Why did the Central Bank gut Promsvyazbank, but let the Ananyev brothers go in peace? In the Saratov region, will they write a new line in the criminal biography of the Ananyev brothers and Promsvyazbank? Where are the Ananyevs now?
The demand for arrest in absentia is “at least premature, but rather simply untenable,” said lawyer Alexey Kirsanov, who defended Alexey Ananyev. He also pointed out that in the case there are four protocols of interrogation of witnesses and none of them named the Ananyevs in their testimony. Lawyer Alexander Vershinin also pointed out that the accused are not subject to arrest, since we are talking about an economic crime, for which the Code of Criminal Procedure prohibits detention.
According to lawyer, partner of PB LEGAL Alan Bayramkulov, if there is a guilty verdict in the case, it could become the basis for property claims against the Ananyev brothers. “In a criminal case, the investigation may reveal schemes for the withdrawal of assets. In this case, the new PSB administration can use the evidence obtained in the case to recover damages from the Ananyevs both in Russia and abroad. Investigators need to prove that the transactions for which the charges were brought had no economic justification and their only purpose was the withdrawal of property,” the lawyer notes.
Conclusion before reorganization
About the case against the Ananyevs RBC September 8. Promsvyazbank then reported that we were talking about the theft of credit files and the withdrawal of funds from the bank the day before the introduction of the temporary administration - through 24 transactions for the purchase and sale of securities. Their illegality has already been confirmed by the Moscow Arbitration Court.
The case against the Ananyevs was initiated at the request of the temporary administration of Promsvyazbank, bank representative Georgy Krupenin said at the meeting. As a result of 24 transactions carried out from December 12 to 14, 2017, the Ananyevs withdrew more than 55 billion rubles. and $505 million in favor of the Dutch company PSC B.V. controlled by them. (through her, Alexey and Dmitry Ananyev controlled PSB), the investigator also indicated. On December 15, the Central Bank decided to reorganize Promsvyazbank.
In arbitration, a representative of Promsvyazbank, in support of the claims to invalidate the transactions, indicated that Dmitry Ananyev received an order from the Central Bank on the need to supplement the bank’s reserves on December 11 and knew about its inadequate financial condition. “Everyone was just waiting for the introduction of a temporary administration, everyone understood perfectly well that PSB is one of the systemically important banks and will not be driven to bankruptcy,” he noted.
As a representative of Promsvyazbank told RBC, the investigation is now investigating two episodes. The first is for 24 purchase and sale transactions with a total value of 102 billion rubles. between the bank and foreign structures PSC B.V., Fintailor and Minga, the second - on credit dossiers. “The SK brought charges only regarding part of the transactions of the bank - PSC B.V. But these transactions account for the majority - 16 out of 24 contracts. There is also an episode - lost credit files. The amount of damage for it is determined taking into account part of the discovered dossiers,” said a bank representative.
Seizure of paintings and planes in a record lawsuit
The arbitration court is considering several claims against the Ananyev brothers, the largest of which is for 282 billion rubles. As part of this litigation, there was property of the Ananyevs, including the building and collection of the Museum of the Institute of Russian Realistic Art in Moscow, more than 50 real estate objects, two Bombardier Challenger 650 aircraft, eight Mercedes cars and a Jaguar car. The collection of art objects managed by the Ananyev Museum includes works whose value reaches hundreds of millions of rubles. We are talking, among other things, about the paintings “Over the Snowy Fields” and “On the Road” by George Nyssa, “Conversation between US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Tehran Conference” by Alexander Gerasimov, followed from the court’s ruling. When the bailiffs arrived at the museum, it turned out that part of the collection had disappeared. According to the testimony of employees, the paintings were “in favor of the Cyprus company Diolelta Investments Limited, associated with the wife of Alexei Ananyev.
PSB also demanded the termination of the marriage contract between Alexey Ananyev and his wife, who, two months before the bank’s reorganization, received all of her husband’s real estate and art objects.
