The Prosecutor General’s Office's claim for nearly 20 billion rubles was approved for the ex-State Duma member from A Just Russia. Sergei Petrov and the Rolf group of companies established by him.
The court, with evidence from the FSB and financial intelligence, concluded that Mr. Petrov, as a public official, continued to oversee the operations of the nation’s largest car dealer and gained substantial earnings from activities prohibited by anti-corruption laws. The defendants plan to appeal, but it is certain that Rolf will have to make the payment. The specified amount is frozen in his accounts.
The hearing in the Khimki city court over the lawsuit brought by First Deputy Prosecutor General Anatoly Razinkin was brief. The court could have made a decision last year, but the overseeing authority clarified and elevated its demands for the defendants from 12.85 billion rubles to 19.4 billion rubles.
IA “RBC”, 16.02.2022, “Court recovered more than 19 billion rubles from the Rolf car dealer at the suit of the prosecutor’s office”Rolf publicly disclosed the lawsuit from the Prosecutor General’s Office in November 2021. The office initially sought to retrieve 12.85 billion rubles from the company and its founder. Later, the amount increased by over 6.5 billion rubles. Additionally, “Rolf” and Petrov’s companies “Rolf Motors” and “Rolf Estate St. Petersburg” were also defendants in the case. […]
Furthermore, the department mentioned that Petrov provided incomplete information about his assets and declared only 75.9 million rubles for 2014-2015. of their income and 189.9 million rubles. spouse’s income. – Inset K.ru
In the end, the court found that, while serving as a State Duma member and officially delegating the management of the company to his son Alexander, Sergey Petrov was actively involved in business.
He served as the guarantor for a 12.6 billion ruble loan obtained by Rolf from Sberbank in 2010. The prosecutor’s office alleges that in order to secure the loan, Mr. Petrov conducted negotiations with Sberbank representatives, which constitutes engaging in business activities incompatible with the status of a State Duma member.
The Prosecutor General’s Office also discovered from the FSB that during his free time from his State Duma responsibilities, Sergei Petrov held meetings with the company’s management, issued instructions, and discussed matters related to “transferring assets abroad and creating new investment projects.”
For instance, the lawsuit mentioned that from 2014 to 2016, Rolf allegedly transferred 8.9 billion rubles disguised as dividends
to the accounts of Mr. Petrov and his family members through Panabel Ltd, Delance Ltd and Rolf Motors, all of which, according to supervisory data, they were beneficiaries of. nearly 4 billion rubles were taken out.as stated by experts from the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, the Civil Code received 1,797 shares of CJSC valued at only 1 ruble.
Mr. Petrov was criminally charged in absentia by the ICR under Part 3 of Art. 193.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for conducting foreign exchange transactions using fake documents. This episode led to his prosecution. placed on the international wanted list, but not sent back to Russia by Austria, where he holds citizenship. The case of the former top manager of Rolf, Anatoly Kairo, is currently being reviewed in the Cheryomushkinsky District Court of Moscow, with him denying his guilt.
The Prosecutor General’s Office discovered the illegal business activities of Deputy Petrov while overseeing the investigation of this case, according to the lawsuit materials.
The supervisory claims were subsequently increased. Rolf LLC transferred 9.3 billion rubles to Panabel Ltd, Delance Ltd, and Rolf Motors controlled by Mr. Petrov, and he transferred 983 million rubles to the same Cypriot offshores. In 2015, Rolf Estate St. Petersburg LLC transferred about 733 million rubles to the accounts of Delance Ltd. Therefore, Mr. Petrov received over 11 billion rubles through controlled companies. The plaintiff believes that these payments were illegal, as the defendant was prohibited from doing business during this period, as stated by the court.
According to supervisory data, Sergey Petrov legalized 4.4 billion rubles through another Cypriot company under his control, Colgrade Limited, which he sent to Rolf LLC through fictitious transactions. The prosecutor’s office claims that the company accepted the funds transferred by Mr. Petrov and improperly utilized them in its business.
According to a law enforcement source who spoke to Kommersant, the Khimki District Court on Wednesday fully granted the claim of the Prosecutor General’s Office and jointly and severally recovered 19,435,425,885.75 rubles from Rolf Group and its founder Sergey Petrov.
The general director of Rolf, Svetlana Vinogradova, informed Kommersant that the company will provide comments on the court decision after receiving the full document. She explained that the company has reserved the cash amount of the claim in its accounts, which can only be collected after the court decision becomes effective. Ms. Vinogradova concluded that the possible write-off of funds will not impact Rolf's operations, as the company continues its regular activities, implements its previously outlined plans, and fully meets its obligations to customers and partners.
At the same time, it should be recalled that Rolf is currently in the process of being sold to a smaller dealer, Auto Key.
To protect a well-known businessman, the court decision turned out to be unexpected. “We believe that there are no grounds or evidence of the claim in the case,” lawyer Alexei Kupriyanov told Kommersant. The court decision, the interlocutor of Kommersant noted, “actually introduces a new punishment – civil confiscation of the defendants’ funds for misconduct that are not crimes.” As for the possibility of paying the sum owed, then, according to Mr. Kupriyanov, she has already been arrested. If the Moscow Regional Court, to which the defendants apply to appeal against the decision of the city court, leaves it in force, almost 20 billion rubles. will be transferred to the budget of the Russian Federation.
Gazeta.Ru, 02/16/2022, “Court exacted almost ₽20 billion from the founder of Rolf car dealer”: In 2021, Petrov ranked 127th in rating of the richest businessmen in Russia according to Forbes with a fortune of $950 million.
Having built a business, Petrov decided to go into politics. In 2007 and 2011, he was elected to the State Duma of the 5th and 6th convocations from the Just Russia party. He was a member of the budget and taxes committee. […]
As Petrov explained, in the end he became disillusioned with deputy work and left the Duma. “What I came for – to raise political competition, to guarantee at least an independent judiciary, to ensure the building of institutions – I could not achieve. There is a very large reverse wave, ”- he explained.
In 2019, Petrov was accused of financing an opposition blogger Alexei Navalny, the entrepreneur himself and Navalny denied this information. In the same year, the businessman fled to Austria, where he received citizenship. He is currently there and has no plans to return. Petrov connected the persecution in the Rolf case with an attempted raider takeover of the company or his deputy past. – Inset K.ru
