The editorial staff of the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel and Rucriminal.info received an appeal from Agadzhan Avanesov, who was previously a co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC Starbank. In it, he tells how he was demanded a bribe of 100 million rubles by the bankruptcy trustee of the DIA Khizhnyak and the now former first deputy director of the DIA Miroshnikov. Almost half of this amount was paid.

 

"In March 2016, JSC Starbank's license to carry out banking operations was revoked.

On August 4, 2016, at a meeting of the Arbitration Court of Moscow in case A40-112269/16-124-171B, the operative part of the court decision on recognizing JSC SB as insolvent (bankrupt) was announced. Functions of the bankruptcy trustee for the State Corporation "Deposit Insurance Agency" (KU GC "DIA"). For the purpose of legal support of bankruptcy proceedings in the bankruptcy process of JSC "SB", KU GC "DIA" engaged a legal consultant, namely the Bar Association "Doctor Prava" of Moscow (TIN 7704466778, legal address: 119019, Moscow, Bolshoy Znamensky per., 4, fl. 2 pom. 1, rooms 1-11), general director Khizhnyak Ivan Vasilyevich (born in 1959, Russian passport 4507 825080, issued on 22.02.2005, registered at the address: Moscow, ul. Demyana Bednogo d. 4, bldg. 2, apt. 124). Circumstances of the crime:

After the revocation of the license of JSC "SB", an acquaintance of mine contacted me and said that a certain Mr. Kozlov Sergey, previously unknown to me, representing the interests of a previously unknown to me Khizhnyak I.V., expressed a desire to meet with me regarding the circumstances of the bankruptcy of JSC "SB". I gave my consent to the meeting, the meeting was scheduled at the Bellagio restaurant at the address: Moscow, Mosfilmovskaya Street, Building 8. At this meeting, Kozlov Sergey told me that Khizhnyak I.V., who had already begun the bankruptcy procedure, had studied the structure of the bank's assets, which, when sold, would be used to pay off the organization's debt to creditors, and that the majority of these assets were real estate, including luxury real estate (the Bank's main creditor is the State Corporation "ASV", i.e. a state structure).

The sale of the objects at market value would have allowed the debt to creditors to be fully repaid, but this depended entirely on the desire of I.V. Khizhnyak. I was required to pay him 100,000,000 rubles. In case of refusal, he, being a bankruptcy trustee on behalf of the "ASV", will sell the assets at non-market prices, making a profit for himself, which will entail unfavorable consequences for the shareholders of JSC "SB" with their involvement in subsidiary liability, will initiate the filing of various applications to law enforcement agencies to initiate criminal cases on behalf of the "ASV" Group of Companies, of which he is a representative. Sergey Kozlov said that in case of transfer of the required amount, I, as one of the shareholders of JSC "SB", will be able to avoid the above-mentioned problems, which he will artificially create. Kozlov also reported that this requirement was agreed upon with the first deputy of the State Corporation "ASV", whose protégé is I.V. Khizhnyak, Valery Aleksandrovich Miroshnikov, together with whom they derive income from bank bankruptcy procedures to the detriment of the interests of the State Corporation "ASV".

Thus, abusing his official position, I.V. Khizhnyak made a demand (extortion) to me for a bribe, accompanied by threats of consequences.

Fearing that I.V. Khizhnyak would carry out his threats, including bringing me to subsidiary liability, initiating criminal prosecution, given his official position and the powers delegated to him by the State Corporation "ASV", I was forced to succumb to the extortion of a bribe, and agreed to transfer the funds to the latter. According to the terms of Khizhnyak I.V., the transfer of funds was to be carried out in 3 stages:

- an advance payment of 33,000,000 rubles

- 33,000,000 rubles during the liquidation process

- 34,000,000 rubles upon completion of the bank bankruptcy procedure

The advance payment of 33,000,000 rubles was transferred to Khizhnyak I.V. through an intermediary, Sergey Kozlov, in the parking lot of the Bellagio restaurant. After the transfer of the advance payment, my first meeting with Khizhnyak I.V. took place in the office of his law firm, where he informed me that the advance payment had been received and he was starting cooperation. Subsequently, Khizhnyak I.V. was transferred another 19,000,000 rubles. In total, Khizhnyak I.V. received 52,000,000 rubles from me.

