The ex-owner of the Kostroma Confidence Bank was taken from the ladder

As it became known to Kommersant, the Investigative Committee of Russia (TFR) has completed the investigation of a criminal case against former State Duma deputy Yevgeny Trepov, accused of embezzling funds from the bankrupt Kostroma Confidence Bank, the owner and chairman of the board of directors of which he was. Together with him, the former and. O. the chairman of the board of this credit institution, Svetlana Germogenova, and the general director of the bank, Alexander Zuev.

The provisional administration and the Central Bank filed complaints to law enforcement agencies about fraud in the Kostroma Confidence Bank a month after the license was revoked from the credit institution. Her bank lost in April 2018 due to the use of “a risky business model focused on serving the interests of the main owner” in its activities. Including because of this, according to the regulator, a significant amount of assets of unsatisfactory quality has formed on the balance sheet of a credit institution.

In addition, Confidence Bank, according to the Central Bank, also carried out dubious transit operations. The credit institution owes 4.3 billion rubles to depositors.

At the moment, most of this amount has already been returned to them.

A criminal case on especially large-scale fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), which was subsequently reclassified as a particularly large embezzlement (part 4 of article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), was initiated by the TFR only in October 2021. For almost a year, it was investigated against unidentified persons.

All the defendants were detained in August 2022, the first – the former and. O. Chairman of the Board of Confidence Bank Svetlana Germogenova, who, after the collapse of the credit institution, got a job as the director of the Kostroma LLC Leader-Service, which specialized in the sale of cars. In the same place in Kostroma, the former general director of the bank, Alexander Zuev, was also detained. A month after the license was revoked from Confidence Bank, he established Neftinvest LLC, which was engaged in real estate rental.

But the main person involved – the ex-deputy of the State Duma, the former owner and chairman of the board of directors of Confidence Bank Evgeny Trepov – was met by operatives of the GUEBiPK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs right at the gangway of the plane at the Adler airport. In Sochi, the former parliamentarian, according to him, arrived for negotiations with business partners. However, the police had information that Mr. Trepov was planning to leave Russia. This version was also supported by the fact that Yevgeny Trepov did not respond to the investigator’s summons, and did not answer phone calls. As a result, he was charged in absentia, and then put on the federal wanted list. After the arrest, all the defendants were sent to Moscow.

Initially, only Svetlana Germogenova was taken into custody by the Basmanny District Court. The investigation applied for a similar measure of restraint in respect of the accused Trepov and Zuev. But the court limited itself to house arrests, under which Mrs. Germogenova was soon transferred.

According to Kommersant, the mitigation of the preventive measure for Svetlana Germogenova was due to the fact that she cooperated with the investigation and allegedly testified against her accomplices.

For interrogations to the investigator, the accused all this time traveled on their own from Kostroma, where they are serving the measure of restraint imposed by the court.

According to the TFR, the scheme of embezzlement from Confidence Bank was used in a standard way – the issuance of unsecured loans to six one-day firms controlled by participants in the fraud with further withdrawal of funds under fictitious transactions.

From the materials of the case, it follows that the guilt of the alleged organizer of the withdrawal of funds, Yevgeny Trepov, is confirmed by the testimony of not only accomplices, but also witnesses who “convicted him of the incriminated act.” According to Kommersant, he himself does not admit his guilt.

From the testimony of the former deputy and the banker, it follows that there is no damage in this case, since all the loans issued at the time the criminal case was initiated were allegedly repaid.

Trepov, 53, founded his bank in 1990. Since 2000, the banker has been actively involved in the political life of the country. He was elected several times as a deputy of the Kostroma Regional Duma, and from 2003 to 2007 he was a deputy of the State Duma. In 2014, Mr. Trepov was expelled from the United Russia party on compromising grounds – for refusing to declare his income as a regional Duma deputy.