The Presnensky District Court found the former owner of Benefit-Bank, Alexander Apakin, guilty of embezzlement of the property of a credit institution. He was sentenced to six years in prison to be served in a general regime penal colony. Apakin must also compensate for the causal damage. Civil the claim filed by the state corporation “Deposit Insurance Agency” in the amount of 4.1 billion rubles was satisfied by the court in full. Thus closed the last page in the history of Benefit Bank.
A year ago, the Metropolitan Prosecutor’s Office approved the indictment in a criminal case. Alexandra Apakina about the fraudulent theft of more than 4 billion rubles belonging to CJSC JSCB “Benifit-Bank”. The former main beneficiary of Benifit Bank (his share in the authorized capital of the credit institution was more than 67%) was accused under the article “Fraud committed by an organized group, on an especially large scale.” According to investigators, Alexander Apakin from March to October 2015 created an organized group to steal bank funds.
“Apakin, using his influence on the bank’s employees, as its owner, instructed the preparation of relevant documents, the conclusion of loan agreements and the transfer to the current account controlled organizations of funds that members of an organized group disposed of at their own discretion“, the prosecutor’s office said.
Thus, the investigation believes that the accomplices, through deceit and abuse of trust, by issuing loans to nine controlled organizations that have signs of fictitiousness, committed the theft of funds belonging to the bank, totaling more than 1.6 billion rubles. Apakin was detained and was in custody.
Benefit Bank was registered in March 1995 as JSCB “Prospect”. The founders were JSC “Universal trading company “Probusiness”, CJSC “Transvils” And CJSC “Signal”. In 1998, the credit institution changed its name to “Deposit and Settlement Bank” (Depo-bank), in 2008 – to Benifit-bank. The bank became a member of the deposit insurance system only after a second application in 2005.
The bank existed without drawing attention, and was seen in only two scandals. In 2012, he was mentioned in a newspaper now recognized as a foreign agent as one of the banks that used the illegal income tax refund scheme in connection with the case of a lawyer who died under mysterious circumstances. Sergei Magnitsky. Funds received from illegal VAT refunds were credited to the bank’s accounts in 2009-2010. And in 2014, depositors of BPF Bank, which lost its license, filed a complaint that a part of BPF liquid assets was transferred to Benifit Bank on non-market conditions.
As of the beginning of October 2015, Benefit Bank was ranked 220th in terms of assets — 14.3 billion rubles. And in November 2015, the Central Bank deprived Benifit Bank of its license. The Central Bank pointed to the presence of “a real threat to the interests of creditors and depositors.” According to the Central Bank, the amount of property (assets) of the bank was 7.7 billion rubles, the amount of its liabilities to creditors – 11.4 billion rubles. Thus, the “hole” (excess of liabilities over assets) in the capital of “Benefit” amounted to 3.7 billion rubles.
The Central Bank considered that the organization pursued a high-risk credit policy and did not create reserves adequate to the accepted risks for possible losses on loans.
At the same time, the bank did not comply with the requirements of the supervisory authority for a reliable reflection of the financial position in the statements, hiding a significant loss of capital and the existence of grounds for taking measures to prevent bankruptcy. In addition, since October, the Central Bank received complaints from depositors about the bank’s failure to fulfill its obligations to return money.
Indeed, there were earlier signs that everything was not going well with Benifit Bank. The media reported that the bank began to close its offices and service centers.
At the beginning of September 2015, the first reports appeared that the credit institution did not issue their savings to private depositors in a timely manner, then there were more complaints.
And about a month before the Central Bank revoked the license from Benifit, its leadership made a move that was unexpected for everyone. The top management of the bank himself asked to revoke the license from the credit institution. This decision was taken by the board of directors. Bankers explained their step by the appearance of signs of bankruptcy. Experts then said that banks do not behave in this way, they prefer to fight to the last. They considered such a statement a preemptive strike in case of possible claims from the Central Bank, in the event that the license is forcibly revoked.
According to experts, members of the board of directors, by filing an appeal with the Central Bank, tried to minimize possible future claims. As the head of the banking practice group at Pepeliaev Group explained at the time, Lydia GorshkovaIf the attention of the Central Bank has already been drawn to the problems of the bank, then it is not known when they will make a final decision on its future fate.
But the partner “Yakovlev and partners” Igor Dubov stated that if it becomes known that the work of members of the board of directors contributed to the deterioration of the bank’s condition, this petition will not save from legal claims.
Which, in fact, happened.
The interim administration appointed to Benifit Bank convicted the former management of large-scale operations with signs of asset stripping. It was about a deal to transfer federal loan bonds in the amount of 3.7 billion rubles to the trust management of an organization that could not be found, as well as to issue loans to organizations with questionable solvency in the amount of about 840 million rubles.
“Information about the financial transactions of the former managers and owners of Benifit Bank with signs of criminal acts was sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for consideration and adoption of appropriate procedural decisions”, the Central Bank said at the time.
In January 2016, the Moscow Arbitration Court declared Benifit Bank bankrupt. And a year earlier, the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) announced the start of insurance compensation payments to depositors of Benifit Bank, the amount of which amounted to about 10.9 billion rubles.
Now the DIA hopes to recover 4.1 billion rubles, which were filed as a civil lawsuit. Unless, of course, Alexander Apakin has them.
