Rakhim Minnegulova was sentenced to four years suspended imprisonment

A Ufa court yesterday sentenced businesswoman Rakhima Minnegulova to a suspended sentence, finding her guilty of fraud and theft of 24.4 million rubles from investors in a business center on October Revolution Street. The defendant did not admit guilt, and her defense stated that the criminal case was ordered. She intends to appeal the verdict.

The Soviet Court of Ufa yesterday found entrepreneur Rakhima Minnegulova, who managed and owned the development company Interstroy - SK, guilty of fraud on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). She was sentenced to four years of suspended imprisonment for the theft of 24.4 million rubles. from the companies of Dinara Syrtlanova, the daughter of the former general director of Bashneft Ampir Syrtlanov. In 2008, LLC Vozrozhdenie and Svyaz Vremya, owned by the victim, invested in the construction by Interstroy of a seven-story business center on October Revolution Street. The developer undertook to transfer 500 sq. m. to the investor. m on the ground floor of the center to accommodate a restaurant (Dinara Syrtlanova owns the Coffee Time cafe). Commissioning of the facility was planned for 2009, but in fact construction stopped at the foundation pit stage.

As the court found, Rakhima Minnegulova transferred the money received from the investor to the Housing Construction Investment Fund OJSC, which belonged to her. Their further fate was not specified in court. Following the investigation, the court came to the conclusion that the developer initially had “intent to steal”, in particular, she “deliberately kept silent” that she had previously sold the same premises to another investor - businesswoman Anzhelika Ismagilova, daughter of the former deputy chairman of the Supreme Court of the Republic Nail Ziganshin. In addition, the business center project did not provide for the placement of catering outlets on the ground floor, the court noted.

In 2010, Vozrozhdenie and Connection of Times tried to recover the debt from Interstroy in arbitration as unjust enrichment, but the companies’ claim was denied for lack of proof of the debt. In 2013, Interstroy was declared bankrupt with accounts payable of 111.58 million rubles. During bankruptcy, the bulk of the debt was purchased by the BNZS group. Now the business center building with a degree of completion of 20% is put up for sale for 83.3 million rubles.

The lenient sentence of Rakhima Minnegulova, who did not admit her guilt, was explained by the court by her lack of criminal record and positive characteristics. The state prosecution, we recall, demanded five years in prison with a fine of 500 thousand rubles.

The defense sought an acquittal. She stated that the intent to steal money was not proven by the investigation, and there was no damage to the victim, since her debt was redeemed by BNZS (the amount of the debt redemption was not specified). The court considered these arguments unfounded.

The prosecutor's office reported that the decision to appeal the verdict will be made after receiving the reasons for it.

Rakhima Minnegulova's lawyer Albina Suleymanova stated that she intends to appeal the verdict. “The court actually rewrote the indictment, leaving numerous procedural violations unaddressed. The court’s verdict once again confirmed the ordered nature of the criminal case,” she noted.

Olga Korzik

The head of Interstroy did not meet the real deadline