The leaders of the bank “TFB Finance” have had their case dismissed.
As per the prosecutor’s office, the defendants deceived their bank's management in order to gain favor with authorities, receive bonuses, and get promoted – this is how the state prosecution understands the defendants' motives.TFB The case involves 1.7 thousand victims and 2.4 billion in damages. It took five years to investigate and reach the court, where the roles of the five accomplices were revealed. Two former deputies, Robert Musin and ex-employees, are in the dock. TFBwho were also employed atTFB Finance”. More details can be found in the article “BUSINESS Online”.
The victims are requesting the case to be returned to the prosecutor, and the lawyers are asking for the court hearing to be stopped.
The court hearing in the caseTFB Finance” started on the second attempt, and it was a full house once again. 15 victims immediately attended, most of whom are pensioners. They were surprised by the change in the criminal case number, and later found out it was done “in a technical way.” Affected depositors expressed dissatisfaction as the charge was reclassified from fraud to abuse of power. They even gave a name to the process: “Financers against pensioners.” There are five “financiers” in the dock: two former deputy chairmen of the board of directors of Tatfondbank, Robert Musin, Vadim Merzlyakov, and Sergey Meshchanov, as well as managers “TFB Finance” Timur Valshin, Rustam Timerbaev, and Ilnar Abdulmanov.
When the court was full, Judge Artem Idrisov identified the first-time victims and patiently listened to their petitions. For instance, 81-year-old victim Margarita Vladimirovna requested information about the defendants' work addresses, positions, working hours, and the number of deceased victims and the causes of their death. The court explained that it does not issue certificates or provide explanations, and she can find details about the defendants in the five-hundred-volume criminal case. Victim Nailya Shageeva requested the article to be reclassified as fraud, explaining that the victims, mostly elderly people, were simply deceived by highly professional and qualified financial figures. The judge noted that the petition was premature as the charge had not yet been announced. Similar responses were given to Ziyatdinova, who asked to return the case to the prosecutor, although the depositors agreed with her, shouting “Yes!” from their seats.
Once all the victims were heard, the judge mentioned receiving written petitions from the defendant Meshchanov and lawyer Natalya Mitusova Merzlyakov, who requested the criminal case to be stopped due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. It was agreed that this would be discussed after the accusation was announced, which was finally happening.
What state was TFB
The state prosecutor, assistant prosecutor of the Vakhitovsky district of Kazan, Ruslan Baibikov, explained the details of the alleged crime and publicly identified those involved in the criminal scheme, drawing different reactions from the audience.
According to the investigation and prosecution, Meshchanov, Merzlyakov, Valshin, Timerbaev and Abdulmanov, utilized their authority to create and execute an illegal scheme offering trust management services. TFB And “TFB a total of 1,746 depositors entered into trust management agreements (DDU) for 2 billion 379 million 650 thousand 164 rubles 93 kopecks across three banks – Tatsotsbank, IntechBank, and Timer Bank – between February and December 2016. The prosecution alleges that the terms of these agreements were intentionally not fulfilled, and the individuals involved acted deliberately and out of personal interest as an organized group. TFB, IntechBank and Timer Bank – from February to December 2016, with 1,746 depositors, they entered into trust management agreements (DDU) for 2 billion 379 million 650 thousand 164 rubles 93 kopecks. “The terms of the contract were deliberately not fulfilled,” the prosecution is sure. It believes that the persons involved in the case in this case acted “intentionally, by an organized group, out of personal interest.”
From the general public prosecutor moved on to the details, which reveal the background of the actions of the “financiers”. He noted that in 2016 TFB created a banking group, which included IntekhBank, Timer Bank and Soviet Bank (now Timer). Myself TFB This group controlled, planned and approved the budgets of banks. However, already at that time the state TFB was difficult: at the end of 2015, the bank showed a loss, and 2016 promised to be no better. To cover losses from TFB did not even have their own funds. It was required to carry out additional capitalization of the bank “with the involvement of various sources of financing,” the prosecution says.
