The court of appeal overturned the guilty verdict against the ex-director of Integral JSC Alfat Nazmiev and returned the criminal case to the prosecutor to eliminate the violations. In 2022, the Kirovsky District Court of Ufa sentenced the developer to two and a half years in a colony-settlement, finding him guilty of abuse of power. Integral collected about 515 million rubles from equity holders. for the construction of houses in Ufa, but did not complete their construction, did not return the money to the buyers. The prosecutor’s office asked to sentence the defendant to eight years in prison. The entrepreneur pleaded not guilty.
The Supreme Court of Bashkiria overturned the verdict of the Kirovsky District Court of Ufa against the former general director and owner of JSC Integral, 64-year-old Alfat Nazmiyev, and returned the case to the prosecutor’s office to eliminate the violations. In November last year, the entrepreneur was found guilty of abuse of power (Part 1, Article 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and sentenced to two and a half years in a colony-settlement, however, due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, he was released from punishment.
Alfat Nazmiev was accused of fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to investigators, in 2012-2016, Integral, the general director of which was then the defendant, concluded 238 equity participation and investment agreements with individuals and legal entities for a total of 514.8 million rubles. According to the prosecution, the entrepreneur, under the pretext of building apartment buildings, spent these funds for purposes not related to construction. The developer, according to investigators, showed the buyers permits for construction and “created the appearance” of the start of construction in order to “give legitimacy to his activities.”
In 2012, Integral announced the construction of three apartment buildings in Ufa: two on Akhmetov Street and one on a site bounded by Komsomolskaya and Tikhoretskaya streets. As a result, the houses were not completed, and the money was not returned to the equity holders. The civil claims of the victims for the recovery of compensation for the material damage caused were denied.
In 2018, Integral and Alfat Nazmiyev were declared bankrupt. In 2020, the Arbitration Court of Bashkiria brought the entrepreneur to subsidiary liability for the company’s obligations. Five multi-storey buildings in Neftekamsk were completed by the Municipal Unitary Enterprise Neftekamskstroyzakazchik, spending about 500 million rubles on this. Last year, the Federal Territorial Development Fund announced that about 900 million rubles would be allocated for compensation payments to defrauded equity holders of two Integral houses on Akhmetov Street in Ufa.
The Kirovsky District Court of Ufa reclassified the actions of Alfat Nazmiyev as abuse of power in a commercial organization. The verdict states that the defendant, unreasonably counting on an improvement in the financial situation, spent the funds received from the construction participants in an inappropriate and inefficient manner. In particular, he directed them “to other types of financial and economic activities of Integral and the repayment of the company’s debt to banks for servicing loans, as well as settlements with suppliers of goods and services.”
Alfat Nazmiyev pleaded not guilty and asked for an acquittal. In the appeal, he said that he spent 477 million rubles on the construction of houses, that is, 93% of the payments made by equity holders. According to him, the houses were not completed for economic reasons, and after the start of the bankruptcy proceedings of the company, he was removed from its leadership. At the time the bankruptcy proceedings began, Integral had assets worth 2 billion rubles, which was enough to complete the construction, “however, the property was sold and is being sold by the bankruptcy trustees for next to nothing,” the entrepreneur said in court.
The state prosecution also disagreed with the district court’s verdict, asking that Alfat Nazmiev be found guilty under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and that he be sentenced to eight years in prison in a general regime correctional colony. As arguments, the representative of the prosecutor’s office stated that the court ignored the evidence confirming the misuse of funds, the excess of Integral’s income over expenses, the lack of the right to build when concluding equity participation agreements, the withdrawal of money to the accounts of controlled companies and Nazmiev himself.
The Supreme Court of Bashkiria drew attention to contradictions in the indictment, for example, the investigation did not provide data on the sources of formation of funds spent on construction. It was also indicated that equity holders contributed funds until June 2016, while the last apartments were supposed to be rented out in March 2018 according to the plan. “The court of appeal comes to the conclusion that the existing contradictions in the indictment indicate that it was drawn up in violation of the law, which excludes the possibility of considering the criminal case on the merits,” the appeal ruling says.
The prosecutor’s office of Bashkiria has not yet decided whether they will file a cassation appeal.
Lawyer Igor Ermolaev believes that after the criminal case is returned to the prosecutor’s office, the supervisory agency, having made clarifications, will insist on the previous qualification of the prosecution.
“Considering that the court of first instance reclassified the actions of the defendant to art. 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, it is highly likely that the investigating authority will follow this path, although it does not have such an obligation. Considering that the statute of limitations for bringing to criminal liability under Art. 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has expired, it is likely that if the accused agrees, the case may be terminated due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. If the defendant objects, then it should be either dismissing the case on rehabilitating grounds, or sending the case to court for consideration on the merits, ”commented lawyer, former investigator for especially important cases of the Investigative Committee Alexei Grivtsov.