With a long delay
According to lawyer, partner of the firm “Rustam Kurmaev and Partners” Dmitry Kletochkin, the criminal trial will be a logical development of the arbitration cases handled by Promsvyazbank. “The bank’s management could not help but submit a corresponding application. A criminal case can significantly help in extracting the assets of the accused from the most secluded places,” notes Kletochkin. The delay in initiating a criminal case may be due to arbitration proceedings, since the investigation could wait for a judicial assessment of the transaction and then rely on it, the lawyer believes. “Also, only now could witnesses appear who gave relevant testimony. At the stage of initiation of such large cases, a year is not a long time at all,” he concludes.
The Central Bank, introducing a temporary administration at PSB, named the reasons for the bank's problems as the issuance of unsecured loans to affiliates, low-quality capital and unsuccessful participation in the reorganization of AvtoVAZbank. Immediately after the reorganization, the Central Bank spent 243 billion rubles to support the activities of Promsvyazbank. PSB filed its first application to law enforcement agencies a week after the start of the bank’s reorganization, but there was no information about the initiation of a case or its refusal at that time.
Soon after the reorganization began, the brothers left Russia. Dmitry Ananyev subsequently became a resident of Cyprus. Alexey Ananyev returned to the country in 2018 and said he was not going to leave anymore.
Image copyright Sergei Savostyanov/TASS Image caption Alexey Ananyev said he had no intention of leaving Russia
The Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested in absentia the former co-owners of Promsvyazbank Alexey and Dmitry Ananyev at the request of the Investigative Committee. The key asset of the brothers Alexey and Dmitry Ananyev was Promsvyazbank; in December 2017, the Central Bank decided to sanitize it.
In both cases, the period of arrest will be calculated from the moment of extradition or detention on Russian territory.
As the investigator stated in court, Alexey and Dmitry Ananyev are charged with embezzlement of funds from December 12 to December 14, 2017 (the decision to reorganize Promsvyazbank was made on December 15, 2017).
“A criminal case has been opened against Dmitry Ananyev, Alexey Ananyev and other unidentified persons on the fact that they, as part of an organized group, embezzled the property of PJSC Promsvyazbank in the amount of more than 66 billion rubles and 575 million US dollars and their legalization,” the investigator said.
“A corresponding criminal case has been initiated against the Ananyev brothers and other unidentified persons on the grounds of a crime under Part 4 of Article 160 and Part 4 of Article 174 of the Criminal Code of Russia,” the investigator said.
The investigation claims that the Ananyevs are hiding and have been put on the international wanted list.
Alexey Ananyev's defense asked the court to choose a measure of restraint for him that was not related to deprivation of liberty. Lawyer Alexey Kirsanov said that his client was not properly notified of the initiation of the case. He also noted that Alexey Ananyev headed the board of directors of Promsvyazbank and did not participate in the operational activities of the financial organization
- Rehabilitation of Promsvyazbank: why no one is surprised
- The Central Bank of Russia announced the destruction of credit files at Promsvyazbank
On September 9, RBC and Kommersant reported on the initiation of a criminal case against one of the brothers, Alexey Ananyev, citing anonymous sources. According to them, he is on the international wanted list. This was confirmed in court.
“As part of this case, several episodes of illegal activities of the former owners of the bank Alexey and Dmitry Ananyev are being investigated, including the theft of credit files, the completion of 24 transactions for the purchase and sale of securities one day before the introduction of the temporary administration,” the BBC previously reported in the press service of Promsvyazbank.
The bank’s commentary stated that its management filed a statement with the police in 2018: “The Moscow Arbitration Court has already established the illegality of these transactions, in connection with which, among other things, orders were issued to seize the property of the bank’s former beneficiaries, including airplanes and a collection of paintings.” .
The end of Promsvyazbank AnanyevsIn December 2017, the Central Bank decided to sanitize Promsvyazbank. A temporary administration of the Central Bank was introduced in financial institutions. The structures of the Ananyev brothers lost control over the financial organization.
At that time, PSB was one of 11 systemically important banks, which accounted for more than 60% of the total assets of the Russian banking sector.
