When in 2016 the former deputy head of the “T” department of the GUEBiPK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Zakharchenko, was arrested, who was remembered for literally mountains of cash found during searches, smart people said that the matter was the episodes imputed to him and the court verdict, according to which the colonel left for places not so remote , will not end.
Because the amounts that were found from Zakharchenko – and only cash dollars were seized from him 125 million – cannot be explained by the acts that he was charged with and for which he sat down. And – as they looked into the water: the ex-colonel began to be promoted on new episodes.
In 2019, the media reported that the offices of the 1520 Group of Companies were undergoing large-scale searches. They were carried out as part of a new criminal case on the acts of Zakharchenko. The scale of what the law enforcers voiced again shocked the imagination, because this time it was about tens of billions of dollars that were taken abroad and laundered by the owners of the 1520 Group of Companies.
And the theft scheme even received a separate article on Wikipedia called “Russian Laundromat”. True, only a few lines are devoted to the 1520 Group of Companies and its co-owners: “According to the media, we are talking about the 1520 Group of Companies, from which 250 million dollars were thus withdrawn to the accounts of its co-owner Alexei Krapivin. Other co-owners – Valery Markelov and Boris Usherovich – are also accused of giving a bribe in the amount of at least 2 billion rubles to Interior Ministry Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko. A few lines on Wikipedia is not much, but participation in such a large-scale international scam still says a lot.
It should be clarified what GK “1520” is. The 1520 group of companies was created in 2014 by three partners – Valery Markelov, Boris Usherovich and the son of Yakunin’s then adviser Alexei Krapivin. In just a few years, it became the largest contractor for Russian Railways – in 2018, 1520 topped the Forbes rating of “Kings of State Orders” with contracts worth 218.2 billion rubles.
The essence of the scheme used by the owners of GK 1520 was to conclude loan agreements, according to which Russian intermediary companies for withdrawing money through Moldova allegedly received loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars or acted as guarantors for them. Obligations on these fictitious debts were not fulfilled, and the creditors applied to the Moldovan courts – this was possible, since the guarantors of the loans were, among other things, the citizens of this country (many of them were not aware of their participation in the transactions).
The laundering scheme worked like this: in the Moldovan courts, false debts of Russian companies to counterparties in Moldova were formed, the bailiff service ensured their recovery, after the funds arrived in Moldova, mainly to the accounts of Moldindconbank SA, associated with Moldovan businessmen Veaceslav Platon and Plahotniuc, they were redirected to accounts in banks in Switzerland.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of these financial schemes was Andrey Krapivin (died in 2015), adviser to the former head of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin. His son Alexei Krapivin is the main beneficiary and head of the 1520 group.
Andrey Krapivin was the senior partner of Markelov and Usherovich. The Swiss accounts of Krapivin’s companies Redstone Financial Ltd (Belize) and Telford Trading SA (Panama) received a total of 99.3 million and 155.9 million dollars through Moldovan banks, respectively.
All of the listed persons are now defendants in the criminal prosecution in the case of embezzlement of funds for the construction of the highway and giving a bribe of two billion (!) Rubles for patronage of Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko, at that time an employee of the main department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for economic security and combating corruption. The investigation believes that Zakharchenko actually served as the head of the group’s security service. In October 2018, the former co-owner of 1520, Valery Markelov, was detained, in March, another co-owner of the company, Boris Usherovich, was arrested in absentia and put on the international wanted list. The third co-owner, Aleksey Krapivin, did not have time to escape. He was at the time of Markelov’s arrest in Sochi, and hid there. He was put on the so-called “operational wanted list”.
After high-profile searches in the offices of GK 1520, interest in the case subsided. So much so that in November 2019, the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel even wrote that “the case of giving bribes to representatives of the law enforcement bloc by the co-owners of GK 1520 Valery Markelov (arrested) and Boris Usherovich (wanted) is practically collapsed. This was to be a global investigation. But Markelov and Usherovich are not poor people. We allocated $100 million to solve problems. And it worked. A high-profile investigation turned into a “zilch”.
The report stated that in the Markelov-Usherovich case there was only one episode of giving a bribe to Colonel Zakharchenko, who received billions of rubles from the “government order kings” to cover up their fraudulent contracts with Russian Railways. Although Markelov told much more – he allegedly paid various FSB officers, Zakharchenko’s colleagues, and prosecutors. Some security officials defended GK 1520 in the field of government orders, others in the field of banking fraud.
In addition, some more details have surfaced that give reason to heed the forecast of the VChK-OGPU channel. It turned out that being in an underground position in Sochi, Alexei Krapivin contacted Igor Rotenberg, whom he had known before. He discussed the topic with older members of the family. Consultations were held with the head of Russian Railways, Oleg Belozerov, who is considered a creature of the Rotenbergs. He said that he was ready to keep all contracts from 1520 worth tens of billions of rubles and increase this flow of money. As a result, Igor Rotenberg expressed his readiness to purchase a new asset.
After that, Krapivin appeared in the ICR, gave evidence and remained in the case only as a witness. Since November 2018, he has been known on the market as a consultant to Igor Rotenberg. And Igor Rotenberg himself – as the manager and unofficial owner of 1520. It is with him that all issues are resolved.
There were also bonuses for Valery Markelov. Dmitry Zakharchenko testified in his favor. And the banker Vladimir Antonov refused to testify against Markelov. And yet – the issue of the arrest of Markelov’s assets was resolved for a very long time, and he managed to withdraw everything from the Russian Federation, with the exception of an apartment, a cottage and an old limousine. His proceeds for a share in 1520 also went abroad.
The property of the third co-owner, Boris Usherovich, was also decided to be arrested when he was almost gone in the Russian Federation. All managed to get out. With a noticeable delay, Usherovich was put on the international wanted list and arrested in absentia.
The fact that they decided to withdraw the co-owners of GK 1520 from the blow is also evidenced by the materials of the hearing in the Presnensky Court of Moscow, where the second trial in the Zakharchenko case began in 2021. Together with Zakharchenko, the accused is the former beneficiary of the 1520 group of companies Markelov. According to the prosecution, Markelov and Usherovich monthly transferred large bribes to Zakharchenko, totaling 1.4 billion rubles. It is interesting that the investigators have no complaints against the third founder of the group of companies, the son of Yakunin’s former adviser Alexei Krapivin.
But everything went in such a rather prosperous way for the trinity of top-level swindlers before the arrest of another high-ranking official – Deputy Minister of Transport Vladimir Tokarev, who has something to say about the activities of GK 1520 to the investigation.
In addition to the fact that, by virtue of his official powers, he simply could not help but be involved in the activities of GK 1520, Tokarev was the first deputy head of Spetstransstroy in 2016-2018. And, according to the investigation, Spetstransstroy was in a chain of companies where money from GK 1520 went and then was lost.