The Lefortovo Court of Moscow sentenced four defendants in the criminal case of embezzlement more than 87 billion rubles of Promsvyazbank. As TASS was specified in the press service of the court, sentence has not entered into force and can be challenged in the appeal.
“By the verdict of the Lefortovo Court of Moscow, the defendants were found guilty of committing embezzlement and were taken into custody in the courtroom after the announcement of the terms. Andrey Mukin was sentenced to 7.5 years in a penal colony, Olga Antonova to 6 years in a penal colony, and received 5 years each Ekaterina Dukhova and Aigul Shaikhutdinova, whose actual serving of the sentence in the form of imprisonment was deferred by the court until her child reaches the age of fourteen,” the agency’s interlocutor said.
Consideration of the case
The criminal case on embezzlement was transferred at the end of last summer by the supervisory authority to the Lefortovo court in relation to five people, one of whom, Nikolai Tsukanov, former vice president of the administration of Promsvyazbank, was acquitted.
Based on the results of an audit of the activities of PJSC Promsvyazbank, the Commission of the Central Bank imposed a restriction on the performance by this credit institution of operations to purchase securities. On December 15, 2017, a temporary administration was appointed in the bank. The investigation believes that the chairman of the board of directors of the credit institution Alexey Ananiev and his brother, chairman of the board of the bank Dmitry Ananiev – there was an intent to steal the funds of a credit institution entrusted to them. To this end, they created an organized group, which included officials of PJSC Promsvyazbank: Tsukanov, head of the financial markets block Ivanov, head of the operational block Mukin, head of the department for settlements and support of operations with securities Antonova, director of client support and product development to Shaikhutdinov, President of Promsvyazcapital JSC Batraz Pliev, Deputy General Director for Finance of this organization Dukhov, as well as his friend Sergei Zorin, citizen of Ukraine Igor Pidluzhny and other persons, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported earlier.
From December 12 to December 15, 2017, according to the investigation, the members of the criminal group organized the execution of false contracts for the sale and purchase of Promsvyazbank PJSC securities. Under the guise of their payment, the bank’s funds were transferred to the bank accounts of a Cypriot company controlled by Ananyev, and the securities were not transferred to the bank. As a result, the credit institution suffered damage in the amount of more than 87 billion rubles.
“Kommersant”, 10/28/2022, “Four were convicted for two Ananyev brothers”: At the direction of the Ananiev brothers, since December 12, 2017, the defendants in the case have organized the execution of several false contracts related to the purchase of various securities by PSB. And on December 14, more than €1 billion was transferred to the accounts of the Dutch company Promsvyaz Capital BV, allegedly for the shares of Promsvyazbank acquired from it, as well as bonds of Promsvyazcapital JSC, PSB Finance SA UNDT and other companies whose activities were controlled by the organizers of the criminal group.
At the same time, Olga Antonova, Head of the Securities Operations Department, together with Andrey Mukin, directly transferred 57.3 billion rubles to Promsvyaz Capital BV. and $505.6 million, and Aigul Shaikhutdinova prepared fictitious sales contracts, allegedly confirming the legality of the transactions. Later, according to the TFR, the entire withdrawn amount was split up, and the Ananyevs organized its legalization. The investigation, and then the prosecution in court, insisted that the bank did not actually acquire any securities, and the deal served only as a cover for the illegal withdrawal of funds.
It is worth noting that as part of the investigation of this case, the investigators established the property owned by the Ananyev brothers for 90 billion rubles, which was seized. But at the same time, they could not achieve the extradition of the brothers themselves, since Interpol considered their criminal prosecution politically motivated and excluded them from the search base. PSB lawyer Sergei Zorin, Ukrainian citizen Igor Pidluzhny, President of Promsvyazcapital JSC Batraz Pliev were also put on the international wanted list in this case, but their criminal prosecution was actually suspended. — Inset K.ru
The Ananyev brothers, Zorin, Pidluzhny, Ivanov and Pliev fled from the preliminary investigation body, they were put on the international wanted list, and a preventive measure in the form of detention was chosen against them in absentia.
As noted in the press service of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, despite the fact that these persons did not plead guilty to the embezzlement of funds of Promsvyazbank PJSC, the evidence collected by the Investigative Committee against them was sufficient to approve the indictment.
