Ex-president of OFK-bank squandered billions in the interests of Chuyan
The Tagansky Court of Moscow sentenced the former president of the bankrupt United Financial Capital (OFK-Bank) Nikolai Gordeev to eight years in prison. The financier was found guilty of embezzlement of almost 10 billion rubles. funds of a credit institution and embezzlement by fraud of more than 690 million rubles. through the conclusion of loan agreements. As it was established during the investigation and trial, the convict committed these crimes in 2016-2017 in the interests of the former beneficiary of OFK-Bank, ex-head of Rosalkogolregulirovanie (RAR), Igor Chuyan, who is hiding abroad.
The verdict announced in the Tagansky court was already the second in a row to Nikolai Gordeev. Earlier, in March 2021, the Meshchansky Court of Moscow sentenced him to eight years in prison under Art. 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of authority) and Art. 204 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (commercial bribery) with the deprivation of the convicted right for three years of the right to hold positions related to the performance of organizational, administrative, administrative and economic functions in state bodies and local governments. However, subsequently the Court of Appeal and the 2nd Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction successively reduced the sentence imposed on the banker to six years and three months, while changing the strict regime of the colony to the general one (this made it possible to recalculate the punishment according to the formula “one day in a pre-trial detention center – a day and a half in a colony “). One of the main grounds for commuting the sentence was the convict’s repentance and his active assistance to the investigation.
As stated in court, Mr. Gordeev gave exhaustive testimony about the circumstances of the crimes described in the criminal case and the role of other participants in it.
The main person involved in the investigation, we recall, was the beneficiary of OFK-Bank Igor Chuyan.
Recall that Nikolai Gordeev first came under investigation in April 2018, after his minority shareholder Nikolay Yegorov wrote a statement about fraud with funds from OFK-Bank clients. Later, the credit institution’s license was revoked. As it was established in court, from 2013 to 2016, Mr. Gordeev endorsed the issuance of unsecured and unapproved by the board of directors of OFK-Bank loans in the amount of about 30 billion rubles. Moreover, this was done, according to the materials of the case, at the direction of the former head of Rosalkogolregulirovanie and the beneficiary of OFK-Bank Igor Chuyan. Most of the loan proceeds went to companies controlled by one of the largest distributors of alcoholic beverages, Status Group LLC. Mr. Chuyan is on the international wanted list, as Kommersant said, Montenegro refused to extradite him to Russia.
This time, Nikolai Gordeev was tried on charges of embezzlement (part 4 of article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) of 9.47 billion rubles. from funds of OFK-Bank. As noted in the case file, Mr. Gordeev stole this amount in 2016-2017, acting in the interests of the same Igor Chuyan.
To carry out the scam, fictitious agreements were concluded with companies controlled by the defendants on the assignment of rights of claims under factoring agreements (allowing buyers to purchase goods or services with deferred payment).
As was established by the court, this fraud also played a role in bringing OFK-Bank to bankruptcy and revoking its license.
In addition, the investigation established that at the end of 2017, Nikolai Gordeev, realizing that his credit institution and OFK-Management LLC, affiliated with the bank, were in a pre-bankruptcy state, “not intending to fulfill their obligations, by deceit concluded loan agreements with several citizens for a total amount of 690.6 million rubles, which he disposed of at his own discretion. The court qualified this action as a particularly large-scale fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). It is worth noting that during the investigation of the second case, Nikolai Gordeev pleaded guilty and cooperated with the investigation, testifying against other participants in the crimes.
Court hearings began in April last year and lasted until the end of March this year. During the debate, the prosecutor asked to sentence Nikolai Gordeev under Art. 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to nine years and six months in a general regime colony. The public prosecutor also requested the same term under Article 159, proposing to fine the convict 5 million rubles as an additional punishment. And in the end, by partial addition of punishments, taking into account the sentence previously passed to the banker, the prosecutor asked to sentence Nikolai Gordeev to 14 years and 6 months in a penal colony. However, the court decided otherwise. Taking into account the active repentance of the defendant and his assistance to the investigation, the presiding judge considered it possible to appoint Nikolai Gordeev a sentence significantly lower – eight years in a penal colony without a fine. Lawyers have not yet decided whether they will appeal the verdict.