The lawyer of the ex-owner of "Yugra" Khotin commented on the cancellation of the bankruptcy commencement

The appeal has canceled the start of bankruptcy at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office against the former owner of the Yugra Bank Alexei Khotin in the case of embezzlement of 23.6 billion rubles. Pavel Khlyustov, the ex-banker's lawyer, commented to Izvestia on November 26 on the rejection of the procedure.

The case has now been sent for a new review, indicating that the bankruptcy of the accused has been canceled.

"In this direction our position coincides with the Prosecutor General's Office, we too have always objected to the introduction of any bankruptcy procedure. In any case, the Arbitration Court will have to reconsider the validity of the claims of Alfa Bank, Sberbank and the Deposit Insurance Agency to recognize Khotin as bankrupt," the human rights activist pointed out.

The lawyer added that the introduction of bankruptcy proceedings will be a direct threat to the nationalization of assets attributed to Khotin.

Earlier, at the suit of the Prosecutor General's Office, the Zamoskvoretsky court of Moscow seized the oil group Rus-Oil, allegedly owned by Khotin, in favor of the state. The court considered that the oil assets were Khotin's property. The market valuation of the seized oil companies exceeds 300 billion rubles.

The Meshchansky court additionally nationalized the ex-banker's real estate with a total area of 1.5 million meters, also allegedly belonging to Khotin. We are talking about the Four Seasons hotel and the Gorbushkin Dvor shopping center, the combined value of which, tentatively, exceeds 200 billion.

"If on reconsideration the court reintroduces bankruptcy proceedings against Khotin, Khotin's creditors have the right to demand the return of all these assets to the bankruptcy estate. This could become a fatal problem for Rosimushchestvo and the Prosecutor General's Office," he concluded.

The defense lawyer recalled that in early October, the Moscow Arbitration Court recognized the validity of Alfa Bank's application for bankruptcy of Khotin and included in its register of creditors the debt to the applicant in the amount of 106.3 billion rubles.

In March, the Zamoskvoretsky Court sentenced Khotin to nine years in prison. In addition, former Yugra president Alexei Nefedov then received 8.5 years in a general regime colony, ex-chairman of the board Dmitry Shilyaev - eight years, ex-director of the Moscow branch Nina Chernova - six years.

According to the investigation, from 2014 to 2017, Khotin together with Dmitry Shilyaev, Alexei Nefedov and Nina Chernova stole more than 23 billion rubles by issuing knowingly irrecoverable loans to three companies controlled by Khotin. All defendants in the case deny their involvement in the crimes. At the same time, in 2014, Khotin appointed members of the organized group he created to senior positions in the Yugra Bank.

In 2017, the Russian Central Bank revoked Yugra 's banking license. A year later, the credit organization was declared bankrupt.

Last May, the Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow recovered more than 192 billion rubles from Khotin. The court also ruled that the shares and 100% stakes in the authorized capitals of business entities belonging to the group of companies of Rus-Oil JSC should be returned to the state. After that, in June, the Arbitration Court recovered $115 million in damages from a number of ex-managers of the bank and Khotin in favor of the credit organization. The decision was based on the issuance of knowingly irrecoverable loans to legal entities and individuals.