As it became known to Kommersant, the investigation of the case against Dmitry Arzhanov, the former co-owner of the once largest Russian private energy holding TNS energo, has been completed. He is accused of creating a criminal community, which in a few years, according to investigators, stole 5.5 billion rubles. from the company “Rosseti Center and Volga Region”. At the same time, after the completion of the investigation, the Moscow City Court, having rejected the request of the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation investigating the case, to extend the period of detention for Mr. Arzhanov, transferred him to house arrest. The city court chose the same measure of restraint for the former CEO of the holding, Sergei Afanasyev, as well as the executive director of TNS energo Nizhny Novgorod, Boris Shchurov.
The Moscow City Court considered the petitions of the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for several hours. The investigation asked to extend the term of arrest for all three defendants currently in the pre-trial detention center until the end of June this year.
During the three years of detention of Dmitry Arzhanov, Boris Shchurov and Sergei Afanasyev, the courts extended this measure of restraint a dozen times, and the last time the Moscow City Court made such a decision at the beginning of the year. Therefore, the next consideration of arrest petitions before the hearings looked predictable and routine, but this time the outcome of the hearings was unexpected even for the defendants themselves and their lawyers, who asked for a milder measure of restraint.
The city court refused to satisfy the request of the investigation and, agreeing with the numerous arguments of the defense, transferred all three defendants under house arrest.
Now, in the new conditions, they, as well as another defendant in the case, Sofya Afanasyeva, who has been under house arrest for several months, will study the materials of her case. The completion of the investigation was confirmed to Kommersant by lawyer Marcel Valiullin, who represents the interests of Dmitry Arzhanov, the former co-owner of TNS Energo. The lawyer refrained from commenting on the course and results of the preliminary investigation.
As previously reported by Kommersant, the former co-owner of the energy holding Dmitry Arzhanov is accused of organizing a criminal community using his official position (part 3 of article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Similar charges were also brought against three more defendants in the case – ex-general director of TNS energo Sergey Afanasyev, his wife, ex-deputy general director of the holding Sofya Afanasyeva, and former executive director of TNS energo Nizhny Novgorod Boris Shchurov. It should be noted that this charge of a particularly serious crime was brought against the defendants in the last days of the investigation.
It is worth adding that Jamil Dashin, who at the time of his arrest was the head of the Nizhny Novgorod JSC Interregional Energy Retail Company, also appears in the materials of the criminal case. However, he is charged under Art. 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, unlike his accomplices, was not presented. Mr. Dashin has been under house arrest since the beginning of the investigation, as he admitted his guilt and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
Initially, all five defendants were accused of embezzling more than 5.5 billion rubles. from PJSC Rosseti Center and Volga Region (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
To do this, according to the materials of the case, the leadership of the TNS invented and planned an ingenious criminal scheme. According to investigators, it was used by attackers from August 2011 to October 2020. At this time, according to the investigation, the then management of the largest private energy holding at that time misled the supplier by showing him documents about supposedly global consumer non-payments. In fact, according to the case file, the financial situation was completely different, and falsifications were needed in order to be able to steal money that was supposed to be used to pay for electricity supplies. As a result of fraud, billions of rubles, according to the investigation, never reached Rosseti Center and Volga Region, but were sent to third-party projects, including abroad.
