| BIN Bank accuses Olimpiysky of stealing monopoly shares The Association of Russian Banks (ARB) yesterday announced searches in the central office of one of its members - Olimpiysky Bank, whose board member Sergei Drozdov is accused of involvement in the theft of Transneft shares from one of the clients of BIN Bank (also a member EPIRB). There were indeed searches, but the management of Olimpiyskiy stated that they were not involved in this case and accused BIN of conspiring with Mr. Drozdov to “steal money from us.” Similar conflicts involving Olimpiyskiy have occurred before, but were resolved outside of court.
The conflict between the two banks began in July, after Olimpiysky did not fulfill BIN’s instructions to transfer 22.3 thousand preferred shares of Transneft worth about 600 million rubles. According to the Vremya Novostei newspaper, the banks entered into an agreement (certified by Mr. Drozdov on behalf of Olimpiysky) on behalf of their clients to sell these securities for BIN Bank bills. However, having paid for the transaction with promissory notes, BIN discovered that the Transneft shares were never received in the account indicated to Olimpiysky. BIN initiated a criminal case against Mr. Drozdov, and also filed a claim against Olimpiyskiy in the Moscow arbitration court for damages. In addition, the president of the bank, Mikhail Shishkhanov, filed complaints about Olimpiysky with the National Association of Stock Market Participants, the Financial Monitoring Committee, the Federal Financial Markets Service and the ARB.
According to the ARB, Mr. Shishkhanov writes that “Olympiysky Design Bureau,” “impeding in every possible way the investigation of the criminal case, for several weeks categorically refused to provide documents of interest to the investigative authorities.” In addition, “the management of the Olimpiysky CB prevented employees of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation from entering the building of the Olimpiysky Bank, therefore, to carry out investigative actions, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was forced to attract a SOBR detachment to get into the building of the Olimpiysky CB. Law enforcement agencies were unable to confirm or refute this information yesterday.
Meanwhile, the deputy chairman of the board of Olimpiysky, Alexei Chernukha, told the Vremya Novostei newspaper yesterday that “there was and is no GUBOP or SOBR in the bank.” According to him, “over the past week and a half, every possible assistance has been provided to the investigation into the criminal case - documents and any materials of interest have been issued.” Yesterday, says Mr. Chernukha, “the bank voluntarily issued documents previously issued to the prosecutor’s office.” The deputy chairman of the board calls Sergei Drozdov, who headed the securities department at Olimpiysky, a “middle manager” and says that he used a “fake bank seal” when concluding a fictitious transaction. “We have never received either cash or bills from BIN Bank for shares,” assures Mr. Chernukha, “and we have not seen the shares themselves either.” According to him, there are no such volumes of Transneft shares on the market at all, and the last time transactions “for such packages were concluded several years ago.” Alexey Chernukha believes that “the management of BIN Bank entered into a conspiracy” with Drozdov: “They came up with a scheme to steal money from us and implemented it using administrative and other opportunities. This is ordinary corporate blackmail." In response, BIN Bank stated that the conspiracy “obviously takes place in the Olimpiysky Bank itself,” since documents confirming the existence of obligations of the Olimpiysky Bank to the client of the BIN Bank were signed by at least three more employees of the Olimpiysky Bank ", in particular, the Head of the depository, Ms. O.V. Khromova. and the responsible executor of the depository Mr. Irzhilkovsky V.M.” However, according to Mr. Chernukha, “a man named Irzhilkovsky never worked at Olimpiysky Bank.”
Similar incidents involving Olimpiyskiy have happened before. Thus, one of the stock market participants told the Vremya Novostey newspaper that the bank delayed payments for shares of a number of issuers for more than a month, but the dispute was resolved out of court.
Regarding the conflict, the ARB said that although both banks are members of the association, BIN “has always taken an active part in the work of the association, while Olimpiysky has remained aloof and reluctant to make contact.” Yuri VERETENNIKOV |
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