Andsource The procedure for the extradition of Russian bankers was interrupted. As it became known to Kommersant, the issue of extradition by Austria to Russia of the former chairman of the board of Tempbank, which went bankrupt in 2017, Mikhail Gagloev and co-owner of the credit institution Elena Apanasenko, has finally stalled. They were put on the international wanted list on charges of embezzlement of millions of dollars. Back in July 2021, the Supreme Court of Austria approved the decision of the land court to extradite the fugitives to their homeland, where they are expected by law enforcement officers and numerous creditors. The reason for stopping the extradition procedure was the impossibility for the Russian security forces in the current conditions to go after the accused. In the meantime, some of the creditors have already succeeded in getting satisfaction in the Russian courts of their multimillion-dollar claims against former bankers.
Pöltene authorized the extradition of Russian bankers as early as January 15, 2021. Mikhail Gagloev and Elena Apanasenko, as well as their lawyers, filed appeals against this decision, which, however, were rejected by the Supreme Court a few months later.
Meanwhile, according to lawyer Dmitry Lapin, who represents the interests of a witness in the case of Vladimir Pozdnyakov, the head of the Anti-risk-security private security company, the extradition of the accused to Russia was constantly postponed. At first, this was hindered by covid restrictions that prevented air traffic between European countries. And after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, the case finally stalled.
Currently, the Russian security forces do not have the opportunity to go to Vienna to escort the fugitives to Moscow.
As already reported by Kommersant, Tempbank traces its history back to January 24, 1989 – on this day the credit institution was registered by the State Bank of the USSR. It ranked 197th in the rating of Russian banks, but became widely known after US Treasury sanctions were imposed on it in 2014. The fact is that Tempbank participated as a financial guarantor in securing a contract for drilling operations in the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic. At the same time, one of the shareholders of the bank was then a large businessman of Syrian origin. In addition, the decision of the US Treasury played a role in the fact that the central banks of Iran and North Korea, which were under US sanctions, placed hundreds of millions of dollars in Tempbank.
When difficulties began, the bank stopped returning money to domestic depositors, obligations before which amounted to about 13 billion rubles. In 2017, Tempbank was stripped of its license and later declared bankrupt.
The Deposit Insurance Agency, which assumed the obligations of a credit institution, having discovered the loss of funds, since 2017, sent several applications to the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to initiate criminal cases on especially large embezzlement, fraud, abuse of power and illegal actions in bankruptcy (Article 160 , article 159, article 201, article 195 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). After repeated pre-investigation checks, Mikhail Gagloev and Elena Apanasenko were brought to criminal responsibility.
But the law enforcement officers failed to bring charges against them in person, since the ex-bankers went abroad.
As a result, both defendants were put on the international wanted list by the investigation. In March 2020, the Kuzminsky District Court of Moscow issued a ruling on the arrest of financiers in absentia. The court decision made it possible to send materials on the accused to Interpol to place their data in the search database. In the autumn of the same year, when it became known that the former bankers were in Austria, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation sent a request to extradite the fugitives to this country. As a result, a positive decision was made.
Meanwhile, in Russia, over the past few years, the district courts of Moscow have received numerous claims for the recovery of amounts withdrawn from Tempbank. True, as lawyer Dmitry Lapin noted in an interview with Kommersant, the courts often refused plaintiffs on the grounds that when transferring money to a bank, creditors limited themselves to receipts without providing evidence of the lender's solvency. However, sometimes the presence of the necessary documents did not impress the court. So at first it happened with the client of Mr. Lapin – the owner of the private security company Vladimir Pozdnyakov. The latter had in his hands receipts, loan agreements and documents on the origin of the funds provided to Mr. Gagloev – statements from bank accounts from which the head of the private security company withdrew money. However, the Presnensky Court denied Mr. Pozdnyakov's claim to recover more than a billion rubles from Mikhail Gagloev, and the City Court approved this decision. Only in the Second Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction did lawyer Lapin manage to get the case returned for a new trial. As a result, the Presnensky Court, having considered the materials submitted by the lawyer, satisfied the claim. However, it will not be easy for Mr. Pozdnyakov and other Tempbank creditors to get their money back. As lawyer Lapin explained, this requires first finding the property of Mikhail Gagloev, including those located abroad. And the latter looks unrealistic under the current conditions.