M. Stulov

The investigation has closed the criminal case against Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak, his lawyer Andrei Romashov reported. He explained that the case was closed as a result of the decision of the arbitration court, which in late November recognized the Finance Ministry's debt to Sodexim in the amount of $43.4 million. This made the criminal case against the official, which cost him 11 months in prison, meaningless.

The lawyer was unable to answer the question of whether his client would file a claim for compensation for damage caused by the criminal prosecution. The press service of the Investigative Committee of Russia (SKR) declined to comment.

The investigation accused Storchak (the perpetrator), former CEO of Sodexim Viktor Zakharov (the customer), and the chairman of the board of directors of the Interregional Investment Bank, former deputy finance minister Vadim Volkov (one of the organizers) of creating an organized group with the purpose of embezzling funds from the federal budget under the pretext of covering Sodexim's expenses. All three were arrested in November 2007 and released in October 2008, pending trial. In November 2010, the Prosecutor General's Office returned Storchak's case for further investigation due to procedural violations.

In 1996, Sodexim won a tender to receive $80.8 million worth of goods from Algeria in exchange for a $24.24 million payment to the budget. The Russian authorities had agreed to this method of settling the debt to the USSR in 1992. But the Algerians did not fulfill their obligations, and Zakharov began to demand that his money be returned with interest. On November 1, 2004, in a letter to Vnesheconombank Deputy Chairman Alexei Smirnov, he estimated his losses at $55 million; by the end of 2004, in a letter to Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, at $75.4 million; and in March 2006, in a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, at $95.9 million.

By the beginning of 2007, Zakharov proposed to proceed from a rate of 10% per annum and return him a sum of about $50 million; Storchak proposed to use a rate of six-month LIBOR + 0.5%, which meant a return of $36.7 million. The sum of $43.4 million became a compromise between the two approaches, follows from Zakharov's letter. In September 2007, Storchak wrote to the government about the need to include an article on the settlement with Sodexim in the 2007 budget law - this action was considered by investigators to be an attempt to commit a crime.

Investigation closes "Storchak case"