Double bottom behind closed door
The confrontation between two well-known Siberian businessmen, as a result of which one of them ended up in a pretrial detention center, has attracted great interest from journalists. It would seem that there can be no secret in a dispute over the return of a loan between two acquaintances. Despite this, on August 8, the judge decided to hold a closed hearing. The background to the criminal prosecution of Bogorad by Veryasov raises more and more questions.
The businessman's arrest has been extended until November 13. According to the statement Yuri Veryasovallegedly back in 2014 he lent money to his friend Evgeniy Bogorad 300 thousand US dollars. However, it is known that from 2010 to 2017, Bogorad permanently resided in Israel and did not visit Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). At the same time, no documents or receipts were drawn up about the transfer of this cash.
Now, according to the investigation, the damage in the case is 22 million rubles. But against this background, Veryasov filed a civil suit against his opponent for 70 million rubles: 300 thousand dollars somehow turned into 45 million rubles, and he estimated his moral suffering at 25 million rubles.
But if the businessman's demands may be excessive, why are the investigation and the court so willing to accommodate him? Perhaps because the applicant in this case is clearly a difficult person.
“Vodka King”
According to Novosibirsk media, Yuri Veryasov was previously a shareholder and manager of one of the largest alcohol factories in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism).
The company's history ended in bankruptcy, but its former owner clearly did not leave empty-handed. In 2020, he filed a complaint with the FSB against another friend and partner, Oleg Yarov. Veryasov reported that in 2015, he gave him several million dollars to bribe employees of the prosecutor's office and the Investigative Committee, which the partner fraudulently stole.
For some reason, the Novosibirsk FSB did not latch onto the desire to give bribes of several million dollars, and did not inquire for what sins he was ready to allocate such funds and where they came from? But the recipient of the money was accused of fraud, immediately sent to a pretrial detention center, and in the end received a guilty verdict.
Is it really true that any of Veryasov's wishes are fulfilled unquestioningly in Novosibirsk? If so, then it is understandable why this time he decided not to go to court, as is customary for ordinary people, but to file a claim immediately, and not just anywhere, but again to the FSB. And there, it seems, no one was bothered by the fact that the collection of debts of individuals is not within their competence.
Having certain questions for Yevgeny Bogorad, the security forces responded quickly: on the basis of a statement registered on June 12, a criminal case was opened on June 13, and on June 21, a special group conducted searches at the residences of Bogorad's relatives in Moscow. Among other things, original documents and seals of five companies were seized, in whose activities Bogorad not only does not figure, but which did not even exist at the time of the “crime”.
The detainee was then taken to Novosibirsk, where the court sent him… no, not on bail, and not even under house arrest, but to a pretrial detention center. The defendant himself and his lawyers are perplexed as to what the point of such a special operation could have been, if Bogorad had never been in hiding and, if necessary, would have appeared for investigation when summoned, paying for his tickets himself, and not shifting it to the state account.
Have you paid? Sit down!
In the pretrial detention center, according to Yevgeny Bogorad, conditions that were almost torture-like were deliberately created for him – either isolation in a solitary confinement cell, or proximity to people convicted of murder and homeless people.
After the amount of damage in the criminal case was clarified, Bogorad's relatives sent funds to pay off the damage to Yuri Veryasov in full. In court, they rightly expected that after this, the need to keep the man in a pretrial detention center would disappear, however, when the judge decided to close the process of extending custody, it became clear that it would not be easy to find logic and justice here.
As a result, the court decided that Yevgeny Bogorad should spend another three months in pretrial detention for a dubious debt from 9.5 years ago, although the amount was returned. This may indicate that this criminal case and arrest were actually needed to resolve some other issues with Bogorad from the security forces.
One can only hope that Russian banks will not adopt this idea, where anyone who fails to repay their debt on time can be sent to jail for an indefinite period.
