Translated material
Didn't wash off
The court found the former managers of Neftyanoy Bank guilty
In the Tagansky District Court of Moscow yesterday, the announcement of the verdict began in the case of former managers of the Neftyanoy Bank - one of the divisions of the concern of the same name, in which former Deputy Prime Minister and former head of the Union of Right Forces Boris Nemtsov once worked. In the dock were former chairman of the bank's board Yana Makarova, her first deputy Andrei Salimov, deputies Marina Borisova and Stanislav Prasolov, head of the bills department Vera Gavrilova and chief accountant Natalya Frolova. All of them are charged with illegal banking activities and money laundering.According to the investigation, they organized an underground money transfer system, through which about 400 billion rubles were “pumped” over five years. and 300 million dollars and cashed out 12.5 billion rubles. The investigation estimated the damage from their actions at 32 million rubles. Also in this case was the former head of the Neftyanoy concern, Igor Linshits, but since he hid from the investigation, he was put on the wanted list , and the materials were separated into a separate proceeding.
Given the scale of this criminal case, the announcement of the verdict, as it turned out yesterday, will take several days. However, from the first words of the judge it became clear that the bankers were found guilty. As follows from the verdict, they organized a criminal group, within which they engaged in fraud.
The accused themselves categorically refused to admit guilt, believing that “during the court hearing they presented all the arguments of their innocence and assured the court that they not only did not commit the crimes they were accused of, but that there was no corpus delicti.”
As the Vremya Novostei newspaper has already reported, the Prosecutor General's Office opened this criminal case on February 16, 2005, based on materials from a number of inspections by Rosfinmonitoring and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. During the investigation, it was established that over the course of 2000-2005, Neftyanoy, using dozens of fictitious companies registered both on the passports of deceased citizens and on lost passports, cashed out large sums and transferred funds abroad to offshore zones under the pretext of “ dubious transactions." Moreover, all transactions and management of accounts of fictitious companies were carried out on behalf of fictitious persons.
In December 2005, employees of the Prosecutor General's Office, the FSB and the Department of Economic Security (DEB) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs conducted a series of searches in the bank's offices . As a result, according to the investigation, the bank's black cash register, books recording the issuance of cash and valuables, fictitious cash orders, work records and video recordings of visitors accessing the cash desk were seized. In addition, the investigation found about 20 stamps of commercial organizations that, according to the investigation, participated in receiving cash through Neftyanoy, and in the basements of the building, detectives came across banking documentation and server devices.
Having studied the seized evidence, the investigation came to the conclusion that the bankers’ income from illegal transactions exceeded hundreds of millions of rubles. In 2002-2003 alone, through shell companies, according to investigators, the management of Neftyanoy transferred more than 400 billion rubles. and 300 million dollars, and also cashed out about 12.5 billion rubles. The income of the accused themselves, according to investigators, in the form of interest and commissions during this period alone amounted to more than 163 million rubles, of which over 144 million rubles. was later legalized. The investigation concluded that the use of various information technologies, modern software and other means of automating the banking process in banking allowed the accused to “skillfully hide their activities from control and audit authorities” for so long. In total, over the five years of operation of Neftyanoy Bank, its managers, according to investigators, illegally received an income of 57 billion rubles, of which 610 million rubles. it was later legalized.
In January 2006, the bank's chief accountant Natalya Frolova, head of the bills department Vera Gavrilova, first deputy chairman of the board Andrei Salimov and deputy chairman of the board Stanislav Prasolov were arrested . Salimov and Prasolov resigned from Neftyanoy in February 2005 almost immediately after the initiation of a criminal case. The first then moved to CB Narodny Kredit, where he took the post of chairman of the board, and the second to the same position at CB Premier. The court left the bank's chairman of the board, Yana Makarova, and the deputy chairman of the board, Marina Borisova, under recognizance not to leave the place.
“The court found that the Chairman of the Board of Neftyanoy Bank, Yana Makarova, created an organized criminal group and directly supervised, set tasks and controlled the activities of all accomplices in the crime, and also, together with other defendants, was engaged in illegal banking activities using fake payment guarantees. - the judge announced yesterday. -- To carry out their plan, the defendants acquired seals and charter documents of various LLCs. On behalf of the dummies, they opened current accounts for these legal entities, drew up fictitious agreements allegedly signed by the general directors of these LLCs, and, under the guise of a bank, carried out illegal banking activities with the extraction of income on an especially large scale. In addition, they issued to their clients without presenting the documents necessary to receive cash, as soon as they said a code word, for example, “volleyball”. The court also found that this organized group issued fraudulent checks and loans using fraudulent documents and received remuneration for opening and maintaining these shell company accounts. In just five years, 5 thousand such operations were carried out. Thus, the court found that Makarova and others, as well as persons unidentified by the investigation, had the direct intent to carry out illegal banking activities in order to extract income in the amount of 163 million rubles. in the form of interest and commissions, of which over 144 million rubles. was legalized."
The main suspect in the Neftyanoy case, according to the investigation, is still the head and co-owner of the Neftyanoy concern, Igor Linshits. According to investigators, it was he who was the organizer of the fraud. The materials of his case were separated into separate proceedings, and in July 2006, the Central Bank revoked the license of KB Neftyanoy. After he hid from the investigation, he was charged in absentia under the same articles, then he was put on the wanted list. According to unofficial information, he is now in Israel.
According to Mr. Linshits’s lawyers, he has long repaid his debt to the state, transferring more than 32 million rubles. at the expense of the Prosecutor General's Office. But despite this, the court arrested his property, including 7.5 million shares of Mosinzhstroy OJSC.