in May 2018 was appointed adviser to the head of North Ossetia Vyacheslav Bitarov. The second of the brothers, Tamerlan Aguzarov, was the chairman of the Supreme Court of the republic, then a Deputy of the State Duma, and then headed North Ossetia until his death in February 2016.

It is not surprising that the sons of such influential people in Alania managed to build a dizzying career at their young age. Alan's younger brother, Sergey Aguzarov, now works as an FSB investigator and is engaged in high-profile investigations. At the age of 25, for example, he was assigned the case of a Moscow State University student Varvara Karaulova, who tried to join the banned terrorist organization Islamic State in Russia, as Lenta.ru wrote.

Alan Aguzarov was assigned to study at the Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL), where, coincidentally, Tamerlan Aguzarov once completed his postgraduate studies. Almost immediately after graduate school, he became a licensed football agent of the Football Union of Russia. And then, as they say, it started.

80% for two people?

Alan Aguzarov began working "under the wing" of a family friend, Stanislav Cherchesov. Moreover, his work achievements have repeatedly caused gossip - they say that the agent "hunts" players, sells them at an inflated price, taking a large commission by the standards of the market, on the information wave created by the head coach of the Russian National Football Team.

These conversations came after the story of the transfer of one of the most prominent Russian players, Ivan Ignatiev, who refused to sign a contract on the terms offered by the Krasnodar club, requesting an extra salary. As Fontanka wrote, then the football player left his former agent Herman Tkachenko and moved to Alan Aguzarov, for whom Cherchesov allegedly stands.

A similar story happened with another athlete, Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov, with whom, according to rumours, Cherchesov even arranged a personal meeting so that he "defected" to Aguzarov.

These stories were developed by commentator Vasily Utkin on his YouTube channel, who said that the agent uses the name Cherchesov to put pressure on market participants. This news "tore" the Runet, and after that the journalist was attacked by an unknown person. However, Utkin did not go to the police, but then wrote in his Telegram channel that he suspected people associated with football lawyer Alan Aguzarov of the attack. If this is true, then the commentator could really reveal such a "wrong side", further conversations about which Cherchesov and Aguzarov could fear.

There was also information that Aguzarov may be behind the Golden Toys LLC agency, which in 2018 broke into the football market and immediately got into a series of scandals. So, the first transfer - the transfer of Konstantin Rausch to Dynamo Moscow from the German FC Cologne - ended in a criminal case. As Osnova wrote, the Russian club agreed to pay Golden Toys, as an intermediary, 1.25 million euros at the price of a football player 1.5 million euros, that is, more than 80% of the transaction amount. For reference: usually only 10-15% is charged for similar services, in exceptional cases - up to 40-50%. It is noteworthy that such a "round" sum of the transaction between Dynamo and Golden Toys was formed from two consecutive contracts, which also aroused suspicion among market participants.

In the end, Dynamo appealed to the court to declare the transaction invalid, last autumn, the arbitration satisfied this requirement, as Rapsy wrote. By the way, in parallel with this, the status of Golden Toys in the Opencorporates database of companies has changed from "active" to "inactive". Decided to close the "office", which began to attract too much attention?

It is noteworthy that after all these scandals, Aguzarov began to say that he has not had an agency license for a long time and cooperates with players and clubs only as a lawyer. It is known that he also helped Cherchesov in this position: for example, when the coach signed a contract with Dynamo in 2014 and the Russian Football Union in 2016.

Is it possible that Cherchesov participated in the redistribution of the agency market using Aguzarov? In this case, law enforcement officers should have a lot of questions to the famous coach, who could have made a good profit from this story, having a huge impact on the football world.

Fish with the songs

If all these conversations are true, then Cherchesov and Aguzarov can also arrange a certain "redistribution" at the fish market. And they can be patronized by none other than Vyacheslav Bitarov, who is also well acquainted with the Aguzarov family. His career was clearly promoted by Tamerlan Aguzarov, who in 2015, almost immediately after taking office as the head of Alania, proposed to the parliament of the republic to appoint Bitarov as the Head of the Government of the republic. Then Bitarov became the Prime Minister of North Ossetia, and after Aguzarov's death, according to the Constitution of North Ossetia, power in the republic automatically passed to Bitarov as the Head of the Government. Actually, he remains at the "helm" until now. And at the same time, he regularly visits Arlan Fish ,which is even described on the official portal of the North Osetia republic.

There are rumours that the general director of the company Muradi Mzokov, who became a co-owner of Arlan Fish in 2018, may work in the interests of Bitarov. This is readily believed: as was written by Gorod55, the head of Alania is said to be "like water – creeps everywhere". So, apparently, he got into the business of an influential family.

At the same time, the company is now suing the Ministry of State Property and Land Relations of Alania, as it follows from the file of arbitration cases. If the company really is backed by those in power, then it will surely win the lawsuit, won’t it?

It is also worth noting that at one time, the famous Ossetian singer Artem Kacharyan, better known under the pseudonym Artem Kacher, participated in the fish business. In particular, he twice received the Golden Gramophone - in 2019 and 2020. Was it because the Aguzarovs and the Bitarovs supported him? He left the capital of Arlan Fish in 2019, transferring his share to a certain Mariam Kocharyan, who may be his relative. So, should we expect new dizzying victories from the musician?

Cherchesov and the Aguzarovs grew up side by side and, years later, apparently, keep a strong connection. But what if not only friendly, but also corrupt one? In this case, it seems that not everything may be transparent in their new joint fishing business as well. Moreover, they can develop it under the patronage of the Head of the region Bitarov. This means that the scope for "maneuvers" is almost unlimited.