In Tatarstan, Vadim Merzlyakov, deputy chairman of the board of a credit institution, was detained as part of an investigation into the theft of funds from depositors of the troubled Tatfondbank (TFB). He and his accomplices are charged with causing damage to at least 100 citizens in excess of 90 million rubles. The structure of the TFB speaks about the groundlessness of the criminal prosecution of Vadim Merzlyakov, noting that the detention of a top manager hinders the reorganization of the bank.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Tatarstan reported that employees of the Main Investigation Department (GSU) detained the deputy chairman of the board of PJSC Tatfondbank. The police did not name the top manager, noting that he is suspected of “embezzlement of funds transferred to the trust management of LLC IK TFB Finance” (“daughter” of TFB. – “Kommersant”)”. According to a Kazan source, the detainee is Vadim Merzlyakov, who has been working in the TFB structure for more than ten years. He, like the rest of the defendants in the investigation, is charged with especially large-scale fraud (Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Perhaps today Vadim Merzlyakov will be taken to court, where a preventive measure will be chosen for him.
Vadim Merzlyakov started his career at TFB in 2003 as an economist. Since 2008, he has combined the positions of the director of the bank’s treasury and the head of CJSC TFB Aktiv. He was appointed to the position of Deputy Chairman of the Board of the TFB in March 2013 in agreement with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, and is also a member of the Board of Directors of TFB Finance.
Vadim Merzlyakov became the fourth defendant in the investigation: Timur Valshin, CEO of TFB Finance, and two of his subordinates, Rustam Timerbaev, head of the client operations department on the securities market, and Ilnar Abdulmanov, head of the client service department, are already under arrest. The arrests in the case began after Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov demanded on February 4 that law enforcement agencies “strengthen their work to identify and bring to justice those responsible for the problematic situation with Tatfondbank and the TFB Finance investment company.” Recall that in the TSE, by decision of the Bank of Russia, from December 15 last year, a temporary administration was introduced in the person of the Deposit Insurance Agency for three months, a moratorium on obligations to creditors was announced.
It is still unclear what role the investigation assigns to Vadim Merzlyakov in the criminal scheme. According to a Kommersant source, he is charged “about the same as the rest.” According to the case file, from August 1 to December 15, 2016, more than 90 million rubles were stolen from more than 100 Tatfondbank depositors. “under the guise of fulfilling an agency agreement” concluded between a credit institution and TFB Finance. The investigation believes that this happened “by deception and abuse of the trust of depositors”, who “were misled about the risks and profitability of deposits.” According to the statements of injured depositors, when they came to the bank to extend the deposit, they were persuaded to place funds on another account at a better interest rate and with the preservation of insurance coverage. When the bank began to have problems, they were denied payments, because, as it turned out, they switched to the status of clients of TFB Finance.
According to some reports, the reason for the detention of Vadim Merzlyakov could be the testimony given to the GSU by Timur Valshin, as well as bank employees passing as witnesses. According to these testimonies, published in court during the arrests, it was Vadim Merzlyakov who oversaw the joint product of TFB and TFB Finance called Profitable Investments with a minimum investment of 1 million rubles. This program provided for the attraction of citizens’ funds for the purchase of TFB bonds or federal loan bonds. Witnesses said employees were “tasked to attract customers” and were “strongly encouraged” to step up work on the product. The same witnesses noted that citizens “voluntarily chose where to invest”, they were informed about the risks and were informed that in the case of investments, the funds would not be insured.
Yesterday it was not possible to find out the position of Vadim Merzlyakov. PJSC Tatfondbank refrains from commenting. “There were no thefts. All funds were used to purchase Tatfondbank’s bonds, but there was a default, they depreciated. I note that the depositors themselves signed agreements, which indicate that they transfer funds to trust management. If it were not for force majeure, they would have kept and increased their investments,” a source in the TFB structure commented on the situation to Kazan. He added that the detention of Vadim Merzlyakov “strongly destabilizes the situation and impedes the reorganization of Tatfondbank, he participates in the negotiations on the reorganization, a lot depends on his role.”