As it became known to Kommersant, the Investigative Committee of Russia (TFR) has completed an investigation into a high-profile criminal case on a particularly large-scale fraud with elite real estate in the very center of Moscow. Business center with an area of 8 thousand square meters. m on Povarskaya attracted the attention of the investigation, after it turned out that one of its owners was allegedly the ex-governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Igor Kolomoisky, who was on the international wanted list. According to the TFR, the profits received from leasing could go to finance the Dnepr and Aidar national battalions controlled by the Ukrainian oligarch, which are recognized as extremist and banned in Russia.
The investigation of a high-profile criminal case began back in February 2018 with the accusation of Igor Dyabdenkov, CEO of City Holding LLC (the successor of Elit-Holding CJSC), and Dmitry Ryabokon, the founder of this organization, of tax evasion on an especially large scale (part 2 of article 199 of the Criminal Code RF). At the same time, the department for investigating crimes related to the use of prohibited means and methods of warfare of the TFR took up a seemingly banal story, which was based on the materials of the tax inspection.
The fact is that, according to the information available to the security forces, one of the owners of the Povarskaya Plaza business center, located one and a half kilometers from the Kremlin and next to the Supreme Court of Russia, was an internationally wanted man in the case of the commission of grave and especially grave crimes by the Ukrainian military. crimes in the east of Ukraine, ex-governor of the Dnepropetrovsk region Igor Kolomoisky. At the same time, the investigation also had the first assumptions that it received from the lease of almost 8 thousand square meters. m profit could go to finance the national battalions controlled by the Ukrainian oligarch. Their fighters, according to the ICR, killed hundreds of civilians in eastern Ukraine, including journalists.
However, the story with taxes did not result in anything. Initially, Tax Inspectorate No. 4 and the TFR believed that the company headed by businessmen had underpaid almost 42 million rubles to the budget for three years. However, after a series of examinations, it turned out that the calculations were incorrect, and the underpayment is about 8 million rubles, and criminal liability under the law occurs in case of arrears starting from 15 million rubles. As a result, in August last year, the criminal case against Igor Dyabdenkov and Dmitry Ryabokon was terminated by the investigator of the ICR Anton Migunov due to the lack of corpus delicti. Dmitry Ryabokon’s lawyer Denis Tikhonov confirmed this information to Kommersant.
By that time, both were defendants in another criminal case, but about a particularly large-scale fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), which was in the proceedings of the same Lieutenant Colonel of Justice Migunov. The case was initiated on April 10, 2020 at the request of Haykaz Ovasafyan, a resident of the Orekhovo-Borisovo microdistrict of the capital. It got to the investigator Migunov after it turned out that it was all about the same real estate on Povarskaya Street, 10/1.
By the way, this six-story mansion was seized by the Basmanny District Court of Moscow back in 2014, again at the request of investigator Migunov, who is investigating a criminal case against Igor Kolomoisky, who is charged with organizing the murders of Russian journalists, using prohibited means and methods of warfare, obstructing legitimate professional the activities of journalists and the abduction of Russian citizens on the territory of Ukraine (Articles 105, 356, 144 and 126 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
It follows from the materials of the fraud case that Mr. Ovasafyan is the beneficiary of the Arch limited holding registered in the Bahamas, which previously had business contacts with the group of companies of Igor Kolomoisky and his business partner, billionaire Gennady Bogolyubov. They, according to the investigation, at that time owned 25% of the shares of CJSC Elit-Holding.
In September 2015, in order to repay part of the debt in the amount of $300 million to Haykaz Ovasafyan’s company, Igor Kolomoisky transferred to him his Cypriot company Galermos, which, according to the applicant and the ICR, owned the Povarskaya Plaza business center.
Dealing with the received property, the new owner found out that the Cypriot offshore does not have any shares of Elit-Holding CJSC, which owns this business center: they are owned by the owner of the building, Dmitry Ryabokon. According to investigators, the latter, having entered into an agreement with Igor Dyabdenkov (both are under house arrest), stole shares from Galermos, thereby causing damage to Haykaz Ovasafyan in the amount of about 2 billion rubles. It should be noted that City Holding LLC has been in bankruptcy since July 27, 2021, but about 20 firms and organizations continue to rent space in it.
The defendants themselves do not admit their guilt in the theft, according to Kommersant. According to the testimony of Dmitry Ryabokon, he has been the sole founder and owner of Elit-Holding CJSC since the establishment of the organization in 2001. However, the businessman does not deny that he had business relations with Igor Kolomoisky. According to him, in the early 2000s, long before the events in Ukraine, people close to Igor Kolomoisky offered to pledge the building or shares of Elite Holding as collateral for a loan he took in the late 1990s at Mosprivatbank ( Moscow branch of Privatbank, controlled by the Ukrainian oligarch). However, Dmitry Ryabokon refused this offer, and the parties agreed to a compromise, concluding a gentleman’s agreement.
Its essence was that the transfer of 25% of the shares was registered only in the internal register of the CJSC, that is, without the alienation of property legally registered in state bodies. If Dmitry Ryabokon had not returned the money within the agreed period, then in this case the official transfer of shares would have to take place. However, in 2008, according to the businessman, he paid off his debt and suggested that representatives of Igor Kolomoisky cancel all agreements. At their insistence, this was done through the Cypriot company Galermos in the same 2008.
However, the investigation considered this version untenable, imputing to Dmitry Ryabokon and Igor Dyabdenkov, in addition to fraud, the legalization of funds or other property acquired as a result of the crime they committed (part 4 of article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Recently, the investigation of this case was completed, the parties got acquainted with the materials, and the ICR sent the accusation for approval to the Prosecutor General’s Office.