The Tverskoy Court of Moscow arrested businessman Boris Zimin, recognized as a foreign agent, in absentia in a case of particularly large-scale fraud. He is accused of fraud with the shares of the car-sharing company BelkaCar in the amount of 567 million rubles. Zimin himself has not lived in Russia for a long time. The preventive measure for a period of two months will come into effect from the moment of his detention or extradition to the country. Zimin’s accomplices, the investigation calls businessmen Fabian Kroycher and Ralf Nowak, former partners of the injured party, businessman Benedikt Sobotka.
According to Konstantin Tretyakov, Ralph Novak’s lawyer, that, according to the investigation, Mr. Zimin was the organizer of the transaction, to which the law enforcement authorities had claims, he learned just a few days ago, although he has been working on his client’s case for a year, and this story itself has even deeper roots. The lawyer told Business FM that Benedikt Sobotka, who is the victim in the case, met his client Ralph Nowak at a university in Germany, and their parents lived on neighboring streets. Novak and Sobotka then worked together at a well-known consulting company. At that moment, another person involved in the case, Fabian Kroycher, joined them. Together they created a company in Switzerland, which also became engaged in consulting, and also began to be interested in investments, more precisely, it was engaged in the resale of start-ups.
They found promising projects, invested in them, “combed” and sold with their own margin. One of these startups was the Russian BelkaCar. More precisely, the three girls who came up with the idea of opening this business in Russia faced the problem of finding an investor at home and therefore created a company in Cyprus, the only asset of which was BelkaCar. It was this Cypriot company that interested the Germans.
For this company, investors found borrowed funds – 2 million euros, and in return they asked for 52% of BelkaCar. The deal went through. But here the Germans began to disagree. Benedikt Sobotka felt that investing was too risky. He suggested that the partners focus on consulting. Nowak and Kroycher wanted to continue developing in both directions, Konstantin Tretyakov, Ralph Novak’s lawyer, partner at Egorov, Afanasiev, Puginsky and Partners, points out:
“Differences are growing. A decision is made to transfer both the asset and the liability. That is, we take the company. On the one hand, it has a 52% stake in BelkaCar. On the other hand, she owes 2 million euros for them. When making a decision, you do not want the consulting company to bear any risks. They create a new company. Novak and the others—there are two other partners—are transferring the debt, respectively, transferring the shares there as well. For the original company, the deal has zero effect.”
Once again, let’s make a reservation: everything voiced above is the position of Novak’s defense. The creators of BelkaCar in Russia did not want to comment on the topic. It was not possible to contact the lawyers of the injured Mr. Sobotka Business FM. They were not present in court during the suppression of Zimin, in fact, in this process, the interests of Sobotka are currently represented by the investigation. And the version of the investigation is obvious: money was stolen from Sobotka. Although, when Benedikt Sobotka tried to sue former partners in Cyprus and Switzerland about the same BelkaCar, nothing came of it. In the Cypriot courts, according to Novak’s lawyer, he lost twice. After the case was initiated in Russia, Fabian Kroycher was arrested in absentia in August 2022 and put on the international wanted list. And Novak has been in the Butyrka pre-trial detention center since the end of last year.
According to Fyodor Trusov, managing partner of the Sokolov, Trusov and Partners law firm, the current situation was the result of the habit of many businessmen – and not only Russian ones – to use complex schemes for the ownership and transfer of assets, adjusted for Russian reality, when, it would seem, a dispute between businessmen subjects, one of the parties can easily involve law enforcement agencies.
“If BelkaCar had a more understandable, transparent ownership structure between participants, investors… Yes, they would fall under Russian jurisdiction with all the other risks and consequences. But it would be easier for them to explain some things in a public space. But this set and chains of foreign companies cannot be explained to a simple layman now. Neither the victim nor the accused. The fact that in our country, unfortunately, law enforcement agencies are beginning to intervene in disputes between investors, between participants in foreign companies, has led to the fact that we have what we have.”
According to the lawyer of Ralph Novak, Konstantin Tretyakov, who is in jail, his client sincerely believes in the impartiality of the Russian court. The lawyer did not comment on these beliefs. Although he said that Novak has been living in Russia for 15 years, received a second citizenship, is married to a Russian woman, has two minor children, bought an apartment in Moscow on a mortgage – ironically, not far from Butyrka. He loves Russian poetry and nature. But mentally he remains 100% German: he does not cross the road at a red light and, according to the lawyer, during the pandemic he was almost the only person who walked strictly according to the schedule drawn up by the Moscow authorities.
