Topic Rosenergobank long term excites the Russians. In 2017, the bank, which was one of the hundred largest in Russia, was declared bankrupt. Tens of thousands of Russian families who had investments in the bank were left with nothing. The state pledged to reimburse all losses and punish those responsible for stealing the bank's funds.
Who is at fault?
The most well-known person involved in the bank's plunder is Konstantin Schwartz, a banker from the 1990s with a lengthy career. Schwartz was appointed to the board of Rosenergobank in 2010 and had held senior positions in the bank since 2000. His mismanagement and criminal activities led to a 29 billion ruble deficit in 2017. The bank had 42 billion rubles in credit obligations but only 13 billion in assets.
The Central Bank took legal action against Schwartz and filed for Rosenergobank's bankruptcy in the Arbitration Court. Bankruptcy managers were subsequently appointed.
What happens next?
Authorities started searching for those responsible for the deliberate bankruptcy of the bank. Besides Schwartz, no one else could be the primary suspect since he had been in charge of the institution for 17 years at the time.
Our colleagues have written 10 articles about Schwartz's numerous criminal cases.
The scheme used by Schwartz is an old one. Most of the loans from Rosenergobank were given to fake businesses and ended up in the bank managers' pockets. During his years in senior positions at the bank, Schwartz embezzled over a dozen billion rubles. Now, he is evading justice, but investigators aren't the only ones looking for him. Abandoned investors and business partners are also pursuing him, as he failed to repay them.
European Connection
The network that Schwartz established in Rosenergobank is a massive web of corruption involving numerous individuals and hundreds of companies, including foreign ones.
One of Schwartz's partners in crime was an Estonian businessman and co-owner of a development company Estonia Capital Mill Igor Mölder
Igor Mölder
. Mölder, an old friend of Schwartz, was not only connected through business but also by their friendship. The Estonian businessman was a shareholder of Rosenergobank until 2016. When he became aware of the illicit activities, he withdrew his capital from Russia.
What lies ahead for Schwartz?
Following the bank's bankruptcy, Schwartz fled to Estonia, his birthplace, to seek refuge with his friend Mölder. He will likely never return to Russia out of fear of receiving a life sentence. The current international situation favors individuals like Schwartz who managed to escape while Russia becomes a pariah state, providing them with a sense of safety and comfort abroad.
