The trial of the high-profile case of defrauded shareholders has resumed in Nizhny Novgorod

Yesterday in Nizhny Novgorod, a trial began against the former managers of the bankrupt JSC Nizhny Novgorod DSK, Yuri Zyuzin and Alexander Cherepnin. They are accused of stealing funds from people who invested in the shared construction of a 260-apartment building on the street. Machine. It has not been commissioned since 2009, and the damage to shareholders exceeded 400 million rubles. The accused businessmen did not admit guilt, and about two hundred defrauded shareholders loudly demanded to return the money or finish building the house. The victims intend to file a collective petition for the arrest of the former leaders of the company.

House on the street Mashinnoy Nizhny Novgorod DSK promised to commission it back in 2009
Photo: Evgeny Kurskov, Kommersant / buy photo

Former executive director of Nizhny Novgorod DSK CJSC Yuri Zyuzin and his deputy for finance Alexander Cherepnin are being tried for unfinished construction on the street. Mashinnaya, 12 for the second time: in December 2012, the court returned their criminal case for further investigation. Two years later, the situation with defrauded shareholders has not changed. The high-rise building with 260 apartments remains uncommissioned, although the former management of the company promised to complete the building in 2010 (Mr. Cherepnin, by the way, then ran for the Nizhny Novgorod City Duma, but did not get elected).

“The original delivery date for the house was July 2009. 493 million rubles were collected from shareholders, and 249 million rubles were invested in construction. Almost 250 million went somewhere. In 2010, the construction was frozen and they do not want to complete construction. But 260 families did not receive housing. This is about 800 people, and even children were born,” Tatyana Denisova, leader of the initiative group, told Kommersant. “There are many northerners among us who wanted to return to their homeland and were deceived,” added Nina Chainikova, who sold an apartment in Nizhnevartovsk to buy housing in Nizhny Novgorod.

The first court hearing was held in the cinema hall of the Sormovo club "Burevestnik" so that all the victims could fit in. Prosecutor Olga Gagarina read the charges from the stage to the businessmen sitting in the front row. They were accused of embezzlement and fraud on an especially large scale: according to the investigation, in 2007-2010, managers of the Nizhny Novgorod DSK stole 105.6 million rubles received under co-investment agreements, and another more than 5 million rubles. - from the contractor Decor LLC. The stolen share of the developer was estimated at another 62 million - the land plot was registered for the Life After the War charity foundation, which was supposed to transfer 10% of the apartments to the city administration, but the right of shared ownership of them was sold to citizens. In addition, the former director was charged with 27 counts of malicious failure to comply with court decisions when shareholders collected money from the company.

Neither Yuri Zyuzin nor Alexander Cherepnin admitted guilt, saying that they did not understand the essence of the charges brought against them and intended to prove their innocence through a “painstaking process.” Their words were interrupted by shouts from the hall. “Complete the house! Where is our money? We paid you millions!” - was heard from all rows. At this time, the defendants were guarded by a police squad just in case. “Let’s experiment: put them in a pre-trial detention center for a week, and the house will quickly be completed,” suggested one of the victims. When judge Ilya Varlamov told the court that each shareholder would be interrogated, people began to be indignant and shout out that they had been interrogated more than once in this case and they had given all the explanations a long time ago. “Let’s all refuse (from giving evidence. - Kommersant), we have nothing more to add! Now you’ll interrogate us for another year, and then the case will be returned to the prosecutor again, and in another two years there will be a new judge?” — one of the shareholders was indignant. The judge patiently explained that it was possible to do without a summons to court and read out written testimony if the victims wrote appropriate statements.

At the end of the trial, the court explained that victims have the right to apply for a preventive measure, which caused great enthusiasm among people. “Lawyers, do we have lawyers?” — huddled together, the most proactive shareholders began to agree on how to write a statement to the court with a request to arrest both defendants. The interrogation of the first victims was scheduled for December 29.

Meanwhile, the shareholders themselves gathered to hold a general meeting on December 13 to resolve the issue of additional payments for the completion of the house and discuss the possibility of financial assistance from the regional government. According to Tatyana Denisova, regional authorities promise them a subsidy for completion, but for this, shareholders must create an HOA and buy the land plot under the house.

However, people don’t really believe in the authorities’ help, saying that in five years they have only heard promises. A certain nervousness was also caused by the actions of the authorities regarding the property of a bankrupt company, from which funds can be raised to complete the construction of the house. Thus, recently, bypassing the bankruptcy trustee, the Federal Property Management Agency intended to sell it for 6 million rubles. unfinished business center "Parus" on the street. Timiryazev, this object was handed over to the department for implementation by bailiffs. Shareholders, who regarded this as a raider takeover of the bankruptcy estate, made a fuss, and Parus was removed from auction. In addition, there were disputes with the administration of Nizhny Novgorod. Back in 2008, the City Hall sold a plot of land with an area of 7 thousand square meters to the Nizhny Novgorod DSK for development. m on the street Zaitseva, but in the end was unable to receive most of the payment for the deal. The city authorities tried to return the land by terminating the purchase and sale agreement with the bankrupt, but lost all the courts on this matter.

Roman Kryazhev

The unfinished building is being rebuilt