The Prosecutor General’s Office appealed the release from the pre-trial detention center of Eduard Kim, a 76-year-old defendant in a criminal case on a particularly large embezzlement of funds from the Arsenal commercial bank, whose shareholders were several generals – Heroes of Russia. Earlier, the court concluded that the Investigative Committee and the FSB did not provide any evidence confirming the intention of the financier, whose investigation was completed, to hide and continue to engage in criminal activities.
Eduard Kim, together with the former and. O. Chairman of the Board of Arsenal CB Igor Shapiro is a defendant in a criminal case on embezzlement on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 160 of the Criminal Code), which is being processed by the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia. According to investigators, the pensioner was the managing shareholder of the credit institution and the organizer of theft from it in the amount of about 100 million rubles.
The investigation, turning to the court, obviously had no doubt that the term of arrest of the alleged embezzler, who has been in custody since last summer, would be extended once again. This was explained by the need to familiarize the defendant with the case materials, draw up an indictment and send it to the prosecutor for approval.
At the same time, the investigator cited data from the operational services, indicating that Eduard Kim, “realizing the severity of the crime committed and being at large”, can hide, including abroad; in order to prevent an objective and comprehensive investigation of a criminal case and its consideration in court – to threaten witnesses, induce them to refuse or change previously given testimony, “exposing his criminal activity.”
Neither the investigation nor the Prosecutor General’s Office supervising him found grounds for changing the accused’s measure of restraint to another one not related to isolation from society.
The Basmanny District Court, in turn, taking into account the advanced age of the accused, the presence of serious chronic diseases, as well as the lack of information that he was hiding from the investigation, avoided appearing before the participants in the investigation or threatened the participants in criminal proceedings, decided that he had had enough and house arrest. Moreover, the preliminary investigation of the case has been completed, and Eduard Kim has fully admitted his guilt.
The financier was released in the courtroom, and returned home accompanied by the Federal Penitentiary Service with a number of restrictions, including the use of communications.
It should be noted that the decision of the prosecutors categorically did not suit and they appealed to the Moscow City Court with an appeal, in which they demand that Eduard Kim be returned to the pre-trial detention center, where, according to the supervision, he should finish reading the materials of the investigation.
The Central Bank revoked the license from Arsenal, created by the military-industrial complex enterprises, in September 2017 due to non-compliance with the requirements of the law in the field of combating the legalization of proceeds from crime, as well as the dubious activities of its clients.
In addition, as the regulator established, since 2016, the work of the bank “was largely focused on conducting dubious transit operations.”
The shareholders of the bank at that time, among others, were Heroes of Russia – Major General Alexander Panfilov and Lieutenant General of the FSB Yuri Dukanov, as well as a public organization – the Russian Association of Heroes, headed by the former commander of the Airborne Forces, and now State Duma deputy Hero of Russia Vladimir Shamanov. In this regard, in financial circles, the bank was called the general’s.
After the bank was declared bankrupt, the bankruptcy trustee from the DIA filed a claim with arbitration for the recovery of losses in the amount of 313 million rubles from 16 co-defendants, among whom were Eduard Kim and Igor Shapiro, as well as from the association. The demand has not yet been satisfied, but dozens of real estate objects belonging to the defendants in Moscow, Moscow region, Rostov, Belgorod and other regions have been arrested.