News

The Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia completed preliminary investigation of the criminal case concerning the theft of Promsvyazbank PJSC funds in the amount of 87.2 billion rubles. The former Vice-President of the Management Board of Promsvyazbank PJSC Nikolay Tsukanov, the former Head of the Operational block Andrey Mukin, the former Director of Customer Support and Product Development Aigul Shaikhutdinova, the former Head of Accounts and Securities Operations Support Department Olga Antonova and Ekaterina Bagryanova are accused of committing a crime under Part 4 of Article 160 (embezzlement, that is, theft of property committed by a person using his official position, organized group, on a large scale).

According to the investigation, in 2017, the brothers Dmitry and Alexei Ananyev, holding the positions of Chairman of the Management Board and Chairman of the Board of Directors, respectively, fearing to lose the opportunity to manage Promsvyazbank PJSC due to the numerous violations in lending revealed by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, created an organized group to steal money from the bank.

In accordance with the elaborated plan and the distributed roles, Tsukanov, between December 12 and 13, 2017, in Moscow, organized the preparation of a power of attorney in the name of Ivan Pidluzhny, authorizing the latter to perform organizational and administrative and economic functions in the bank, including the conclusion of contracts, which was signed by Dmitry Ananyev.

On December 14, 2017, Antonova organized the transfer of 57.3 billion rubles and $505.6 million in favor of Promsvyaz Capital B.V., a private limited liability company under Mukin's control registered in Amsterdam (Netherlands), allegedly as a payment for the securities purchased from this foreign company - shares of Promsvyazbank PJSC and bonds issued by PSN Property Management LLC, Promsvyaz Capital JSC, PSB Finance S.A. UNDT JSC, whose activities were controlled by the Ananyev brothers. At the same time, the bank did not actually purchase securities, and the transaction was fictitious.

After the transfer of funds to the foreign company's accounts in order to create the appearance of legality of the banking operations, Shaikhutdinova and Bagryanova prepared fictitious contracts of sale and purchase of securities and other documents confirming the allegedly executed transaction, which were signed by Pidluzhny.

As a result, within several hours, a total amount of 87.2 billion rubles was transferred from the financial turnover of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Cyprus. Subsequently, the Ananyevs organized the legalization of these funds and disposed of them at their own discretion by carrying out further illegal financial transactions.

In spite of the fact that the above mentioned persons did not plead guilty to the embezzlement of the monetary funds of Promsvyazbank PJSC, the evidence collected by the Investigative Committee in respect of them was found sufficient for the approval of the indictment. The criminal case was sent to court to be tried on the merits.