Hasty conclusion: former top manager of Agrosoyuz sentenced to 17 years
November 18, Basmanny court of Moscow announced a sentence of 17 years in prison for Stanislav Shelovskikh, former vice-president of the bank "Agrosoyuz" in the case of embezzlement of 10 billion rubles and participation in OPS. Together with him, Natalia Petrenko, previously convicted for financial fraud, who was engaged in black accounting, and ex-employee of the Moscow police Denis Makartsev were sentenced to 15 and 14 years respectively. At the same time, the OPS, which included the convicts, may also be involved in larger schemes to withdraw funds from other banks - there we are talking about damage of 150 billion rubles, but the investigation into these episodes has not yet been completed. How the embezzlement scheme worked and where the depositors' money went - in the material of "Izvestia".
What is known for the bank "Agrosoyuz"
Basmanny court of Moscow sentenced the former vice-president of the bank "Agrosoyuz" Stanislav Shelovskikh to 17 years in prison for multi-billion dollar embezzlement of deposits of Russians and corporate clients, as well as for participation in an organized criminal association (OPS). This is only one year less than the state prosecutor requested for Shelovskikhs earlier during the debate of the parties.
Ex-vice president of Agrosoyuz bank and other defendants in fraud case
According to the investigation, Stanislav Shelovskikh and two of his accomplices stole more than 10 billion rubles from the banks Agrosoyuz and Inkarobank, which went bankrupt in 2018, a few days before their licenses were revoked. The prosecution assigns the role of executors to all three defendants, while the internationally wanted beneficiary of the banks, Ilya Kligman, and his assistant Yevgeny Urin, younger brother of scandal-plagued banker Matvey Urin, are considered the organizers.
In the 2000s, the latter became famous for beating up Dutch businessman Jorrit Faassen on the Rublevskoye highway, for which he was sentenced in 2011 to four and a half years in a general regime colony. And in 2013 - to seven and a half years for fraud to the amount of 16 billion rubles.
In October 2018, Agrosoyuz and Inkarobank lost their licenses just a few days apart. The basis for the revocation was "failure of the credit organization to comply with federal laws regulating banking activities", as well as "the presence of a real threat to the interests of creditors and depositors", follows from the information published by the Central Bank.
The banks were also found guilty of lending to dubious borrowers and conducting financial transactions non-transparent to the regulator. As a result, Inkarobank owed its customers about 3 billion rubles, and Agrosoyuz - more than 7 billion.
Investigators began investigating the circumstances of embezzlement from Agrosoyuz and Inkarobank in February 2019. According to the materials of the criminal case, Stanislav Shelovskikh's accomplice Natalia Petrenko, previously convicted for financial fraud, was responsible for black accounting in the system. And Denis Makartsev, an ex-officer of the Department of Internal Affairs of the North-Eastern District of Moscow, covered all security operations. The court found these two defendants guilty of leading structural subdivisions of the OPS and especially large-scale fraud and sentenced them to 15 and 14 years in prison, respectively.
Natalia Petrenko's lawyer Vladimir Bregadze told "Izvestia" that he would appeal the verdict, but refused to comment further. The lawyers of the other convicts also refrained from talking to journalists.
Billion Dollar Embezzlement
As for the alleged organizers of the scheme, Ilya Kligman and Yevgeny Urin, they evaded the investigation abroad and are now on an international wanted list. The Interior Ministry believes that the current defendants - Shelovskikh, Petrenko and Makartsev - are not the only participants in the scheme of withdrawal of bank funds. In addition to them, the OPS included several dozen people who participated in large-scale embezzlement from other failed banks. We are talking, in particular, about Baikalbank, Interkommerts Bank, Transinvestbank, Time Bank, Antalbank, Arksbank, Gelendzhik Bank and a number of other credit institutions.
The fraud, as follows from the case, was carried out by issuing unsecured loans, buying alleged securities and by assigning the loan portfolio to controlled one-day companies. Sometimes there was a whole chain of such companies.
According to the investigation, in total, Kligman's subordinates were able to withdraw more than 150 billion rubles from these banks. This damage was later reimbursed to the affected depositors by the federal Deposit Insurance Agency. As a rule, the money was withdrawn before the licenses of these banks were revoked.
One of the defendants in the case, former deputy chairman of the board of Agrosoyuz Bank Andrei Somov, fully pleaded guilty and entered into a pre-trial cooperation agreement with the prosecutor's office. In August 2023, Basmanny court sentenced him to three years in prison. The other participants in the scheme were charged in absentia.
Harsh terms
Serious terms, which received bankers, are associated with the fact that sometimes the investigation deliberately "overstates" the qualification of the charge before the creation of OPS, believes Maria Bakakina, adviser to the criminal law practice of the Moscow law firm "Sokolov, Trusov and Partners". Although in such cases it may be a crime of prior conspiracy.
- As a rule, this is motivated by the fact that the court can always reclassify from a more serious to a less serious article, - said the lawyer. - In addition, when it comes to a group crime, there are always those who make a deal with the investigation and in a fit of inspiration tell investigators everything and more. It can be extremely difficult to verify or refute such testimony later.
Before revoking the license, bank managers use various schemes to withdraw assets, NOVATOR Legal Group partner Alexander Katkov told Izvestia.
- The money is withdrawn both to their controlled firms and to fake (nominal) individuals," the lawyer pointed out. - In order to uncover such schemes, law enforcement agencies conduct financial and analytical examinations and operational-search activities, during which it becomes possible to establish the intent of specific persons to withdraw assets and receive income from such activities.
As of today, emphasized Alexander Katkov, more than four hundred criminal cases have been initiated by the Deposit Insurance Agency. Most often - under articles on deliberate bankruptcy, fraud, embezzlement, misappropriation or embezzlement, as well as abuse of authority.
- The number of criminal cases under the article on OPS in recent years is growing, but not all of them reach the court in this qualification, - said the lawyer.
Ч. 3 of Article 210 of the Criminal Code, under which the defendants were convicted, provides for imprisonment for a term of 15 to 20 years. Taking into account that the defendants were charged with committing another serious crime - fraud, the sentence was passed within the time limits provided by law, the lawyers summarized.
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