As it became known to Kommersant, in connection with the reconciliation of the parties, the criminal prosecution of the former vice-president for regional development of the largest Russian housing developer of the PIK group of companies (GC) Alexander Lefel and the ex-head of one of the divisions of this organization – PJSC PIK SZ – Nikolai Vasiliev. Initially, both were charged with embezzlement of 140 million rubles. during the construction of a residential complex in St. Petersburg in 2017–2018. After the examination, the amount of damage was noticeably reduced, and the defendants, whose acts were reclassified from fraud to abuse of power, agreed to reimburse their former employer.
The parties to this conflict managed to come to an agreement only after the investigation received the results of two construction and technical and two accounting forensic examinations. As a result, the amount of damage in the case, which initially amounted to 140 million rubles, has noticeably decreased. True, neither the victims represented by the PIK Group, nor the representatives of the defendants in this case, wanted to name the amount that Alexander Lefel and Nikolai Vasilyev agreed to reimburse their former employer.
According to Kommersant’s information, the issue of terminating the criminal case on non-rehabilitating grounds was finally resolved after the investigation at the end of last year reclassified the defendants’ act from a particularly large-scale fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) to a much milder abuse of power (part 1 of article 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
It should be noted that the investigation of the theft in the PIK Group of Companies began in December 2020, when, at the request of representatives of the company, the Main Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Moscow opened a criminal case.
Prior to this, Alexander Lefel and Nikolai Vasilyev were offered to resolve the conflict situation at PIK without the intervention of law enforcement agencies back in the spring of 2019, when an internal audit revealed abuses on their part. However, they refused to pay 140 million and simply quit of their own free will. The first took the position of vice president at PJSC “GK Samolet”, and his colleague got a job as a chief engineer at the Bashkir LLC Limakmarashavtodorogi.
Alexander Lefel and Nikolai Vasilyev became defendants in the investigation in October last year. At the request of the investigation, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow sent both of them to a pre-trial detention center. However, the accused Lefel, at the request of the investigation, was replaced with a house arrest in less than two months. This was due to the fact that the former top manager allegedly admitted his guilt and expressed his readiness to compensate for the damage. However, his lawyers then called this information untrue. Note that the prosecutor’s office did not support the decision of the investigation to transfer the accused under house arrest. However, the supervision failed to achieve the return of Alexander Lefel to the pre-trial detention center.
As follows from the case materials, the acts imputed to the defendants related to the period of 2017-2018, when a tender was held and an agreement was concluded with a contractor for the construction of one of the residential complexes in St. Petersburg.
According to the investigation, Mr. Lefel, who oversaw this project, colluded with the direct executor of the contract, General Director of PIK SZ Nikolai Vasiliev, and fraudulently stole 140 million rubles. when carrying out work at the stage of the zero cycle.
According to Kommersant, it was a contract with one of the commercial firms for the supply of a removable sheet pile to strengthen the walls of the pits of three houses under construction with underground parking.
However, lawyer Mikhail Bagmet, who already defended Alexander Lefel, argued that there was no fraud on the part of his principal, and called the charge “unfounded, unsubstantiated and far-fetched”, also believing that the investigation would have serious problems with evidence.
PIK did not comment on the situation with the termination of the criminal case against Nikolai Vasiliev and Alexander Lefel. The defense of the latter confirmed to Kommersant the very fact of the termination due to the reconciliation of the parties, but refrained from discussing the details of the deal.
