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- Promissory note provision: the investigation of the theft of 7.5 billion rubles from VEB has been completed
Promissory note provision: the investigation of the theft of 7.5 billion rubles from VEB has been completed
As it became known to Izvestia, the investigation of the criminal case on the theft of a bill of exchange worth 7.5 billion rubles, in which the VEB state corporation is the injured party, has been completed. According to investigators, the former chairman of the board of Svyaz-Bank, Denis Nozdrachev, and his first deputy, Alexander Kopeyko, illegally seized a valuable asset during the rehabilitation of a credit institution, after which they transferred it to a controlled company through a chain of transactions. Both defendants plead not guilty and are now reviewing the case file. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
The Promissory note case
A criminal case related to the theft of a bill of exchange worth 7.5 billion rubles was initiated by the Moscow police on June 14, 2023. His investigation is being handled by the 11th department of the GSU of the metropolitan headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This unit specializes in the investigation of financial crimes related to the activities of credit institutions.
Initially, the case was investigated against unidentified persons, and Denis Nozdrachev, who is now one of the accused, testified as a witness.
On May 13, 2025, the former chairman of the Board of Svyaz-Bank was detained, and after interrogation he was charged with fraud committed as part of a particularly large group.
The next day, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow sent the former banker to a pre-trial detention center. Since then, the measure of restraint for him has not changed.
At the time of his arrest, Nozdrachev, according to the case file, lived in the cottage village of Rosinka near Moscow and headed the directorate of industrial projects of the Russian Helicopters holding company, part of Rostec.
On December 24, 2025, operatives detained Alexander Kopeyko, Nozdrachev's former first deputy. On the same day, he was charged with a similar charge of fraud. On December 25, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow arrested a new defendant. At the time of his arrest, Kopeyko was serving as vice president of the Yurconsult-Moscow company.
What are they accused of
The materials of the criminal case deal with events that occurred during the rehabilitation of Svyaz-Bank, when Nozdrachev was chairman of its board and a member of the board of directors, and Kopeiko was the first deputy chairman of the board. According to the case file, at the time of the events described, 99.77% of the shares of the credit institution belonged to VEB.
The rehabilitation of Svyaz-Bank began in 2008 and lasted 11 years. In 2020, the bank was affiliated to Promsvyazbank.
According to investigators, both defendants are involved in the illegal acquisition of rights to the property of the VEB state corporation by stealing a promissory note worth 7.5 billion rubles.
As follows from the investigation materials, the bill was acquired by LLC "Company Blagoe". Then, according to the investigation, through a chain of purchase and sale agreements and assignment of rights of claim, the asset passed to the Trust Center management company, the sole founder of which, according to law enforcement agencies, was Denis Nozdrachev. The investigation believes that the head of the bank used his official position to implement this scheme.
At the same time, the range of possible defendants in the case may expand. The investigation materials indicate that the alleged criminal group also included "employees and managers" of VEB that have not yet been identified by the investigation.
Izvestia's sources note that this formulation allows the investigation to further expand the circle of defendants. According to the interlocutors of the publication, her appearance in the case file may be due to the presence of testimony involving employees of the state corporation.
Nozdrachev and Kopeiko are currently reviewing the materials of the criminal case in accordance with Article 217 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. This information was confirmed to Izvestia by both sources and lawyers of the defendants. Both defendants plead not guilty. Their defense declined to comment on the merits of the investigation.
Possible punishment
As Daria Konstantinova, a former investigator and lawyer, noted in an interview with Izvestia, if convicted under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the defendants could face imprisonment for up to ten years.
When sentencing, the court must take into account the nature and degree of public danger of the crime, information about the identity of the perpetrator, mitigating and aggravating circumstances, as well as the impact of punishment on the correction of the convicted person and the living conditions of his family, the lawyer explained.
At the same time, according to Konstantinova, the sanction of Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not establish a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment. Therefore, in the case of a guilty verdict, the court will not be bound by the lower limit of the term when determining the punishment.
Former investigator, lawyer Alexander Burchuk stressed that the investigation of cases related to the theft of funds or property of state corporations is always under special control. And, as the lawyer is sure, this investigation "also has a similar status," especially considering the huge amount of damage. Given these circumstances, "it is difficult to expect not a guilty verdict, but, most likely, it will be very harsh."
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
