Ex-heads of Rost-Bank and Binbank, the court sentenced to eight years in prison
The Tagansky court of Moscow sentenced to eight years the former chairmen of the Bank of Rost-Bank and Binbank Kirill Lyubenstsov and Alexander Lukin, finding them guilty in a particularly large embezzlement and abuse. In 2014-2017, by concluding “economically inappropriate transactions” they caused damage to their organizations for 10.8 billion rubles. And now they will be obliged to compensate him for their successor – the Trust bank. The case states that the bankers committed embezzlement in favor of a person whose work was allocated in a separate production. It is obviously about the famous financier Mikail Shishkhanov, who lives abroad.
For the verdict, the defendants Lubstentsov and Lukin, who had been prohibited by certain actions for a year, came themselves. The announcement of the introductory and resolving parts of the court decision took very little time.
The day before in the debate of the parties, the prosecutor demanded that both be found guilty in a particularly large embezzlement (part 4 of article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and abuse of powers that resulted in grave consequences (part 2 of article 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), sentencing each to nine and a half years of general regime. The prosecutor also insisted on satisfying the claim of the victim – the successor of credit institutions of the bank of non -core assets “Trust” – worth more than 10.8 billion rubles.
As installed In the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Moscow, from December 2014 to September 2017, bankers Lukin and Lubstentsov, along with “unidentified persons” through the commission of transactions, caused multi-billion dollar damage to the Bank “Trust”. Moreover, the crimes were committed during the reorganization of the Binbank Rost-Bank, whose activities were discontinued in 2018 by joining the Trust bank.
According to the prosecution, the company Stratola Investments LTD, controlled by the defendants, received $ 40 million in September 2015 in September 2015 (at that time-2.6 billion rubles), which never returned. Then Stratola received in the growth-bank bonds of Finstandart LLC, Vale Finas LLC and Finstone LLC worth more than 8.1 billion rubles, which were stolen.
In the debate, lawyers stated that Kirill Lyubentsov could not be involved in the embezzle of the loan issued by Stratola, since he himself got a job in Rost-Bank only in December 2015.
At the same time, in the case, the defenders paid attention, there are no documents testifying to the involvement of Mr. Lyubenstsov in the issuance of the loan itself. True, as the chairman of the bank’s board, he extended the loan repayment period three times. However, the defenders noted, these actions cannot be considered the fact of theft, since the money from the bank has already left.
Representatives of the defendant drew attention to the fact that the accusation was not incorrectly indicated by the motive for Mr. Lyubenstsov, unlawful, according to the investigation, actions. Allegedly, Rost-Bank’s reproduction, not out of the usual personal selfish interest in such cases, from the desire to « improve the financial situation of the person in respect of which the case was allocated in a separate proceeding. » Officially, this person remains unknown, but from other documents in the case we can conclude that we are talking about the former owner of Rost-Bank and the shareholder of Binbank Mikaile Shishkhanov. Personally his criminal prosecution has not yet been conducted.
In addition, lawyers insisted that the investigation did not prove that at the time of managerial decisions, Kirill Lyubentsov and Alexander Lukin obviously knew that the recipients of money or bonds would decide to not return and pay them. So, in the case « there is no evidence confirming the presence of the defendants of a selfish motive or intent to make embezzlement. »
In turn, the lawyers affirmed, the Binbank PJSC and Rost-Bank JSC were only 0.33% of the value of their assets. Therefore, they noted, it is difficult to say that « abuse of authority led to grave consequences. »
Lawyers demanded to justify the clients on charges of embezzlement, and the accusation of abuse of the authority to re -qualify from part 2 to less difficult part 1. And since the statute of limitations expired on it, to stop it.
The court appointed ex-bankers a period of one and a half years less than the requested by the state prosecution, taking them into custody in the courtroom. But taking into account served in jail And under house arrest they have to sit for five years. True, behind them there was a debt to Trust in the amount of more than 10 billion rubles. It should be noted that the defendants are defendants in the lawsuit in the arbitration court, and not so long ago, in the high court of London between Trust and the founder of O1 Group Boris Mints, a settlement agreement was concluded, within the framework of which he recognized the obligations of the debts of Stratola and other companies mentioned in the criminal case.
