In Novosibirsk, a court sentenced conditionally well-known businessman Oleg Yarovoy to three years, finding him guilty of false denunciation with fabrication of evidence. According to investigators, thanks to extensive connections in the prosecutor’s office, the businessman organized the criminal prosecution of his business partner Natalya Vasilyeva.
He wanted to use the created situation as an additional argument for collecting a large debt from her. The businessman pleaded guilty and, counting on the indulgence of the court, concluded a cooperation agreement. Former Novosibirsk prosecutor Denis Ferenets and ex-head of the regional prosecutor’s office Alexander Averin, who, according to the investigation, helped in the fabrication of a criminal case, are being tried separately.
In Novosibirsk, the criminal trial of Oleg Yarov, a well-known businessman in the city, a former member of the boards of directors of JSC Zavod Ekran (part of the structure of RATM Holding) and JSC Vinap, once one of the giants of the alcohol industry in Siberia, has ended. The events described in the case took place in 2017.
According to the materials of the investigation, Oleg Yarovoy filed a lawsuit in which he demanded to recover from his business partner, director of the Ekfard audit and consulting group Natalya Vasilyeva, a large debt – € 100 thousand, $ 360 thousand and 7 million rubles. (total 34.5 million rubles). At the first hearing on October 20, 2017, the representative of Ms. Vasilyeva filed a motion to transfer the hearings to Moscow, where the defendant was registered, but the court postponed the consideration of the motion for several days.
According to investigators, in order to prevent the transfer of the case to another region and put pressure on the entrepreneur, the businessman allegedly decided to organize a criminal prosecution against her.
It is indicated in the case that Alexandra Averina, the former head of the Department for Supervision of Compliance with Federal Legislation of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Novosibirsk Region, helped him prepare a statement about the crime, which he devoted to the details. The businessman, according to him, has known 73-year-old Alexandra Averina for more than 20 years; in 2012, after her retirement, he offered to open the Kanon law firm. As stated in the documents of the investigation, with a request to send a statement to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for Novosibirsk, Alexandra Averina turned to the city’s prosecutor Denis Ferenets, who once worked under her supervision. The city prosecutor allegedly had to ensure that a criminal case against Natalya Vasilyeva was initiated within a short time.
In November 2017, based on the statement of Oleg Yarovoy in relation to Natalya Vasilyeva, the police opened a case of fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), she was chosen a measure of restraint in the form of a written undertaking not to leave the place. Yarovoy appeared in the materials as a victim. However, six months later, the case went to court, which terminated it with the wording “due to the lack of corpus delicti”. For Mrs. Vasilyeva, the court recognized the right to rehabilitation and compensation for non-pecuniary damage for unfounded criminal prosecution.
In the fall of 2020, employees of the Federal Security Service of the Novosibirsk Region and the central office of the TFR detained businessman Yarovoy and former employees of the prosecutor’s office Denis Ferenets and Alexander Averina. The businessman, who was charged with knowingly false denunciation with fabrication of prosecution evidence (part 3 of article 306 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and giving knowingly false testimony (article 307 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), fully admitted his guilt and entered into a pre-trial agreement on cooperation. The case against him was singled out in a separate proceeding and sent to court.
Speaking at the court session, the state prosecutor noted that Oleg Yarovoy fulfilled all the conditions of the cooperation agreement. As mitigating circumstances, the court recognized his active assistance in the investigation, remorse and state of health.
As a result, the entrepreneur was given a three-year suspended sentence with a similar probationary period.
On Wednesday, preliminary hearings began on the case of former employees of the prosecutor’s office, who deny their guilt. Denis Ferenc is charged with Art. 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of power) and Art. 294 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (obstruction of the administration of justice and the conduct of a preliminary investigation), Alexandra Averina – complicity in a knowingly false denunciation (Article 33, Article 307 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).