The transition of another bank under the control of the regulator was expected by market participants. Experts believed that PSB was at risk due to the large volume of problem loans and the negative information background after the reorganization of Otkritie and B&N Bank.
- B&N Bank, following Otkritie, asks for salvation. What's happening?
- An “anti-sanctions bank” will appear in Russia, headed by Fradkov
A week after the announcement of the reorganization, the Central Bank reported that the credit files of corporate borrowers totaling more than 109 billion rubles were destroyed or disappeared.
Where are the Ananyevs now?The whereabouts of Alexey Ananyev are unknown. According to RBC, he left Russia, but returned in January 2018.
At the end of February of the same year, Alexey Ananyev told Vedomosti that he had no plans to leave Russia: “Everything that is important to me in life is here: parents, family, work. I can’t imagine my life in another country - not I left and don’t plan to leave.”
Image copyright Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS Image caption Dmitry Ananyev moved to Cyprus after losing his bankDmitry Ananyev also left Russia after the loss of the bank. The RBC publication reported that he left for London.
Ananyev told Vedomosti that he had been planning a trip abroad for a long time due to health problems. In the last months before the reorganization of PSB, he developed heart problems due to “irregular work and hassle,” the banker said.
“I planned to undergo examination both in Russia and abroad. The last week also added: the business that I created for 22 years, that’s it, it’s no longer there,” the businessman commented. “But I don’t agree with the way it was covered in the media “It looked like running away. But I didn’t run away.”
In February 2019, a representative of Dmitry Ananyev stated in the Moscow Arbitration Court that the banker received the status of a resident of Cyprus and permanently resides in Limassol.
What's happening with Promsvyazbank?A month after Promsvyazbank came under the control of the regulator, it became known that on the basis of PSB a support bank would be created for operations on state defense orders and large government contracts.
The authorities plan that the defense industry core bank will service at least 70% of state defense contracts. Now Promsvyazbank is headed by Pyotr Fradkov, the son of ex-Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov.
The bank is suing the Ananyevs for assets as part of debt collection, Fradkov said: “There are projects of former owners that we are now dealing with, for some of them we have filed lawsuits for debt collection.”
As part of interim measures for the bank's claims against the Ananyevs and other decision-makers, the Moscow Arbitration Court seized their property in the amount of more than 282 billion rubles. The seizure was imposed on apartments, cars, an airplane, several plots of land and a collection of paintings.
The Ananyevs were also subject to claims from holders of credit notes for a total amount of 40 million euros, which were issued against the guarantees of the Ananyevs' structures and were offered to wealthy clients. The owners of the notes filed a claim in the High Court in London. They demand that the defendants' assets be frozen in an amount equal to their demands. In addition to the businessmen themselves, eight companies became defendants in the lawsuit.
The investigation uncovered schemes for theft of funds from Promsvyazbank.
“Kommersant” became aware of the details of the criminal prosecution of the former owners of Promsvyazbank (PSB) Dmitry and Alexey Ananyev, who were arrested in absentia by the Basmanny Court for an international search. According to investigators, using the Cyprus branch of the bank, the brothers stole 66.3 billion rubles, $575 million and €24.4 million in five days using fictitious transactions, and in another day they legalized 39 billion rubles. and $169 million.
The investigation team in the case of the Ananyev bankers is headed by Alexey Veselyev, senior investigator for particularly important cases of the Main Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR). Colonel of Justice Veselyev gained fame five years ago, when, as part of an investigation into the circumstances of the theft of shares of enterprises included in the fuel and energy complex of Bashkiria, at his request, the son of the then president of the republic, Ural Rakhimov, was put on the international wanted list, and the head of AFK Sistema was placed under house arrest. Alexander Yevtushenkov and interim measures were taken on the shares of enterprises included in Bashneft. As a result, the shares were returned to the state and then purchased by Rosneft.
