The Dorogomilovsky Court of Moscow began to consider the case of Konstantin Belyaev, the general director of the Pharmservice company, which owned the rights to the popular Bifidok drink, as well as promising developments of new probiotics. The investigation considers the defendant a participant in an attempt to steal the assets of Pharmservice from their owners, as well as the perpetrator of a scam with the supply of equipment. The total damage amounted to about 320 million rubles. The investigation considers the well-known auditor Elena Loss to be the organizer of the fraud, and Elena Tereshkova, the daughter of the first female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, and Senator Dmitry Savelyev are the victims in the case.
The materials of the case against Konstantin Belyaev were received by the Dorogomilovsky court in November last year, but the hearings were postponed three times due to the non-appearance of the participants in the process. As Kommersant previously reported, the case against the CEO of Pharmservice has been investigated by the Moscow Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia (TFR) since May 2021. On July 28 of the same year, the manager was detained, the Presnensky District Court of Moscow arrested him. Mr. Belyaev was charged with especially large-scale fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and attempted fraud (art. 30 and part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The investigation considers him to be the perpetrator of an attempt to steal the company he headed from its owners, as well as a participant in fraud with the supply of equipment. The total damage in the case is estimated at almost 320 million rubles. The businessman does not admit guilt. The case was initiated at the request of the owners of the pharmaceutical company, Elena Tereshkova and Dmitry Savelyev.
The investigators believe that the organizer of both crimes is the auditor Elena Loss, who owned the audit firm RSM-Rus and the International Center for Excellence in Internal Control and Risk Management.
Ms. Loss was a longtime business partner of the victims. After the investigation began, she and another person involved in the case, Liya Muradova, disappeared and were put on the international wanted list. Lia Muradova was detained in 2022 in Italy, but the authorities of this country have not yet made a decision on her extradition. Ms. Loss also lives in Italy, according to Kommersant.
The auditor, the case says, from March 16, 2020, was appointed adviser to the CEO of Probiopharm, also owned by the victims, and from February 1, 2021, she took the same position in Pharmservice, after which she took control of these companies, as well as LLC “Avan” These three firms got the assets of one of the largest Russian producers of probiotics – JSC “Partner”. Thus, Pharmservice bought out 30 trademarks of Partner, including the rights to its latest developments in probiotics and the most popular drinks, including Bifidok. And Probiopharm, which was the sole owner of Pharmservice, in turn, got the production lines and real estate of Partner, in particular a laboratory complex and a large land plot in the Moscow region. The Avan company was the ultimate profit center, selling probiotics together with Pharmservice.
As follows from the case file, at the beginning of 2021, Ms. Loss decided to take over a 100% stake in Pharmservice and attracted the CEO of this company, Konstantin Belyaev, and Liya Muradova as accomplices. Behind the backs of the owners of the company, according to the investigation, Ms. Loss managed to first conduct a fictitious valuation of the enterprise, and then, with the help of accomplices, obtain the consent of the parent company to sell the shares of the LLC at a reduced price. The enterprise was valued at 470 thousand rubles, but in fact, according to the calculations of the investigation, it cost more than 313 million rubles. After the deal for the purchase and sale of Pharmservice was completed, the change of its owners was registered with the 46th Federal Tax Service of Moscow.
The second episode of the case, according to Kommersant, is fraud with the purchase of equipment for filling capsules from the well-known company Aktive for the needs of Pharmservice.
The money for the deal in the amount of €336,000 was allocated by the Russian Fund for Technological Development. According to investigators, the transaction was carried out through the Swiss company Benevent Trading, controlled by Ms. Loss, which led to an increase in the cost of equipment by 5.7 million rubles. The TFR considers Mr. Belyaev a participant in this fraud.
