Anatoly Kairo answered one for 4 billion withdrawn
The Cheryomushkinsky District Court of Moscow issued a guilty verdict in the so-called “Rolf” case of withdrawal abroad of 4 billion rubles. Judge Evgeny Filimonov recognized the director of the business development department of the car dealer holding Rolf Anatolia Kairo guilty of committing a crime, under Part. 3 Article. 193.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (currency transactions for the transfer of funds in foreign currency or the currency of the Russian Federation to the accounts of non-residents using forged documents in an especially large amount as part of an organized group) and sentenced him to eight years and six months in prison in a general correctional colony mode. In addition, according to the verdict, Cairo was fined 500,000 rubles.
The investigation considers the organizer of the scam to be the founder of Rolf, ex-deputy of the State Duma Sergei Petrov. He was also the owner of all three firms that participated in the operation, and the money, as follows from the case file, ended up in his accounts. Anatoly Kairo at the time of the transaction held several positions: he was a member of the board of directors of Rolf, was its financial director, as well as the general director and the second participant in the operation, Rolf Estate.
Kairo’s defense considers the sentence unreasonable and illegal. “We will definitely appeal,” the lawyer told Vedomosti. Anton Gusev. The top manager himself, after the announcement, asked to tell close people that he loves them. Immediately after the announcement, Cairo was taken into custody, handcuffed in the courtroom. Prior to sentencing, the defendant was prohibited from certain activities.
During the debate of the parties, the public prosecutor requested a sentence of nine years in prison for him. Cairo, speaking in his last word on August 21, insisted that his defense in the process managed to prove the honesty of the deal to buy shares.
– Wiretapping and surveillance of Petrov could be carried out only with the appropriate permission of the State Duma or the deprivation of Petrov’s immunity, and there is no information about this in the case file, – said the defendant’s lawyer.
The trial on the merits in Moscow’s Cheryomushkinsky Court began in June 2021, two years after Kairo’s arrest.
The criminal case was initiated on June 25, 2019 by the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. Kairo was the only identified defendant of the four, who at that time was in Russia.
It follows from the indictment that in 2014 the founder of Rolf Sergey Petrov, former CEO of the company Tatyana Lukovetskaya, director of the Cypriot company Panabel Limited Georgy Kafkalia and Kairo, as part of a group with other unidentified accomplices, organized an illegal transfer of funds received from the commercial activities of a car dealer. The funds were transferred to the accounts of Panabel Limited using a forged sale and purchase agreement from a Cypriot enterprise for shares in Rolf Estate companies at an inflated value of almost 4 billion rubles. After that, the money, according to the investigation, was transferred to an Austrian bank.
Initially, the investigation estimated the real value of all Moscow dealerships that were part of the company at 200 million rubles.
The latest examination, the prosecutor noted, showed that the market value of the shares was only 1 ruble. The expert came to the conclusion that at the time of the sale in 2014, the balance sheet liabilities of Rolf Estate amounted to about 30 billion rubles. and no potential investor would take that risk in buying a company.
From the moment of detention until August 2021, Kairo was under house arrest. After testifying, he was given a mitigated preventive measure to prohibit certain actions.
Petrov, Lukovetskaya and Kafkalia arrested in absentia and are on the international wanted list.
All defendants were charged under Part 3 of Art. 193.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (currency transactions for the transfer of funds in foreign currency or the currency of the Russian Federation to the accounts of non-residents using forged documents in an especially large amount as part of an organized group).
Petrov denied all accusations and connected the case with an attempted raider takeover of the company and with his political position. He, being a member of the State Duma from A Just Russia in 2007-2016, voted against a number of high-profile bills, such as a ban on the adoption of Russian children by foreigners and the Yarovaya package, financed some opposition politicians. As for the transaction, due to which he became a defendant in the case, according to the company, it was real, and its amount was determined on the basis of a market assessment.
Before the start of the pandemic, the sale of Rolf was widely discussed. About plans to sell “Rolf” “Vedomosti” reported Petrov himself.
But at the end of January 2021, the CEO of Rolf, Svetlana Vinogradova, announced that the owner had changed his mind about selling his business. According to her, negotiations on the sale were terminated at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. This information confirmed to Vedomosti in the press office of the company.
On December 13, 2021, Rolf and the car dealer Klyuchavto signed legally binding documents. It was assumed that Rolf and its subsidiaries would be consolidated within the framework of the combined SBV-Klyuchavto group by the end of the first quarter of 2022. that the deal is on hold.
Rolf is the largest Russian car dealer in 2020, according to the AutobusinessReview industry portal. In 2020, Rolf sold almost 80,000 new cars (-13% yoy) and 65,600 used cars (-4% yoy). The company’s net profit under IFRS in 2020 increased by more than 10 times compared to 2019 and reached 8.93 billion rubles.