The case of Akhmed Bilalov. What is the former vice president of the Olympic Committee accused of?

The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow has granted a request for the arrest in absentia of former vice-president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Akhmed Bilalov. He is accused of embezzling money allocated by Sberbank for the construction of ski jumps for the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. Bilalov has been abroad since 2013. What is known about the businessman's case and what else he is suspected of is in the Izvestia material.

What is Bilalov accused of?

• On January 27, it became known that a criminal case had been opened against Bilalov. He is suspected of committing a crime under Part 4, Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Fraud committed by an organized group or on a particularly large scale or resulting in the deprivation of a citizen's right to housing"). The former sports manager faces up to 10 years in prison with a fine of up to 1 million rubles.

• A criminal case was initiated by the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia in Moscow and transferred to the Tverskoy District Court. He chose a preventive measure in the form of arrest in absentia due to the fact that Bilalov is outside of Russia, his exact location is unknown. The materials of the criminal case say that he was involved in the theft of 1 billion rubles, which were allocated by Sberbank for the construction of facilities for the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

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• In 2013, a criminal case was already initiated against Bilalov under Part 1 of Article 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Abuse of authority in a commercial organization"). He was accused of unjustifiably spending 3 million rubles as chairman of the board of Directors of the Resorts of the North Caucasus company (now KAVKAZ.RF). According to the Prosecutor General's Office, Bilalov and the company's management traveled "to foreign countries using luxury items," including to the 2012 Olympic Games in London. There is no data on the closure of this case, however, the limitation period for bringing cases of moderate severity (which includes Part 1 of art. 201) is six years.

Delayed construction of trampolines

• Bilalov became the focus of attention in February 2013, when Russian President Vladimir Putin conducted an inspection of sports facilities in Sochi that were being built for the Winter Olympics. During the trip, he asked about the deadlines for the delivery of ski jumps. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, who oversaw the preparations for the competition, said that the facility should have been ready back in 2011, with final completion scheduled for September 2013.

• He blamed the delay on Krasnaya Polyana and its associated Bilalov, who at that time also held the post of vice president of the ROC. It also turned out that the cost of trampolines has increased from the initial 1.2 billion rubles to 8 billion. The construction was paid for with funds from Krasnaya Polyana borrowed from Sberbank. The next day, Kozak announced that Putin had ordered Bilalov to be dismissed from his posts in the ROC and the Resorts of the North Caucasus. It soon became known that he had gone to Germany for medical treatment.

• Akhmed Bilalov, together with his brother Magomed, controlled Krasnaya Polyana OJSC, which owned the Gornaya Karusel ski complex in Krasnaya Polyana. The company acted as an investor in a ski jumping complex and a media village, while planning to make money on the construction of residential real estate in the mountains. The co-investor was Sberbank, which gained control over a quarter of Krasnaya Polyana's shares.

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• Delays in the delivery of trampolines began in 2010. They were caused by design errors, poorly conducted engineering surveys and additional requirements from the International Olympic Committee. In addition to sports facilities, Krasnaya Polyana received an obligation to build an access road. In 2012, Sberbank took control of the Bilalov company, after which the construction of all planned facilities was completed.

What else is Bilalov known for?

• Bilalov was born in Dagestan in 1970. His cousins are Ziyavudin and Magomed Magomedov, entrepreneurs who were sentenced in 2022 to 19 and 18 years in a high—security penal colony, respectively, for creating a criminal community and embezzlement of budget funds. In the 1990s, Bilalov was a member of the management of various banks and was involved in the sale of oil assets.

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• In 1999, Bilalov entered politics. He was elected to the State Duma of the third and fourth convocations, and from 2011 to 2012 he was a member of the Federation Council from the Krasnodar Territory. In 2010, Bilalov was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of Resorts of the North Caucasus, which were engaged in the development of the tourism industry in the region. At the same time, Bilalov was engaged in sports management. He was a member of the Russian delegation representing Sochi at the election of the capital of the Winter Olympics, served as Vice-President of the ROC, and was president of the Russian Golf Association.

• After Bilalov went to Germany for treatment in February 2013, he said he felt unwell due to suspected mercury poisoning. He developed symptoms in the fall of 2012. After treatment in Baden-Baden, Bilalov returned to Russia for a short time, but then left the country again and settled in the United States. In 2019, it became known that he was detained by the migration police due to a violation of the migration regime, but Bilalov escaped deportation.