As follows from the materials of the current investigation by Colonel Veselyev, the largest shareholder of the bank was Promsvyaz Capital B.V., a company registered with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Amsterdam, which controlled 62.5% of the shares. Promsvyaz Capital B.V. itself, the investigation established, was controlled on a parity basis (49.99%) by Antracite Investment Ltd and Urgula Platinum Ltd. And the remaining shares went to Menrela Ltd. All these companies belonged in equal shares to Alexey and Dmitry Ananyev, we are confident in the Investigative Committee.
Along the way, the investigation materials say, the brothers held the positions of chairman of the board of directors and chairman of the board of Promsvyazbank, which was included in the list of systemically important credit institutions and ranked 9th among Russian banks in terms of assets.
According to the conclusions of the investigation, Dmitry and Alexey Ananyev, “using their official position” and exercising general management of the bank, were “authorized to dispose of the property” of the credit institution, make decisions on conducting operations, make transactions on behalf of the bank, etc. However, having such powers , the bank’s owners ignored the findings of a Central Bank audit, which in December 2017, as part of its supervision, revealed that bank statements did not reflect the real financial condition of the bank and, “being significantly unreliable,” posed a threat to the interests of clients and creditors.
In this regard, on December 11, 2017, the Central Bank, as follows from the criminal case, demanded that PSB management urgently increase reserves in the amount of 104.6 billion rubles, imposing a ban on large transactions, including using the bank’s Cyprus branch in Limassol. However, having examined the new report signed by the then chairman of the board of Promsvyazbank Dmitry Ananyev, the regulator came to the conclusion that it “directly indicated the need to appoint” a temporary administration. On December 15, 2017, LLC “Management Company “Fund for Consolidation of the Banking Sector””, according to the order of the Central Bank, received these functions.
Just at this time, the investigation notes, Alexey and Dmitry Ananyev, as well as unidentified persons, united into an organized criminal group for the “illegal theft of funds” from a financial structure. To do this, the bankers, from December 11 to December 15, 2017, entered into 24 agreements with companies under their control - Minga Management Ltd, Fintailor Ltd and the already well-known Dutch Promsvyaz Capital B.V. The subject of the agreements were transactions for the purchase and sale of various securities, including bonds of Promsvyazkapital JSC, little-known PSN PM LLC and Peters International Investment, preferred shares of Promsvyazbank itself, etc.
All settlements with counterparties, according to the investigation, were carried out through Promsvyazbank-Cyprus, where current accounts were opened with companies controlled by the brothers. Despite full payment by PSB, the securities “were not delivered” and the terms of the contracts were not fulfilled.
This, according to the investigation, allowed the organizers of the criminal group to embezzle 66.3 billion rubles, $575 million and €24.4 million. At the second stage of the criminal scheme, according to the Investigative Committee, in order to conceal the “illegal origin of the stolen property and give a legitimate appearance to its ownership” on one day, December 14, 2017, 31.7 billion rubles were transferred “on fictitious grounds” in favor of the Peters International Investment company at the direction of Messrs. Ananyev, as well as another 8.2 billion rubles under the guise of a loan.
A few more hours later, all the money received, including more than $160 million, was fragmented and transferred to nine more companies, whose current accounts were also located in the Cyprus branch of PSB. The lion's share of these transfers went to Bimersano Service ltd and Fintailor Investments, which received more than 20 billion rubles. and $83.2 million. Thus, the investigation is confident that the organizers of the criminal group legalized 38.8 billion rubles. and $169 million.
After establishing these circumstances, the Investigative Committee qualified the actions of the Ananyev brothers as embezzlement on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code) and legalization of stolen property (Part 4 of Article 174 of the Criminal Code). At the same time, the bankers’ lawyers, including Alexander Zabeida, who represents the interests of Dmitry Ananyev, are confident that the prosecution of their clients “has a political context.” The transactions, which the investigation interprets as illegal, believe the defenders, were completely legal.
Dmitry and Alexey Ananyev were arrested in absentia - either they are now settled in Cyprus, or in England. As we know, there is no extradition from London, especially for fugitive billionaires. At the same time, everything looks as if the banker brothers were deliberately allowed to leave. The question arises: who in Russia benefits from their escape?
