As it became known to Kommersant, the state prosecutor requested from 6 to 12 years in prison for the four defendants who stole more than half a billion rubles from the bankrupt DS-bank. The defendants legalized part of this money by purchasing another bank, Eurostandard, which soon also lost its license. Ildar Klebleev, who has already been convicted twice, is threatened with the maximum punishment, whom the investigation considers one of the actual owners of the bank and the organizer of the crime. Another beneficiary of this credit institution, Shahid Ismailov, is on the international wanted list.
The Tagansky District Court of the capital has been considering a criminal case on particularly large-scale embezzlement and money laundering (part 4 of article 160 and paragraphs “a”, “b” of part 4 of article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) for almost two years. Its defendants are one of the actual owners of the DS-bank, Ildar Klebleev, his authorized representatives Vitaly Vergizov and Anastasia Toruteva, as well as the former chairman of the board of this credit institution Svetlana Egorova.
During the debates held the other day, the state prosecutor requested from 6 to 12 years in prison for them. According to the prosecutor, one of the alleged organizers of the crime, Ildar Klebleev, deserves the maximum punishment. This is the third time he has been brought to justice. In 2018, the ex-banker received four years for attempted fraud. Posing as a high-ranking official of the Central Bank, in collusion with whose representatives he acted, Ildar Klebleev demanded € 1 million from the management of CB Agrosoyuz for stopping the inspection of this credit institution by the regulator.
In April 2020, the ex-banker received 585 million rubles for embezzlement for eight years and six months. from DS-Bank, which lost its license in May 2016. As the investigation and the court established, almost all the money in the correspondent account in 2015-2016, under the guise of issuing loans, was transferred to the accounts of fly-by-night companies controlled by the robbers. Interestingly, one of the nine convicted in this case was Vitaly Vergizov.
Already after the verdict was passed, the Investigative Committee of Russia (TFR) established that the attackers managed to legalize part of the money stolen from the DS-Bank. In particular, for 350 million rubles. 100% shares in the authorized capital of Eurostandard Bank were acquired.
As a result, charges of laundering were brought against Ildar Klebleev, who was serving a sentence, Vitaly Vergizov, who was now under a ban on certain actions, and Svetlana Egorova, who managed to get out. The latter, as well as Anastasia Toruteva (both under house arrest), are also charged with embezzlement.
The second alleged organizer of the crime and the owner of the DS-bank, Shahid Ismailov, managed to escape abroad. He was later detained in Montenegro, but the matter never came to extradition.
The fate of the Eurostandard bank, in the purchase of which the fraudsters invested, also turned out to be unenviable. The Central Bank revoked its license in December 2017, due to the fact that the business of this structure was “focused on conducting shadow currency exchange operations that were not reflected in the accounting and reporting submitted to the Bank of Russia.” The financial institution owes 1.44 billion rubles to its creditors. And just a few days before the license was revoked, the last cash — $5 million — disappeared from the vault of Eurostandard Bank.
In September last year, the Tagansky District Court found guilty of this, who received eight years in prison, former and. O. Deputy Chairman of the Board of Eurostandard Bank Natalya Vazhnatkina and Daria Gnezdich, as well as the former adviser of the latter Oleg Oldman.
It is interesting that the final beneficiaries of Eurostandard, in whose interests the accused Vazhnatkina, Gnezdich and Oldman acted, were not identified by the police investigation at that time. The stolen money was not found either.
The case only stated that some representatives of a “legal entity” took the cash out of the bank.
No less curious is the fact that in parallel with this case in the same Tagansky District Court, but in the next room, an embezzlement case was heard against Ildar Klebleev, whom the TFR considers to be one of the ultimate owners of Eurostandard.