It might seem that deposits could cover the losses, but they were constrained by the Central Bank’s directive to only accept deposits up to the amount as of February 1, 2016. This period also revealed several violations in the bank, such as inflated securities held in trust management and an underestimation of credit risk for borrowers, which were not accurately reported to the Central Bank, violating banking regulations. TFB limited the acceptance of deposits from the population “within the amount of deposits as of February 1, 2016.” By the way, this check revealed many violations in the bank. For example, as stated in the act of July 2016, on the balance sheet TFB there were securities at an inflated value, which were in trust management “TFB Finance” — by 15.6 billion rubles. Also, the Central Bank revealed an underestimation of credit risk for borrowers by 17.6 billion rubles. The total is 33.2 billion rubles. And the most interesting thing is that all these moments were not reflected in the reporting. TFBwhich he submitted to the Central Bank. And this is a violation of the regulations of the Bank of Russia.
Given all of the above, the “patient” was instructed to develop and adopt a plan for the restoration of financial stability. TFB, as stated in the indictment, approved “action plans” and undertook to “prevent negative consequences” from the onset of risks. How? By increasing the bank’s own capital “at the expense of assets attracted from its shareholders.”
However, only the “top” of the bank knew about the multibillion-dollar losses. The true situation was hidden from both clients and most bank employees. However, for all five defendants in the current criminal case – Merzlyakov, Meshchanov, Valshin, Abdulmanov and Timerbaev – the poor state of affairs in the bank was no secret, the prosecutor said. Despite this, they carried out their scheme.
Why was it necessary to create a scheme with the redemption of bonds TFB
The plan was to purchase hard-to-sell bonds TFB. “Executed” it through a subsidiary of the bank – “TFB Finance”. The company was established in 2006 and was located at the same address as the head office of the bank – on Chernyshevsky Street. At the same time, the defendants in the case combined work in TFB with activities inTFB Finance (both are professional participants in the securities market, there is a conflict of interest here), and they traded on the stock exchange on behalf of the founders of the latter, including Musin’s New Petrochemistry, LLC Artug-Finance, which is also referred to as technical firms, etc. All this allowed Tatfondbank, in the “formal absence of signs of affiliation,” to use the money and assets of these legal entities in their own economic interests, the prosecution believes.
So, the defendants on behalf of four counterparties (“TFB Finance, AktivAr Management Company, Management CompanyTFB-Capital”, “Soviet Bank”) from July to December 2016 bought and sold exchange-traded bonds TFB on the exchange. In this way, they provided “the appearance of market demand”, although in fact other market participants had no interest in these bonds. However, even despite these, in fact, fictitious transactions, TFB could not provide “funding” for its work, since the bonds were actually redeemed at the expense of their own funds TFB. And coupled with the fact that the bank limited the acceptance of deposits, this had a doubly negative impact on the financial condition TFB.
Then Merzlyakov, Meshchanov, Valshin, Timerbaev and Abdulmanov, prosecutor Baibikov said, decided to sell stock exchange bonds that no one needed TFB to current and future investors not only of Tatfondbank, but also of those organizations that were part of the banking group with it – IntechBank and Timer Bank. All the defendants were well aware of the conflict of interest in the activities TFB And “TFB Finance” (a subsidiary company buys bonds from the founding company for its own money). They were guided by careerism, the prosecution believes: they wanted to achieve high performance. To do this, they “entered into a criminal conspiracy” and decided to mislead depositors with DDU agreements. The defendants, according to the prosecution, wanted to provide funding for the activities TFB at the expense of bank depositors on unfavorable terms for the latter, but at the same time wanting the best for themselves. In addition, they wanted to improve financial performance TFB And “TFB Finance”, but again, not for the benefit of organizations, but in their own interests, in order to embellish the results of their work, curry favor with management, receive bonuses and even promotions.
The plan was put directly into the units TFB. In simple terms: individuals brought money to open a deposit insured by the DIA, but instead they made a DDU agreement with them to invest their money in bonds, knowingly without informing about the risks and conditions.
