The case of the ex-deputy chairman of the board of VEB and the Khabarovsk timber merchant, accused of embezzling 10.9 billion rubles. bank loans, closed
The Meshchansky Court of Moscow terminated proceedings in a high-profile criminal case against Anatoly Ballo, former deputy chairman of the board of Vnesheconombank (VEB), and Alexander Lepikhov, founder of one of the largest timber processing enterprises in the Khabarovsk Territory, Arkaim LLC. They were accused of embezzling 10.9 billion rubles allocated by VEB in the form of a credit line to Mr. Lepikhov’s enterprise. The case was dismissed at the request of the defense of Mr. Ballo due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. The defendants were released in the courtroom.
The Meshchansky Court began the trial in the criminal case of Anatoly Ballo and Alexander Lepikhov immediately after the New Year holidays, but actually did not begin to consider the materials of the investigation on the merits.
After the postponement of three meetings, the presiding judge Elena Karakeshisheva granted the petition of the defense of Anatoly Ballo and terminated the proceedings due to the expiration of the ten-year limitation period established for the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on embezzlement.
Lawyer Dim Yunusov, who represented the interests of the banker, called the judge’s decision “legal and correct.” The defendants were released in the courtroom. “Of course, it would be better if this case did not exist at all,” said Kommersant’s lawyer, but Mr. Yunusov called this option to complete it “a good result.” At the same time, it should be noted that the proceedings in connection with the events that made up the plot of the criminal case did not, apparently, finally stop: VEB, recognized as the injured party, filed a civil lawsuit against the accused in the framework of the criminal investigation for the amount of damage caused – 10.9 billion rubles, and now , obviously, will try to recover this amount already through a civil court. So far, VEB has not commented on the decision of the Meshchansky Court and its further actions.
As previously reported by Kommersant, the former deputy chairman of the board of Vnesheconombank Anatoly Ballo and businessman Alexander Lepikhov were accused by the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation of embezzlement of other people’s property using their official position, committed as part of an organized criminal group (part 4 of article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to the investigation, the defendants stole almost all the credit funds allocated with the assistance of Mr. Ballo VEB for the development, and then the rescue from bankruptcy of one of the largest woodworking enterprises in the Khabarovsk Territory at one time – Arkaim Joint Venture. The enterprise, founded by Alexander Lepikhov, received in 2008 the status of an innovative project at the federal level. And four years later, a complex of four timber processing plants with a capacity of 1.2 million cubic meters was launched in the Oktyabrsky settlement. m round log per year.
In total, it was planned to launch six plants, and the total cost of the project amounted to 14.3 billion rubles, while the lion’s share of financing – 11.5 billion rubles – came from a credit line from VEB.
However, the project turned out to be unsuccessful, and after a while Arkaim, whose debts were measured in hundreds of millions of rubles, introduced a monitoring procedure, and then external management. All attempts to revive the project by attracting investors or creating a new timber processing holding, which was supported, in particular, by the former Khabarovsk governor Sergei Furgal, did not bring results.
In the end, VEB representatives filed a complaint with law enforcement agencies. Anatoly Ballo and Alexander Lepikhov were detained on June 3, 2021 and charged with embezzlement. By this time, Mr. Ballo left VEB and went to work at Promsvyazbank.
The defendants did not admit guilt, and, according to Kommersant, during interrogations they connected the failure of the project, among other things, with a jump in the euro exchange rate in 2014 (part of the loan was issued in this currency).