Alexander Sabadash was sent to “Cosmos”

On December 16, a court in St. Petersburg sent into custody the former chairman of the board of Tavrichesky Bank. Sergei Somov and his deputy Dmitry Garkusha. Alexander Sabadash He is still detained and, judging by his smile, everything is clear to him.

From left to right: Alexander Sabadash, Sergey Somov and Dmitry Garkusha

Garkusha was also detained on December 15, and on the same day he was charged. He does not admit his guilt. As a result, the court elected a guard until February 14. Next, the court sent the ex-chairman of the bank’s board, Sergei Somov, into custody until February 14. He has also been charged, but Somov does not admit guilt.

On the decision to re-arrest the bankers who received their freedom the day before reports the joint press service of the courts of St. Petersburg December 16.

The Smolninsky District Court announced the verdict against Alexander Sabadash, who was accused of committing 16 crimes under the article on fraud, and two episodes of money laundering, Dmitry Garkusha and Sergei Somov, who were also accused of committing 16 crimes of fraud. As the united press service of the courts of St. Petersburg said, during the period of the alleged acts, Sabadash was the actual owner of Liviz CJSC, Somov was the chairman of the board of Tavrichesky Bank JSC, Garkusha was Somov’s deputy. The case came to court on September 23, 2021. 96 court hearings were held. The defendants did not admit guilt. […]
As a result, the court found Sabadash guilty under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country), Somov and Garkusha are also guilty under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country). The court imposed a punishment (total for the totality of crimes): Garkusha – 7.5 years in a general regime colony with a fine of 200 thousand rubles, released after serving. Sabadash – 7.5 years in a general regime colony with a fine of 200 thousand rubles, released after serving. According to legalization – acquitted for lack of evidence, the right to rehabilitation was recognized. Somov – 7.5 years in a general regime colony with a fine of 200 thousand rubles, released after serving. A 78.ru correspondent asked Sabadash whether the court’s decision was expected for him, he replied: “How can the court’s decision be expected?”

This time, the bankers and the businessman were charged as a crime with the Tavrichesky loans issued to Sabadash’s Cosmos company. We are talking about an amount of 359 million rubles for three loans.

Just like in previous episodes, the investigation believes that the defendants withdrew money to shell companies and had no intention of repaying the loans. They were allegedly issued bypassing the necessary procedures.

The defense insists that all the companies were real, the money went to their business activities. Until Sabadash ended up in a pre-trial detention center in 2014, and his business was in the hands of former subordinates, he and the bank had no problems with loan payments.

After the verdict was announced, Alexander Sabadash was escorted to the utility room, and within half an hour he was handcuffed. According to Kommersant’s sources, the arrest was made by Moscow operatives. It is connected with the events of 2014, which are also related to the theft of bank funds on loans. The businessman himself, when asked by journalists on what basis the law enforcement officers took him again, replied: “Nothing new, the fourth department, everyone is the same in the arena,” probably referring to the Economic Security Service (SEB, Fourth Service) of the FSB.
In a conversation with Kommersant, the businessman’s lawyer Tatyana Zhuravleva said that the investigative interest arose due to a bank loan for the Cosmos company, in which her client was allegedly involved. “Some regular loans for the 14th year that the Cosmos organization received. However, it is not clear what relation Alexander Vitalievich had to her? At the moment when this company took out loans, he was already in prison,” she noted. When asked by Kommersant why this episode was not included in this criminal case, if we are talking about the same Tavrichesky Bank, the defense lawyer said that “this is not beneficial to the investigation.”

Sabadash was also brought to court, but so far they have only extended his detention – his lawyers are collecting additional documents.

Sabadash, Somov and Garkusha received sentences for similar things in 2017. In 2021, on the day of Sabadash’s release, he was again detained, arrested and tried again. The verdict was announced the day before, on December 15. Judge Morozova released all three, since they had already served the sentence she had assigned. Most of the episodes have expired statutes of limitations. Immediately after the cage was opened, FSB officers came for Sabadash and the bankers.

For new episodes, the statute of limitations expires in the summer of 2024. It is known that the case on one of them was initiated last summer, and two more were added in the fall.

Sabadash’s business began to fail and go bankrupt in 2014, so there were probably no more loans. As a result of bankruptcy proceedings in the arbitration court, most of the assets went to Tavrichesky. The bank is affiliated with companies Mikhail Prokhorov, whom Sabadash calls his “well-wisher.” It was heard in court that the businessman will not have freedom because he is trying to return his assets through arbitration.

The arrested Garkusha expressed his attitude towards the new charge with the words “cynical and arrogant.” Somov’s lawyers noted that the witnesses whose testimony the investigation refers to did not work at the bank during the allotted period of time. Sabadash does not admit guilt.

Alexander Sabadash, who in the early 2000s controlled the alcohol market in the North-West and had assets in the forest industry, was a member of the Federation Council from the Nenets Autonomous Okrug from 2003 to 2006, was arrested in 2014 in a criminal case of embezzlement of funds from the budget . According to investigators, in 2010 the businessman provided tax inspectorate No. 28 in Moscow with forged documents on payment for construction work and VAT refund for 1.8 billion rubles. In 2015, the court sentenced Sabadash to 6 years imprisonment.
During his time in the colony, he became involved in several more criminal cases, in one of which he was sentenced to another 8.5 years in prison. As for the Tavrichesky case, according to investigators, in 2013 Sabadash stole 75 million rubles from this bank. For this purpose, the investigation believes, he issued a loan to Norfolk LLC without an opinion on the financial condition of the borrower and did not plan to return the money. The defense, in turn, argued that all payments from Sabadash’s companies had been received by the bank without delay for many years; and the problems began after the businessman was arrested.

Source