Former shareholder of “Adamant” arrested in absentia in the case of the destruction of a historic mansion in St. Pet

Boris Berson wanted for medical reasons

The Vasileostrovsky District Court of St. Petersburg put on the wanted list and arrested in absentia one of the former co-founders of the Adamant holding, the owner of the Cherkassky mansion Boris Burson. As reported in the joint press service of the St. Petersburg courts, as part of the consideration of a criminal case under Article 243.1. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of the requirements for the preservation or use of cultural heritage), the court toughened the measure of restraint for the entrepreneur – the “prohibition of certain actions” was replaced with detention.

Boris Berson

Article and accusation

Charge under this article was presented entrepreneur in May 2021. Then the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee for St. Petersburg reported that the reason for the investigation was the fire on June 4, 2019 in the mansion of Cherkassky (Ritter), located on Universitetskaya embankment. The owner of most of the premises in the building is Burson. According to the prosecution, “by his criminal inaction in the period from 08/21/2013 to 05/28/2021, he violated the requirements for the preservation and use of a cultural heritage site of regional significance.” The damage to the monument is estimated at 39.1 million rubles.

Mansion of Cherkassky (Ritter) in St. Petersburg

Recall that the Ritter mansion was originally going to be reconstructed into a hotel, then, as the media wrote, plans changed – they planned to make elite housing and apartments in it. The reconstruction project was developed by the studio “Foundry part – 91”. It was assumed that the mansion will have three apartments with their own saunas and swimming pools, five guest rooms and underground parking. However, the project was never implemented.

Absentee arrest

In June 2021 RBC Petersburg informedthat the Oktyabrsky District Court ruled that a measure of restraint be imposed in the form of a ban on certain actions against Berson. He was forbidden to leave the residential premises from 23.00 to 06.00 and visit his workplace at JSC “Adamant” without the permission of the investigator. He also could not communicate with persons who were witnesses in the case.

Today, the court reported that the defendant did not appear in the process many times, “presenting sick leave certificates opened in various non-state medical institutions shortly before the trial, while there is no information that Berson’s diseases prevent participation in the consideration of the case. was”.

“The court appointed a commission forensic medical examination of the defendant’s state of health, which showed that his illnesses are not accompanied by persistent, pronounced violations of the body’s functions, do not lead to a significant limitation of life and do not require long-term treatment in a specialized medical hospital. – said in a press release.

They noted that “the sick leave sheets submitted by the defense do not list the diagnoses in the presence of which the sick leave sheets are open, and there is no information that Burson, for health reasons, cannot take part in the court session.” The court concluded that Burson was avoiding appearing in court and was in hiding. The new measure of restraint appointed by the court is arrest for a period of 6 months from the date of actual detention. The entrepreneur has been put on the wanted list. “When detained, the person involved must be sent to the FKU SIZO-1 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region,” the press service of the courts added.

In turn, lawyer Stanislav Sinitsyn told Kommersant that his client was not hiding anywhere and it would not be appropriate to put him on the wanted list. “The businessman is at home undergoing treatment for a number of serious illnesses. On Sunday, an assistant prosecutor from the Vasileostrovsky district came to him and handed him a copy of the decision. Therefore, the information about the wanted list is a lie,” said Mr. Sinitsyn. According to him, earlier Boris Berson received a serious injury, which resulted in a fracture of the spine in several places, so now he is under constant treatment. According to the lawyer, when the criminal case was initiated, despite the “specific corpus delicti”, operatives and SOBR came to his client to conduct search activities. This, according to the defense, also affected the health of Boris Berson.
The defendant’s second lawyer, Mikhail Tkach, told Kommersant that an appeal had been filed on January 11 against the decision of the Vasileostrovsky court. Lawyers are now waiting for the appointment of a date for the hearing on the appeal. […] A source familiar with the situation suggested in an interview with Kommersant that the conflict over the Cherkassky House could have arisen due to Smolny’s unwillingness to sell individual house premises to the businessman, which made the reconstruction of the building impossible.
According to the source, the problem was that Boris Berson owned apartments in the house, while the technical premises, including the basement and the attic, are owned by the city. Thus, the businessman did not have the authority to carry out a full-fledged reconstruction.

It should be noted that the press service of Adamant stated that “Mr. Berson Boris Iosifovich left the shareholders of the Adamant holding and is not related to any company included in the holding.” According to SPARK, earlier in JSC Adamant Boris Berson owned 13%.

As DP wrote earlier, Boris Berson was ordered to restore the building on Universitetskaya Embankment in December 2020, but the court decision was ignored. A year and a half later, investigators and police came with searches to the Adamant office, confiscating “objects and documents of interest to the investigation” as part of a criminal case.

Boris Berson did not admit his guilt in what happened. In June 2021, he withdrew from the shareholders of the Adamant holding, and in the fall of the same year it became known that the premises in his mansion would be put up for auction. The initial price of the two lots was 3.5 million and 2.3 million rubles. Specialists of the Russian Auction House (RAD) noted that they were acting on behalf of the Property Relations Committee (CRO), and the premises put up for sale may be of interest in the format of redevelopment for an office, retail or other commercial function.

Boris Berson (No. 34 in the Rating of billionaires “DP”) left the shareholders of the holding “Adamant” and is not related to any company included in the “Adamant”, said Alena Marinicheva, director of the department of advertising and marketing of the management company “Adamant”. In confirmation, an extract from the register of securities holders of Adamant JSC as of December 2020 was provided. At the time the issue was submitted, the company did not respond to a request from DP about the fate of Boris Berson’s shares. At the same time, data on changes in the composition of shareholders is not currently displayed in the Kontur.Focus system. According to her, the holding’s shareholders are Igor Leitis (26% of shares), Arkady Teplitsky (22%), Mikhail Bazhenov (13%), Evgeny Gurevich (13%), Alexei Gnesin (7%), Anatoly Marinichev (6%). Boris Berson’s stake is 13%.
Adamant is not a public company and its share price has not been disclosed. According to experts, the cost of Boris Berson’s stake on the market could amount to 15–20 billion rubles, according to minimal estimates. However, most likely, the deal was not cash, and shares in other legal entities were received in exchange for shares.
“Adamant” was founded in 1992. To date, he owns a portfolio of commercial real estate in St. Petersburg with a total area of more than 1.2 million m2, as well as objects under construction with a total area of 360 thousand m2 in the segment of offices, warehouses and the hospitality industry. The main part of the portfolio is formed by 22 shopping and entertainment complexes in different districts of St. Petersburg. Warehouse business is actively developing. Adamant also owns the Russian Glass Company and a number of other businesses, including construction, medical, advertising, etc.