Last week, the Ananyevs were charged with embezzlement of 66 billion rubles and 575 million dollars. At the same time, the Investigative Committee is investigating another case - about damage to Promsvyazbank (PSB) amounting to 202 billion rubles, in which the brothers can also receive the status of accused. Therefore, it is quite natural that they left Russia.
Another question is that a criminal case against them could have been initiated back in December 2017. Just a week after the start of the reorganization, the regulator announced that it had collected materials for the criminal prosecution of top managers of Promsvyazbank. Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Vasily Pozdyshev reported that the materials are related to the disappearance of part of credit dossiers worth 109 billion rubles from the PSB. In addition, apparently, the day before Ananyeva’s collapse, through the offshore company Promsvyaz Capital B.V. carried out a series of transactions to buy out bank shares from related structures. Simply put, they took billions out of him in exchange for worthless pieces of paper. All these operations were carried out by a certain foreign citizen, who was allegedly hired by the PSB two days earlier and who received a power of attorney personally from Dmitry Ananyev.
The missing credit files were apparently related to the brothers' non-banking business. Unjustifiably generous loans to their own companies registered as offshore companies actually caused a hole in Promsvyazbank’s balance sheet. We remember how, after breaking this credit needle, problems began in the Belaya Ptitsa agricultural holding, Russian Forest Group, as well as the large printing house Extra M near Moscow. The business was structured in such a way that, deprived of constant financial support from a friendly bank, the companies went bankrupt, leaving thousands of people unemployed.
Later, apparently, the missing dossiers were found and came into the possession of the temporary administration of the bank. But “ring” transactions with PSB shares and the withdrawal of funds from Bank Vozrozhdenie, controlled by Ananyev, from where cash was taken out almost in carts, have not gone away. However, the criminal case against the former owners of Promsvyazbank appeared only when they finally broke with Russia, leaving no significant assets here.
Freedom in exchange for silence
Dmitry Ananyev left the territory of the Russian Federation almost to the same day with the arrival of a temporary administration from the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) at the bank. Over the phone, he convinced journalists that this was not an escape at all, saying that he had gone abroad for treatment. Alexey Ananyev left the country at the same time as his brother, however, in February 2018 he returned and announced that he was going to live in Russia. “I didn’t have such a question in principle - to stay or not to stay. Because everything that is important to me in life is here - parents, family, work. I can’t imagine my life in another country - I haven’t left and don’t plan to leave,” he said in an interview with the Vedomosti newspaper.
Apparently, plans have changed since then, which is why Russian law enforcement agencies will have to look for the fugitive banker through Interpol. Today it is obvious that Ananyev Sr.’s short return to Russia was connected with the sale of his IT company Technoserv, a large contractor for government contracts. The former banker said then that he and his brother decided to divide the business: Dmitry received everything related to finance, as well as the construction company PSN Group; Alexey became the 100 percent owner of Technoserv. In 2018, he sold 40% of his IT giant to the state bank VTB, and pledged another 49% in the same bank. So now, apparently, nothing holds Alexey Ananyev in Russia anymore.
On this topic
On September 10, it became known about the claim of the renewed Promsvyazbank against Technoserv for 3.4 billion rubles. VTB, it seems, is not going to pay, linking the loss received by PSB with the mistakes of the previous management. And now, while the two state banks are fighting each other in the courts over the Ananyevs’ debts, the brothers will be able to calmly settle their lives in a new place. Probably, they will also ask for political asylum in London - it’s not for nothing that they aired the “dirty laundry” of the Russian financial regulator in public.
