The St. Petersburg court terminated the criminal prosecution of the former head of the board of directors of OAO Ust-Luga Company, Valery Izraylit, on charges of two counts of fraud on an especially large scale and the legalization of 26 million rubles. This was announced on May 2 by the joint press service of the courts of St. Petersburg. The reason for this decision was the expiration of the statute of limitations on the articles imputed to the entrepreneur. However, two episodes remained in court proceedings concerning the withdrawal of $2 million to non-residents’ accounts.
The Smolninsky District Court of St. Petersburg granted the petition of businessman Valery Izrailit to terminate proceedings in the case of fraud committed by an organized group or on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and on the legalization of money obtained by criminal means on an especially large scale (paragraph “b” part 4 article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
According to the prosecution, as a result of the actions of Valery Izrailit, about 320 million rubles were stolen, allocated for the development of the infrastructure of the port of Ust-Luga.
As Kommersant was told in the joint press service of the courts of St. Petersburg, the criminal prosecution of the ex-head of the board of directors of OAO Ust-Luga Company on fraud and money laundering has been terminated, but materials on two episodes, provided h. 2 and h. 3 Article. 193.1 (currency transactions to transfer funds to the accounts of non-residents using false documents) in the amount of $2 million.
“Despite the fact that from the first day of my arrest until today, I have not admitted and do not admit my guilt on any of the charges, despite the fact that we still have a sufficient number of documents that I would like to attach to the case file as evidence (innocence. – “Kommersant”), I want to announce the termination of criminal prosecution under articles that have expired. Since I consider the endless battle pointless, which will lead to nothing, ”the businessman said in court.
Valery Izrailit’s lawyer Victoria Burkovskaya told Kommersant that the defense also continues to challenge the legality of initiating a criminal case in connection with a special declaration under Art. 193.1. Earlier, Kommersant wrote that Valery Izrailit, according to investigators, took advantage of the capital amnesty announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2016. The businessman declared foreign companies controlled by him, an apartment in London, shares, bank accounts. To explain the withdrawal of the currency abroad, Valery Izrailit allegedly planned to buy his own yacht from one of his firms.
This allowed the FSB to accuse the businessman of withdrawing funds using false documents and legalizing them.
“Despite the position of the Supreme Court that it is unacceptable to use not only a special declaration, but also any information from a special declaration, the criminal proceedings in this case are still ongoing. The prosecutor’s office refers to documents containing information from the special declaration, and the defense will definitely dispute this. Because the position on the inadmissibility of using this information was directly included in the Code of Criminal Procedure. At the same time, the state prosecution continues to use this information, which, according to the defense, violates the law,” Victoria Burkovskaya said.
Valery Izrailit was detained at the end of 2016 on suspicion of fraud. In December 2018, the Smolninsky District Court registered a criminal case against the businessman. The preliminary investigation was carried out by the investigative service of the Federal Security Service for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. As previously reported in the press service of the courts, the fraud case against Valery Izrailit was connected with the supply of low-quality pipes for the port of Ust-Luga. In March 2020, the court released the businessman under house arrest.
As Kommersant previously wrote, in September 2020, the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region declared Valery Izraylit bankrupt following a lawsuit filed by the Baltic Investment Bank in August 2017. Then the credit institution demanded 235.4 million rubles from the entrepreneur. Nevertheless, the court ruled that the businessman owed Baltinvestbank 681.4 million rubles: 363.3 million rubles. in the total amount of liabilities is a penalty, and another 83 million rubles – interest on the loan. In February 2022, the St. Petersburg arbitration proceeded to sell the property of Valery Izraylit.