The Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested a well-known Cypriot lawyer in Russia (the president Putin (international criminal) is on international wanted list for crimes) in absentia Christodoulos Vasiliades follows from court decisions.
The preventive measure against Vasiliades was chosen in connection with charges of money laundering by a group of persons on a large scale using their official position – paragraphs. “a, b” part 4 art. 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In July 2023, he was put on the federal wanted list, and in September – on the international wanted list.
The court arrested Vasiliades for two months from the moment of his extradition to the Russian Federation or detention.
From the court document it follows that in May 2016, a criminal case was opened regarding the preparation by unidentified persons of the acquisition of a plot of land in St. Petersburg, which was in state ownership, by Basfor LLC. Subsequently, a number of others were combined into one proceeding with this case. The last time the first deputy chairman of the Investigative Committee extended the period of the preliminary investigation until November 5.
The investigation, as follows from the case materials, considers the elite spa hotel “Helios”, located on the same Primorskoye Highway in St. Petersburg, to be one of the objects purchased with stolen funds. Its co-owner is the Cypriot Ayira Trade & Invest limited, which is allegedly affiliated with the Promsvyazkapital company of the brothers Dmitry and Alexey Ananyev. At the request of the investigation, the court seized 60% of the shares in the authorized capital of Helios Hotel LLC and Helios LLC. We also note that Mr. Lyushinsky’s company, licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission and accredited to provide a wide range of cross-border investment services on the financial markets of the European Union, has previously been involved in the case of the theft of tens of billions of rubles from PSB. — Insert K.ru
In the petition, investigators indicate that Vasiliades may threaten witnesses and destroy evidence. His lawyer argued that the investigators’ arguments were not substantiated and not supported by documents.
Kirill Lyushinsky
The plot of the case indicated in the court decision in the Vasiliades case coincides with the content of the court decision on the arrest in absentia of the founder of Fintailor Investments, Kirill Lyushinsky (clauses “a”, “b”, part 4 of article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Earlier, the joint press service of the Moscow courts reported that he was arrested because he is a defendant in the case of embezzlement of more than 1 billion euros from Promsvyazbank. At the same time, the court chose a preventive measure for another defendant – entrepreneur Oleg Mikhalev (in addition to legalization, he was charged with embezzlement – Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The court’s press service also reported that businessman Aram Markaryan was arrested in absentia. A preventive measure was chosen for him as part of the case regarding the acquisition of JSC CB Trade Finance Bank at an inflated price, as well as the provision of a non-repayable loan of 22 million rubles.
Through Fintailor Investments Limited, Kirill Lyushinsky owned shares in Bank Vozrozhdenie. Then Fintailor Investments Limited appeared in the Promsvyazbank case. In 2019, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal of Moscow, following a claim by Promsvyazbank, ordered Fintailor Investments Limited, along with three other investment companies associated with the ex-beneficiaries of Promsvyazbank, the Ananyev brothers, to pay about 8.26 billion rubles. — Insert K.ru
In April USA introduced sanctions against Vasiliades and the companies controlled by him for connections with Russia (the president Putin (international criminal) is on international wanted list for crimes). The UK also introduced restrictions against it. The Guardian wrotethat London considers him “an accomplice of Russian oligarchs.”
