The investigation has lost interest in the top manager of Bashneft

The investigation closed the criminal case against the senior vice-president of Bashneft, Viktor Gantsev, who was accused of concealing taxes worth 8 billion rubles from the federal budget. The investigation dropped the charges against him due to the expiration of the statute of limitations in the case and took into account the fact of full compensation for the damage. Mr. Gantsev's lawyers claim that the case was doomed to failure from the very beginning. Other experts attribute the cessation of the investigation to the sale of oil assets of Sistema.

As Kommersant learned, the investigative committee in Bashkiria stopped the criminal prosecution of Bashneft senior vice-president Viktor Gantsev, who was accused of hiding 8 billion rubles in taxes from the federal budget through offshore tax schemes. (Part 2 of Article 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Kommersant obtained a copy of the decision to terminate proceedings in his case. This Tuesday, the document was signed by the deputy head of the second department for investigating particularly important cases of the regional Investigative Committee Sergei Mikhailov. It follows from the resolution that the criminal case against Viktor Gantsev was closed due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for the crimes charged against him, as well as due to the full repayment of damages, penalties and fines.

The investigation made claims against Mr. Gantsev in 2003. He first became a suspect, and in April 2009, an accused in the case of Ufa oil refineries evading taxes in 2001. The refineries at that time were united into the Bashneftekhim holding controlled by the son of the then head of the republic, Ural Rakhimov, Viktor Gantsev was its general director. The investigation believes that the manager, who “single-handedly” managed the companies included in the group, directly acted as the founder of the Korus-Baikonur and Bort-M companies in the offshore zone of Baikonur (Kazakhstan). The investigation named the other founders of the companies as the then ex-senator from Bashkortostan Igor Izmestyev (who at that time headed the Korus-Holding company), as well as a number of “unidentified persons.” It was believed that Korus-Baikonur and Bort-M entered into “deliberately imaginary” lease agreements for plant process equipment and storage of petroleum products with Ufa refineries, which allowed them to take advantage of a number of tax benefits, including the payment of excise taxes. In reality, the offshore companies did not conduct any activities, the investigation believed. It determined Viktor Gantsev’s place in the criminal scheme in issuing “orders” according to which, from March to December 2001, at oil refineries “a fictitious document flow was drawn up daily, which made it possible to sell finished products “on behalf of” Korus-Baikonur and not pay excise taxes” (see . "Kommersant" dated May 31, 2007). The directors of Korus-Baikonur, Alexander Tsener, and Bort-M, Valery Poslovin, were charged with tax concealment back in 2008. Until April 2009, Mr. Gantsev was protected from charges by parliamentary immunity (since 2003 he has been a deputy of the Kurultai).

The investigation into his case was transferred several times from one security agency to another. It was conducted by the Federal Tax Police Service of the Russian Federation, the Investigative Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Prosecutor General's Office, and the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. In August 2011, the case was transferred to the Republican Investigative Committee. After the charges were filed, since March of this year, Viktor Gantsev was under recognizance not to leave the place. By that time, the Ufa refineries had already come under the control of AFK Sistema, and the manager himself took the post of vice president for oil refining and petrochemicals at the parent company Bashneft. His accomplice in the case, Igor Izmestyev, was sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2010 as the customer and organizer of a number of high-profile murders. Mr. Gantsev, like Ural Rakhimov, acted as witnesses in the case of the ex-senator.

Victor Gantsev's lawyer Sergei Makarenko said yesterday that his client is completely satisfied with the decision of the investigation. After the oil refineries fully compensated for the damage to the budget (this happened in 2004–2005, and at the end of 2009 the Russian government announced the liberalization of legislation on bringing to justice for tax crimes), “the case had no prospects, although it was hopelessly dragged out,” noted Mr Makarenko. He ruled out the possibility of Viktor Gantsev turning to judicial or other authorities to demand compensation for moral damage caused by the investigation. “There will be no demands on our part, since he has neither the desire nor the moral strength to sue,” the lawyer said. At the same time, he did not rule out that “acquittal in the case” could be demanded by Igor Izmestyev, “who has nothing to lose after the verdict passed on him.” The Investigative Committee found it difficult to clarify yesterday whether the proceedings in this case against the ex-senator were closed.

Chairman of the bar association “Valiullin, Zakharov and Partners” Marat Valiullin believes that the real reason for the termination of the case was “the transfer of control over the oil industry to the Moscow group.” “Nobody knows what information the investigation collected about the fuel and energy complex along the way. For example, it was possible to legally wiretap telephone conversations and obtain any documents related to this story, which could be the beginning of other criminal cases. It cannot be ruled out that the collected information will someday be transformed into new cases,” the expert believes.

Natalya Pavlova, Bulat Bashirov

Viktor Gantsev received a statute of limitations