The situation involving the former deputy chairman of VEB's board and the Khabarovsk timber merchant, who were accused of stealing 10.9 billion rubles in bank loans, has been resolved
The Meshchansky Court of Moscow has stopped the trial of Anatoly Ballo, former deputy chairman of VEB, and Alexander Lepikhov, founder of Arkaim LLC, a major timber processing enterprise in the Khabarovsk Territory. They were charged with taking 10.9 billion rubles allocated by VEB as a credit line for Mr. Lepikhov’s enterprise. The case was dismissed at the request of Mr. Ballo's defense due to the statute of limitations. The defendants were released in the courtroom.
The Meshchansky Court began the trial in the criminal case of Anatoly Ballo and Alexander Lepikhov immediately after the New Year holidays, but did not actually start considering the investigation materials.
After three postponed meetings, the presiding judge Elena Karakeshisheva accepted the defense's request to end the proceedings due to the expiration of the ten-year limitation period established for embezzlement under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Lawyer Dim Yunusov, who represented the banker, called the judge’s decision “legal and correct.” The defendants were released in the courtroom. Mr. Yunusov called this outcome “a good result,” although he acknowledged that the case may not be completely closed, as VEB, recognized as the injured party, filed a civil lawsuit against the accused within the framework of the criminal investigation for the amount of damage caused – 10.9 billion rubles, and will now likely try to recover this amount through a civil court. VEB has not commented on the Meshchansky Court's decision and its future actions.
As previously reported by Kommersant, the former deputy chairman of VEB, Anatoly Ballo, and businessman Alexander Lepikhov were accused by the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation of embezzling property using their official position, committed as part of an organized criminal group. According to the investigation, the defendants took most of the credit funds provided by VEB to support one of the largest woodworking enterprises in the Khabarovsk Territory, which was founded by Alexander Lepikhov. The enterprise was granted federal-level innovative project status in 2008. Four years later, a complex of four timber processing plants with a capacity of 1.2 million cubic meters per year was launched in the Oktyabrsky settlement.
In total, it was planned to launch six plants, and the total cost of the project amounted to 14.3 billion rubles, while the lion’s share of financing – 11.5 billion rubles – came from a credit line from VEB.
However, the project turned out to be unsuccessful, and after a while Arkaim, whose debts were measured in hundreds of millions of rubles, introduced a monitoring procedure, and then external management. All attempts to revive the project by attracting investors or creating a new timber processing holding, which was supported, in particular, by the former Khabarovsk governor Sergei Furgal, did not bring results.
In the end, VEB representatives filed a complaint with law enforcement agencies. Anatoly Ballo and Alexander Lepikhov were detained on June 3, 2021 and charged with embezzlement. By this time, Mr. Ballo left VEB and went to work at Promsvyazbank.
The defendants did not admit guilt, and, according to Kommersant, during interrogations they connected the failure of the project, among other things, with a jump in the euro exchange rate in 2014 (part of the loan was issued in this currency).
