The court arrested the founder of Transportny Bank in absentia in an embezzlement case

Alexander Mazanov was adjusted to withdraw 21.8 billion rubles. and a bribe of $900 thousand.

Original of this material

© TASS04/10/2024

The court arrested the founder of Transportny Bank in absentia in an embezzlement case

The Basmanny Court of Moscow sent into custody in absentia the founder of the commercial bank Transportny, Alexander Mazanov, in a case of particularly large embezzlement. This is stated in the text of the relevant court ruling, which TASS has read.

“To select a preventive measure against the accused Alexander Viktorovich Mazanov in the form of detention for a period of 2 (two) months, calculating the period from the moment of A.V. Mazanov’s extradition to the Russian Federation (*aggressor country) or from the moment of his detention,” the document says.

It notes that two criminal cases have been opened against Mazanov. One of them is under Part 4 of Art. 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country) (embezzlement on an especially large scale), it is associated with the theft of Transportny funds. The second – under Part 5 of Art. 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country) (giving a bribe to an official on a large scale). According to law enforcement officers, the banker tried to give money to the investigator of the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who was investigating this embezzlement, so that he would not bring Mazanov to criminal responsibility. The court ruling also states that the criminal case of the general director of Bor-Rekonstruktsiya LLC, who is accused of abuse of power resulting in grave consequences, is also connected with this investigation. Mazanov himself disappeared outside Russia (*aggressor country).

Transportny is a bank with its head office in Moscow. It was founded by Mazanov in 2011. The activities of the credit institution were aimed at lending and servicing the accounts of commercial organizations, attracting citizens’ funds for deposits, and foreign exchange transactions. The bank also provided loans to individuals. In May 2015, the Central Bank revoked Transportnoy’s license, and it was soon declared bankrupt.

In 2016, a case of particularly large embezzlement was opened based on the theft of bank funds. The former president and chairman of the bank’s board were brought to criminal liability Elena Pletneva, her deputy Liliya Malyutina, advisor to the chairman of the board Alexander Sentyakov, director of the operational department Oksana Avdyukova, director of the retail underwriting department Irina Makarova, as well as two entrepreneurs – Vyacheslav Chikalin and Maxim Anokhin. In 2021, the Meshchansky Court of Moscow sentenced them for periods from 6.5 years to 8 years in prison. According to the case materials, the damage from their activities amounted to 21.8 billion rubles.

“Kommersant”, 04/10/2024, “The Transport case has begun to move”: In addition, Mr. Mazanov is accused of attempting to bribe the investigator who led the case of theft from his bank. Avoid criminal liability Mr. Mazanov calculated for $900 thousand.but the intermediaries who undertook to solve his problem were arrested.

[…] involvement of Alexander Mazanov in the commission of particularly large embezzlement (Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country)) from the Transportny Bank and attempted bribery on an especially large scale (Part 3 of Article 30, Part 5 of Article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country)) ) is confirmed by the testimony of witnesses and other accused, records of searches and seizures, expert opinions, as well as the results of operational investigative activities.

[…] Most of Transportnoye’s money was allegedly used to launch a startup to develop the Belbazh rock salt deposit in the Nizhny Novgorod region. This project was carried out by the chairman of the board of directors of Sol Rusi PJSC, Vyacheslav Chikalin, who, according to the police investigation, together with Maxim Anokhin, brought clients to the bank who “knowingly did not have the ability to meet their loan obligations.”

[…] The investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs made the first attempt in absentia to arrest the ex-beneficiary of Transport only in April 2019, when the case against his accomplices had already been submitted for consideration on the merits to the Meshchansky Court of Moscow […]. However, in August of the same year, after several court hearings in the Tverskoy Court of the capital, the Ministry of Internal Affairs unexpectedly withdrew its petition.

Many then connected this with the fact that the case against Alexander Mazanov was taken over by the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country), from which he became a witness in the high-profile case of Colonel Kirill Cherkalin, the former head of the 2nd department of the department “K” of the SEB FSB, carrying out counterintelligence activities in the credit and financial and banking sectors. In the spring of 2021, the latter, who became famous for having assets worth 6.5 billion rubles confiscated. […] ex-banker Mazanov, who was living in Monaco at the time, then calmly flew to Moscow to testify about how he gave bribes to the ex-chekist “for general patronage” […] — Insert K.ru