Senior State Prosecutor Željko Tomković informed the media that the investigation is ongoing and that the police are taking measures to establish the circumstances. However, by Sunday, no more details were provided except that no one was arrested for this murder yet. On Sunday morning, the police declared that their official version was that Lashmanova was killed by her lover who is currently on the run.
Lashmanova was mainly known as the executive director of the investment companies "Mimoza Group" and "Sea Trade" and ran the development of several high-end projects in the Tivat municipality, as well as in Herceg Novi. She was also the owner of the beauty salon “Femme Fatale” in the famous Tre Canne hotel in Budva.
Anastasia’s name appeared in the media recently concerning her enterprise's activities, however, often not among positive news. The Sea Trade company intended to implement a modern luxury beach and restaurant concept in an attractive and unique destination of the Boka bay. Their first project in the row called Adriatica appeared near the ferry base in Kamenari village, Herceg Novi. They began with the renovation of an old stone house in 2015 which was turned into a pricey fish restaurant, and the construction site extended the next year to the displeasure of the local people who complained in the media about the centuries-old natural spring being blocked with concrete. Finally, the official Montenegrin authority in charge of leasing the coastal areas to private management, Morsko Dobro, terminated the lease agreement with the Sea Trade company.
Sveta Nedelja
The next and most ambitious among the Sea Trade project opened in 2016. The glamorous La Perla beach and restaurant was supposed to be a 5-star hotel at first, but due to construction changes, the delivery of the hotel building was delayed, and the impatient audience was offered a large pool surrounded by comfortable sunbeds under palm trees and a restaurant. Located opposite to the Tivat town quay, it was connected with the Porto Montenegro luxury marina by a speedboat line, providing a beautiful beach facility to marina guests. The importance and scale of the La Perla investment can be estimated by the Sea Trade infrastructure initiative approved by the Tivat municipality to build a pedestrian underpass 16m long, 4m wide and 3m high under the main road in the area to provide easier access to the site.
A couple of months ago, a new Sea Trade project following the proven business model was discussed in the local media. A cozy little town cape with an old lighthouse called Ponta Seljanovo was a local’s favorite summer place because of free access for sunbathing and swimming and free berthing for local boats. This open and comfortable town beach became the object of Sea Trade’s interest this year. However, the long-term plan of turning this old-fashioned and chaotic rest area into another sleek zone called 'Sunny beach' with a promenade, parking and 10 euro cocktails, wasn’t supported by the local community. Presented to the Tivat municipality, the project implementation is still under question.
Ponta Seljanovo
Sunny beach render
It seems like Lashmanova was trying to fill a missing niche of the glamorous beach and restaurant and truly believed in the success of this concept in Tivat bay. But this wasn't the only interest of the young developer. Three years ago, she opened a company to purchase one of the oldest Tivat hotels, Mimoza, built in 1958 and located in the very heart of the town, right on the town quay, for 6.500.000 euro.
Mimoza hotel
It was rumored that the company of the name Mimoza Group was planning to bring a 5-star high-end condo-hotel to our little town. However, though the old building was demolished in 2016, the site remained deserted for more than a year. As reported, the demolition of the old Yugoslavian hotel was approved by local authorities, unlike the construction project which required additional documentation. Another hotel in the area of a condo-type is described as three towers - one of 2 floors and the other two of 4 levels, with an additional two underground garage floors and two restaurants. The total area of the planned venue is over 13.000m2 (compared to the previous one about 4000m2). While waiting for a construction permit, the talented Ukrainian businesswoman found a reason for the media hype around her new, and even more ambitious project. The inspection had to intervene twice because of the illegal cutting of preserved tree species, such as pines and black oaks that had grown for decades in the spacious ex-Mimoza hotel park. Recently, the construction activities on the Mimoza site resumed, bringing a lot of dust and noise to the nice Tivat promenade this spring.
After all of these high scale development activities (altogether estimated over 100 million euro), running a tiny beauty salon in Budva at the most famous Tre Canne building sounds crazy. However, Anastasia was keen on bringing innovative beauty care methods to Montenegro and seemed to enjoy her little lady enterprise.
Anastasia Lashmanova at her beauty salon
Maybe this was her actual interest, because in the list of 11 companies according to the Montenegrin State Enterprise Central Registry, it was the only one where Lasmanova was an actual owner and founder under Femme Fatal doo. Her role in the rest of the ten companies, including Sea Trade, Mimoza Group, Sun Power and others, was either an executive director or a proxy. Except one.
Until recently, Lashmanova also owned 100% of the company Zaliv MN which last year approached the luxury Porto Montenegro village to build its food&beverage retail cluster. Currently, there are three retail units in the luxury village being reconstructed for the opening of three brand new restaurants in the summer: a steak house Gallardo, a sushi restaurant Sumosan and an Ukemochi noodle bar. However, few days ago on May 7th, the ownership of the company was changed, and the new owner became Mr. Mikhail Zadorin. At the same time, hotel La Perla and Seljanovo Sunny beach assets were suddenly transferred to this company as well.
What happened and who is Mr. Zadorin? It’s logical to begin with his father, Valeriy, a Porto Montenegro residence owner berthing his 21m Azimut yacht named Aroma in the luxury Tivat marina.
As it became known, behind the stormy development activity of Sea Trade, the Mimoza Group and other companies run by Lashmanova, was this Russian businessman Valeriy Zadorin who, together with his brother, Pavel, are the owners of one of the largest Russian alcohol import and distribution companies called Aroma trade house based in St. Petersburg. The company acquired the prosperous Moldavian winery Vismos in 2002, and five years later, Mr. Zadorin purchased 50% of the cognac house A.de Fussigny in the middle of the Charente Cognac country. In Russia, his most famous enterprise is the alcohol retail chain Aroma World (Ароматный мир), which sells hundreds of alcohol brands including Montenegrin wines. His Aroma business partner, Mrs. Lilia Kail, currently owns 75% of Montenegrin Mimoza Group company, and his elder son Mikhail, mostly known as Russian chanson singer, as we see now became an owner of three new Porto Montenegro restaurants.
Mikhail Zadorin (in the middle) with his younger brother Aleksandr and their friend
The many Montenegrin projects invested by Mr. Zadorin are called controversial by cautious local media, which in fact means they disappoint local administration and displease the local community. Obviously, Lashmanova was just a figurehead in all his developments, but her ambiguous reputation as an official real estate agent and a business manager (her branch of activities), as well as connections with Kotor criminal groups, may give food for thoughts. We hope that the police will soon shed light on this crime, but for now, it's clear that circumstances of her death are far more complicated than interpersonal drama.
