The first case of the former head of the bankrupt Tatfondbank, Robert Musin, was sent for a new trial to the Supreme Court of Tatarstan, which had previously sentenced him to 11 years in prison for abuse of power. This decision was made by the Cassation Court in Samara, believing that the republican court did not heed the arguments of the defense, which insisted on softening the qualifications of the actions of the former banker. The Court of Cassation sent Robert Musin into custody for three months.
The Sixth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction (Samara) on Wednesday canceled the appeal ruling against the sentence of former head of Tatfondbank Robert Musin, who received 11 years in prison for abuse of power. “The criminal case against Musin has been sent for a new appeal to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan in a different composition,” the press service of the cassation court said.
Recall that Robert Musin in 1998-2002 was the Minister of Finance of Tatarstan. Over the years, he held senior positions at Tatfondbank and Ak Bars Bank, at the Nizhnekamskneftekhim and Nizhnekamskshina plants. He was repeatedly elected a deputy of the State Council of the Republic from United Russia.
Tatfondbank was the second largest credit institution in Tatarstan, ranked 42nd in the banking system of the Russian Federation. Its board of directors was headed by the then prime minister of the republic, Ildar Khalikov. At the end of 2016, the Central Bank introduced temporary administration in the bank and revoked the license in March 2017 (the hole in its capital at that time was estimated at 97 billion rubles). In April of the same year, the bank was declared bankrupt.
Robert Musin was detained on the day Tatfondbank’s license was revoked – March 3, 2017.
Initially, he was accused under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud committed on an especially large scale) and clause “a” part 4 of Art. 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (legalization of funds or other property acquired by a person as a result of committing a crime). But then these claims were withdrawn. The charge was only brought under Art. 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of authority). Until January 2018, Robert Musin was in a pre-trial detention center, and then he was placed under house arrest.
In the criminal case of Robert Musin, there were originally six criminal episodes. Among them is the issuance of unsecured loans for 19 billion rubles, the withdrawal of collateral under loan agreements for 20.5 billion rubles, the assignment of the right to claim under loan agreements for 2.7 billion rubles. in exchange for the bonds of Tatfondbank that have lost liquidity, raising a loan from the Central Bank in the amount of 3.1 billion rubles. on the basis of deliberately false information about the presence of a highly liquid asset.
The damage from the actions of Robert Musin was previously estimated at more than 53 billion rubles. The investigation qualified his actions under Part 2 of Art. 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, considering that they entailed grave consequences for all six crimes.
The Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan saw grave consequences in only two episodes, and in the rest it found guilty under the milder Part 1 of Art. 201. At the same time, the court terminated the criminal prosecution of the ex-banker on two episodes related to the issuance of loans to OOO Aida and D and Kazan Selkhoztekhnika due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for these crimes. The damage, according to the court decision, amounted to 23 billion rubles.
On September 28, 2021, the Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan sentenced Robert Musin to 12 years in prison. In addition, he was banned for three years from conducting managerial activities in commercial organizations and was deprived of state awards of the Russian Federation and Tatarstan. Then Robert Musin was again taken into custody.
The defense appealed this verdict. Lawyer Aleksey Klyukin asked the Supreme Court of Tatarstan to reclassify some of his client’s actions to softer articles of the Criminal Code. In particular, it was about one of the episodes (the issuance of loans to the DOMO group), provided, as stated in the complaint, part 1 of Art. 172.1 (falsification of financial documents of accounting and reporting of a financial organization), as well as on two episodes related to a loan from the Central Bank and the withdrawal of collateral, respectively, Part 1 and Part 2 of Art. 195 of the Criminal Code (illegal actions in bankruptcy). This would allow Robert Musin to be released, since the statute of limitations had expired under the last article, and he had already served his sentence for falsifying documents, being in a pre-trial detention center and under house arrest.
Robert Musin himself during the process in the Supreme Court of Tatarstan stated that he wanted to save Tatfondbank from bankruptcy.
“I worked to create the appearance of a more favorable position, I tried to make the bank’s indicators look like this in order to achieve its reorganization, and not the revocation of the license,” the banker said. In March 2016, the defendant noted, he came to Tatfondbank as chairman of the board precisely because “the bank was in a difficult financial situation.” On November 16, 2022, the Supreme Court of Tatarstan reduced Robert Musin’s term by one year, to 11 years in prison.
At the cassation, Robert Musin and his lawyer also asked to reclassify the actions of the convict. Complaints were also filed by interested persons who asked to cancel the seizure of property. The prosecutor’s office asked that the sentence against Robert Musin be recognized as justified.
The Judicial Collegium of the Court of Cassation canceled the appellate ruling, because “the court of second instance avoided assessing a number of arguments of the defence.” The press service of the court explained that these arguments are important “both for qualifying the actions of the convict and for correctly establishing the amount of damage caused.” This is a “significant violation of the requirements of the criminal procedure law, which influenced the outcome of the case,” the court noted. At the same time, the court chose a measure of restraint for Robert Musin in the form of detention for a period of three months. Kommersant failed to get through to lawyer Alexei Klyukin.
It should be noted that in February 2022, another criminal case was initiated against Robert Musin – on new charges of abuse of power (part 2 of article 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The investigation believes that he issued unsecured loans to 35 affiliated companies, which caused damage to the bank for 26 billion rubles. The Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan has not yet completed consideration of this case.