Chekists got burned by criminal banker Ilya Kligman
Ex-special service employees were charged with bribes instead of scams.
The Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee reclassified the charges against former FSB officers Sergei Bespalov and Evgeniy Sviridov from fraud to receiving a particularly large bribe. Previously, they were accused of trying to obtain $1 million in 2019 from banker Ilya Kligman, who was hiding from criminal prosecution in Germany, allegedly for terminating his case. In addition, another similar episode appeared in the investigation materials, dating back to 2014–2016, when the defendants were active security officers, in which the amount of $1 million also appears. Meanwhile, the Moscow City Court softened the preventive measure for Mr. Bespalov, releasing him from the pre-trial detention center under house arrest, – the state awards he had were taken into account, as well as the presence of five small children as dependents. Mr. Sviridov was left in custody.
The criminal case, which subsequently involved an employee of the 2nd service of the 9th directorate of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Major Sergei Bespalov, and an ex-operative of the 3rd department of the economic security service of the Federal Security Service of Russia for Moscow and the region, Major Evgeniy Sviridov, was opened by the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for Moscow on May 16 2022 under Part 3 of Art. 30 and part 4 art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (attempted fraud). The reason for this was the appeal to law enforcement agencies by Sergei Gerasimenko, the confidant of banker Ilya Kligman, who is involved in the case of the theft of 7 billion rubles. from Agrosoyuz Bank and managed to go abroad. As follows from the materials of the criminal case, in the fall of 2019, the former general director of the international fund “Afrokom”, vice-president of the foundation “Rospolitika” Igor Yurasov and the ex-president of the hockey club “Lynx” SOBR of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Bashir Kushtov, having learned that the GSU was in production The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Moscow is investigating a criminal case regarding the theft (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) by members of an organized criminal community of 7 billion rubles. from the Agrosoyuz bank, contacted Sergei Gerasimenko, who later became the lawyer of Mr. Kligman, and informed him that for $1 million the issue of not bringing the banker to criminal liability could be resolved.
At the same time, the negotiators said that part of the kickback would need to be transferred to “law enforcement officials,” and this issue would be dealt with by security officers Evgeny Sviridov and Sergey Bespalov.
In December 2019, Mr. Gerasimenko handed them the first tranche in the amount of $500 thousand. However, the investigation not only did not drop the claims against Ilya Kligman, but also added to them in April 2021 a charge of creating an organized criminal community (Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and organizing the theft of funds from the bank. Deception on the part of the fixers prompted Sergei Gerasimenko to contact law enforcement agencies on behalf of his client. Based on the results of the investigation, the first to stand trial were Igor Yurasov, Bashir Kushtov, and Andrei Fetisov, whom they brought in as an intermediary. They all admitted guilt, expressed remorse and cooperated with the investigation. Taking this into account, the Tverskoy Court of the capital in July of this year, recognizing the guilt of all three defendants in attempted fraud on an especially large scale (Part 3 of Article 30 and Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) as proven, nonetheless sentenced them to suspended sentences terms – three and a half years in prison for each.
Simultaneously with the already convicted defendants, FSB majors Sergei Bespalov and Evgeniy Sviridov (at the time of their arrest, he worked as the general director of LLC “”) appeared in the criminal case materials. However, on June 6, 2022, the criminal case against them was separated into separate proceedings by the investigation. Soon, by decision of the first deputy of the Investigative Committee of Russia, the materials regarding the security officers were withdrawn from the production of the Moscow headquarters of the department and transferred for further investigation to the central office of the Investigative Committee. Evgeniy Sviridov was the first to be detained on June 8, Mr. Bespalov was detained on October 10. Both were charged with especially large-scale fraud (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
According to a Kommersant source, on May 11, 2023, the main investigative department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reclassified the charge against former operatives from fraud to “receiving a bribe on an especially large scale” (Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Moreover, there are currently two episodes in the case.
In the second, according to the source, we are talking about the time when both defendants were still active intelligence officers. During the investigation, it was established that in 2014, having received information about the investigation of the criminal case of the Main Investigation Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in Moscow in relation to an entrepreneur hiding abroad (his name has not yet been named), they contacted the person involved’s proxies and offered assistance in preventing him from being brought to justice. criminal liability, as well as further patronage in commercial activities and resolution of potential problems with the Bank of Russia and law enforcement agencies. At the same time, the security officers also valued the proposed services at $1 million. The parties agreed, and, according to the source, from January 2014 to December 2016, Messrs. Bespalov and Sviridov received the specified amount in various tranches from the intermediaries of the hiding entrepreneur, but did not fulfill their promises. Subsequently, as the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee established, Major Sviridov transferred a significant part of the funds received in this way through the accounts of controlled legal entities to foreign companies – Megatrade & Investment Corporation (UAE) and Hybridge Alliance Limited (UK), registered in the name of his close relatives.
