According to the prosecutor’s office, Alexander Lavrov, the former CEO of the Content Union (Stream) media holding, and Anatoly Zyablitsky, the head of the company’s board of directors, should spend six years in a general regime colony. According to the prosecution, in 2017, top managers illegally took possession of all the assets of the holding – money, securities, as well as a building with a unique technological hardware complex, causing damage to the company’s founders in more than 3.5 billion rubles. The defendants themselves categorically deny guilt.
The trial in the case of Anatoly Zyablitsky and Alexander Lavrov has been going on in the Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow since October last year. As it became known to “Kommersant”, on Monday the debate of the parties ended there. Representatives of the prosecutor’s office believe that within the framework of the judicial investigation, the guilt of both defendants in committing two episodes of particularly large-scale fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) was fully proven.
According to the totality of crimes, by partial addition of punishments, the state prosecutors considered Anatoly Zyablitsky and Alexander Lavrov worthy of being sent to a penal colony for six years each.
In turn, the defense of the defendants again declared the inconsistency of the arguments of the investigation, the falsification of the materials by the victims, the illegality of the very initiation of a criminal case and the overestimation of the amount of damage caused. Lawyers also talked about the poor health of 60-year-old Anatoly Zyablitsky. It should be noted that, formally, it was for medical reasons that he left the post of first vice-governor of the Novgorod region in 2008, where in this position he oversaw the issues of the economic bloc.
We also recall that Anatoly Zyablitsky and Alexander Lavrov, who were initially placed by the court during the investigation under house arrest, were convicted of violating the established restrictions – communicating with each other and witnesses, unauthorized access to the Internet, etc. And if the younger 40-year-old Alexander Lavrov after that, the court without hesitation sent him to a pre-trial detention center, then his older and more well-deserved alleged accomplice did not tighten the previously chosen measure of restraint.
This circumstance, by the way, may have a different effect on their fate if found guilty, since one day in custody is counted as a day and a half of a “general” colony, while two days of house arrest are equated to one day of imprisonment in a colony. However, the last word remains with the judge, who has already retired to the deliberation room to pass the verdict. At the same time, both sides – both the accused and the victims with the prosecutors are confident in their positions.
“We believe that the guilt of the defendants has been fully proven,” one of the victims’ lawyers told Kommersant. And he added: there is an opinion that, perhaps, not all the criminal acts of the defendants are reflected in the materials of the TFR and the ongoing process. Earlier, by the way, Anatoly Zyablitsky was already in the dock, and the criminal case on abuse of power (part 2 of article 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) also concerned Stream. In particular, the damage was allegedly suffered by the Nord LLC company, where the ex-official allegedly transferred its shares.
However, at first the Meshchansky District Court returned the case materials to the prosecutor’s office to eliminate violations of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and then, at the second trial, dismissed the case altogether, after the prosecutor’s office dropped the charges. True, the Nord representatives were not satisfied with this decision, and now, having lost the appeal, they are trying to get it canceled on cassation.
Recall that the conflict that led to the proceedings in the Lefortovo court began back in 2016, when Content Union S.A. received a loan from VTB for 672 million rubles, intended for the purchase of Stream TV Company JSC from AFK Sistema (the holding united the popular TV channels Hunting and Fishing, Russian Illusion, Evrokino and Avto24). It was at this moment, according to investigators, that Anatoly Zyablitsky, acting as chairman of the board of directors of the holding, together with CEO Alexander Lavrov, convinced the main co-owner of the company, Nikolai Lukyantsev, and other shareholders that their stakes should be provided as collateral.
As a result of a series of frauds carried out by the defendants, the prosecution alleges, other shareholders lost control of their assets, which also included the building and the land under it in 1st Rizhsky Lane.
We are talking about a unique technical media teleport complex, which is used by many mobile operators, the main telecommunication centers of Moscow, the Ostankino television center, etc. The total damage recognized as victims in a criminal case by the co-founders of Content Union S.A. are estimated at 3.5 billion rubles, and this amount includes about $8 million of personal funds invested by them in the project.
Some time ago, as a result of a series of arbitration proceedings, the owners of the media holding regained control over their assets, and the management itself changed. Meanwhile, according to some reports, the victims intend to file a claim for compensation for the damage caused after the announcement of the verdict in the Lefortovo court.