Everything that the former owners of Promsvyazbank are accused of today seems to be true - both the scheme with shares and loans to affiliated companies. There was also the story of the reorganization of AvtoVAZbank, which, along with a bag of state money, was transferred to PSB for “rehabilitation”. The Ananyevs allegedly used this money to patch a hole in their credit institution, which is why the state had to rescue AvtoVAZbank. Although in fairness it must be said that the brothers themselves did not plan to “break loose ends”. In his first interview after leaving Russia, Dmitry Ananyev said that negotiations with the supervisory bloc of the Central Bank regarding the problems of the PSB continued for two years. The banker brothers were looking for emergency options to raise capital and were even ready to sell their shares at deep discounts. The regulator’s decision to introduce a temporary administration into the bank, reduce its capital to 1 ruble and save it entirely at the expense of public money came as a surprise to them.
Cage Key
Dmitry Ananyev speaks almost openly about an allegedly established scheme to destroy private Russian banks, attributing the leadership of this scheme to Elvira Nabiullina’s deputy, Vasily Pozdyshev. Over the past three years, the Central Bank has indeed slammed dozens of credit institutions, now seemingly trying to give them a new life under the leadership of its top managers. Bank "Ugra", "Trust", Tatfondbank, "FC Otkritie", Binbank - these are just those that are still heard. The mechanism has been worked out. First, the auditors “suddenly” find a multibillion-dollar hole in the bank’s capital, which previously could only be ignored for a good reward (wasn’t this the money that law enforcement officers found in the apartments of former colonels Dmitry Zakharchenko and Kirill Cherkalin?). Then the owners of the bank are put out on the street, and the temporary administration begins to absorb the billions generously provided by the Bank of Russia - salaries to top managers, fees for law firms, legal expenses, business trips. Until 2017, it seems that such “recovery” was carried out by managers from the Deposit Insurance Agency; now this is done by the Banking Sector Consolidation Fund (FCBS). As they say, the same eggs, only in profile.
It is clear that state managers are trying to return money to the bank that was shot down. The new management of Promsvyazbank filed a civil lawsuit against Dmitry and Alexey Ananyev, in which the court seized their property, including Moscow apartments and a Bombardier plane. But is this enough to recover 282 billion rubles? If the brothers had been arrested in Russia in December 2017, the chances of a positive resolution of this issue would have looked more obvious.
By the way, in some banks being rehabilitated, the expenses for the work of the temporary administration can be several times higher than the amount that it manages to recover from the former owners and borrowers. Vasily Pozdyshev recently admitted that the regulator’s losses from reorganization through the FCBS range from 750 billion to 1.44 trillion rubles (it is noteworthy that he could not name the exact amount, the “scatter” is 2 times). Apparently, no one can name the state's losses from the reorganization of banks according to the old scheme, through the DIA. A real feast for state bankers!
The Ananyevs continue to be carriers of significant incriminating evidence. They also know something about the leadership of the Central Bank, which could “hold back” materials for the criminal case. And about the security bloc that allowed them to leave the country after the story with carts of money and the export of paintings seized in favor of the state bank. Not only were the brothers given free rein to show off their assets, but their company Technoserv was also bought out for money, instead of just being taken away from them like the Magomedovs. Why did this happen? There are few options. Either there is a person of unknown power behind the Ananyevs, to whom they returned the money through a deal with VTB, or this is a cunning calculation in order to devalue their incriminating evidence. Who will believe the aggrieved fugitives in Europe? Chichvarkin and Khodorkovsky tried, but they didn’t really get through to anyone.
BY THE WAY
The efforts of the DIA to collect debts from fugitive Russian bankers are best illustrated by the litigation with the former owner of Vneshprombank Georgy Bedzhamov. According to the agency's claim, the High Court of London limited the former banker's spending to 90 thousand euros per month. The rest should go to pay off its debts (the hole in Vneshprombank’s capital was 210 billion rubles). Now the unfortunate Bedzhamov has to live in a rented apartment. True, not in Biryulyovo, but in Monaco. The other day he asked the court to allow him to spend 246 thousand euros on rent - they say, otherwise he and his family will be put out on the street. The judge granted this request, obliging the DIA to compensate Bedzhamov for legal costs of 40 thousand pounds. It seems that instead of protecting depositors, the agency, which exists with money from the Russian state, feeds the British judicial system.