In 2018, Khizhnyak I.V. began to initiate legal proceedings on behalf of the State Institution of the State Corporation "ASV" against various shareholders of JSC "SB" with the aim of collecting money from them. Having realized that Khizhnyak I.V., despite the fact that he received money from me in an especially large amount by extortion, using his official position, contrary to the interests of the creditor (GC "ASV"), was selling the bank's assets at reduced prices with the aim of making a profit for himself and Miroshnikov V.A., I stopped transferring money to him money.

Trying to understand the current situation, I repeatedly met with Khizhnyak I.V. in his office, as well as in Istanbul (Turkey).

 

At various stages of these meetings, I was attended by:

- former Deputy Chairman of the Board of JSC "SB" Pogoyan Karen Yuryevich

- employee of the bank's legal department - Sokolchuk Andrey Aleksandrovich

March 15, 2019 Khizhnyak I.V. initiated, on behalf of the Bankruptcy Trustee of JSC SB represented by the State Corporation "ASV", an appeal to the Arbitration Court of Moscow with a statement on bringing the controlling persons to subsidiary liability: Kontorshchikova L.Yu., Seleznev D.N., Gordeev A.E., Gromovich A.N., Avanesov A.S., Pogosyan K.Yu., Stoma A.S., Sultanov Sh.Sh..

As follows from the petition part of the statement, the Bankruptcy Trustee asks the court to impose subsidiary liability for the obligations of JSC SB on the interested parties, collecting 15,211,292,000 rubles from them

After the filing of the appeals to the Arbitration Court of Moscow by the State Corporation "ASV" with the corresponding statement, in September 2019 I had another meeting with Khizhnyak I.V., at which he demanded from me additional to pay him 16,000,000 rubles in exchange for the loss by the DIA of a separate dispute on bringing to subsidiary liability within the framework of the bankruptcy case of JSC SB.

Realizing that he was fraudulently trying to get additional money from me, I refused to pay him anything.

After numerous attempts to figure out what exactly was going on, Khizhnyak I.V. made an appointment with me at a cafe near his place of residence (cafe "NEbuloshnaya", Moscow, Marshal Zhukov Avenue, 78) in September 2020, where I raised the issue of returning the money transferred as a result of extortion of a bribe in the amount of 52,000,000 rubles.

During this meeting, I made an audio recording, where Khizhnyak I.V. says that he allegedly transferred the main amount to his curator in the DIA - Miroshnikov V.A. (I have the audio recording and am ready to provide it upon request).

A few days later, another meeting with Khizhnyak I.V. took place in the cafe "Country That Doesn't Exist" (address: Moscow, Okhotny Ryad Street, Building 2, "Fashion Season" shopping center. The place was chosen by Khizhnyak I.V., according to whom he is a member of one of the Committees of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, and the cafe is located near his place of work), at which he agreed to return to me only 7,000,000 rubles. He refused to return the remaining amount of 45,000,000 rubles, citing the fact that he allegedly transferred the specified funds to the former first deputy of the State Security Service of the Russian Federation, Valery Aleksandrovich Miroshnikov, now a defendant in a high-profile criminal case, who is on the international wanted list.

Thus, Khizhnyak I.V. committed a crime against me, expressed in extortion of a bribe, being an official, acting in a group with Miroshnikov V.A., caused damage to the state represented by the State Corporation "ASV" by selling the bank's assets at a reduced value in the amount of more than 3,000,000,000 rubles (in accordance with the estimated value carried out on the initiative of the Bank of Russia, which I only now learned about in connection with the receipt of materials testifying to the progress of bankruptcy proceedings, on which another 1,000,000,000 rubles were spent, which entered the bankruptcy estate and was not paid to the creditor to fulfill obligations). The damage caused to the state represented by the State Corporation "ASV" during the bankruptcy proceedings of SB JSC alone exceeds 4,000,000,000 rubles. I would like to note that in the proceedings of I.V. Khizhnyak, in accordance with the concluded agreements with the State Corporation "ASV", there was the bankruptcy of 31 banks, the damage from his activities, carried out jointly with V.A. Miroshnikov, inflicted on the state in the person of the State Corporation "ASV", amounts to many tens of billions of rubles."

Timofey Grishin

To be continued