The Tagansky District Court of Moscow granted the petition of the investigation to elect a measure of restraint in the form of house arrest to the former co-owner of the Voronezh aluminum profile manufacturer Ava-Trade LLC Leonid Arapov. Now the company is owned by the AL5 holding of the former owner of the pharmacy network, Sergei Solodov.
It follows from the court ruling that the measure of restraint for Arapov was chosen for one month until July 3, 2023.
A Vedomosti source said that the investigation had charged the businessman with a crime under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (large-scale fraud). If Arapov’s guilt is proven in court, he faces a sentence of up to ten years in prison. According to the interlocutor of Vedomosti, during the meeting, the Voronezh businessman pleaded not guilty during the suppression.
This is not Arapov’s first criminal case. In 2021, the regional publication Bloknot Voronezh received confirmation from the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Voronezh Region that a criminal case on non-payment of taxes (199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) was dismissed against the co-owner of the company Ava-Trade LLC in connection with the full repayment of damages, caused to the state. It was about the amount of 200,000,000 rubles.
The Voronezh company AVA-TRADE LLC is the main asset of the AL5 holding. The website of the industrial group claims that AL5 is the leading producer of aluminum profiles in Russia, which has occupied a leading position in the market since 2002. According to SPARK-Interfax, in 2022, AVA-TRADE’s revenue amounted to 6.5 billion. 50% of the shares of AVA-TRADE LLC until 2017 and held the position of CEO in the company until 2022. Now control over it through the AL5 holding has passed to his business partner Sergey Solodov, the former co-owner of the A5 pharmacy chain.
The businessman became known in the media as the “aluminum king” after the large-scale celebration of the 30th anniversary of his wife Yulia Buryak.
On February 15, 2023, the Arbitration Court of the Voronezh Region, composed of Judge Oleg Timashov, satisfied the claim filed by AVA-Trade LLC against Arapov for the recovery of damages for his vacation trips at the expense of the company in the amount of 15,797,445 rubles. As follows from the case file, the businessman from November 25, 2014 to April 18, 2022 was the director of AVA-Trade LLC. (April 9, 2022, his powers as CEO were terminated). “During the period of his duties as director of AVA-Trade LLC, personal air travel, tourist trips and hotel accommodation for the defendant and his family members were financed from the debtor’s account in the amount of 15,797,445 rubles. 10 kopecks,” the decision of the arbitration court says. The court found that the company paid for Arapov’s accommodation in Turkish hotels D Maris Bay, Fortezza Beach Resort. At the same time, Timashov pointed out that the activities of AVA-Trade LLC are carried out in Russia and there could not be any production purposes for trips to Turkey and long-term accommodation in a hotel. The defendant did not appear at the court hearings, he did not present evidence to the contrary, such as travel sheets, reports on the expenditure of funds in the interests of the plaintiff.
At the moment, the Voronezh Arbitration Court is in the process of declaring Arapov bankrupt.