Charge: who was who in the criminal group and how they misled the management of banks
Merzlyakov, deputy Musin, is considered the organizer of the plan by the investigation and prosecution. He coordinated the actions of other members of the criminal group, provided “conspiracy”, disposed of money.
According to the prosecutor’s office and the Investigative Committee, Meshchanov (also Musin’s deputy) was responsible for the “introduction” into the work of the banking group TFB schemes for the conclusion of a preschool institution, Timerbaev helped him.
CEO “TFB Finance” Valshin, in turn, worked on his “territory”. He created the conditions for Timerbaev and Abdulmanov so that they could “introduce a criminal scheme into the work of other employees of the LLCTFB Finance”, and then dispose of the money received from depositors under the guise of trading operations on the stock exchange under a brokerage service agreement on behalf of affiliates. Valshin, by the way, simultaneously served as deputy director of the investment business department in TFB.
Timerbaev was the head of the customer service department “TFB Finance”, and at the same time – the head of the client operations department TFB. In the criminal scheme, he had to create conditions in order to “mislead” the employees of the Tatfondbank banking group. In other words, both Valshin, and Timerbaev, and Meshchanov “processed” employees of both banks and “TFB Finance”, preparing the ground for the implementation of their scheme.
Abdulmanov in the scheme was responsible for creating the appearance that “TFB Finance” really consciously manages investors’ money. He also worked simultaneously both in the bank and in the subsidiary: both here and there he was the head of the active operations department.
From April to June, Merzlyakov instructed his “accomplices” to develop and implement a scheme in the work of the branches of the banking group TFB. For such “deposits” they came up with new names: “Profitable investments”, “Profitable investments +”, Profitable investments of IIS”. They promised a high income, and most importantly, they said that the money was insured. For new products, documents were developed that formally gave the Central Bank the appearance that the activityTFB Finance” complies with the law.
The DDU, which was signed by the depositors, said that they transfer their money to “TFB Finance” into management, and “TFB Finance, in turn, undertakes to manage funds for a fee in the interests of the depositor. There was a clause in the paper: if the depositor signs the agreement, this means that he carefully read the DDU and agreed with all the clauses. The prosecution believes that the defendants used their powers to include in the contracts conditions that are obviously unfavorable for the client. For example, it is said that the object of investment is securities with a low risk of default, that the risks of loss are also low, etc.
IN TFB such “contributions” began to be offered in the committee on products and sales, whose employees were themselves misled, the prosecution said. They allegedly actually thought that the money was being placed in a bank.
“I decided to embellish the situation”: how and for what the ex-chairmen of IntechBank are tried
At the end of July 2016, the scheme was extended to other banks – Timer Bank and IntekhBank. “At the same time, the management and employees of PJSC “Timer Bank”, PJSC “IntechBank”, being misled about the legality of the service of LLC “TFB Finance”, concluded agency agreements with the latter. Under these agreements, banks were obliged to involve their employees in the work on the conclusion of the DDU and to force depositors to transfer their money to “TFB Finance”.
The prosecution also notes that the consulting rules that Merzlyakov & Co. “introduced” into the work of bank branches contained “deliberately false information.” In particular, employees were required to talk about what TFB “is a financially reliable state-owned bank, which guarantees the safety of funds, and the risk of bankruptcy is minimal.” However, the defendants knew that the share of the republic in the bank at that time was 10.8%, and the presence of other shareholders with state participation in the authorized capital was in no way a guarantee of the safety of depositors’ money.
Such a scheme, the prosecution believes, allowed in a short time – from April to December 2016 – to attract money from 1,746 depositors, who bought illiquid bonds TFB.
All five defendants were charged with abuse of power (Article 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), but Merzlyakov was charged with a reservation, as the organizer of the crime.
At the next court session, the public prosecutor will continue to read out the charge, after which the court will have to consider the motion to dismiss the case. The statute of limitations on it, we recall, came out in mid-December 2022.
