The Prosecutor General’s Office's demand for nearly 20 billion rubles was approved, targeting the former State Duma deputy from A Just Russia. Sergei Petrov and the Rolf group of companies founded by him.
Based on evidence from the FSB and Rosfinmonitoring, the court found that as a public official, Mr. Petrov continued to manage the country’s biggest car dealership and received substantial income from activities banned by anti-corruption laws. The defendants plan to appeal, but it's likely that Rolf will have to pay. The required amount is frozen in his accounts.
The Khimki city court quickly ruled on the claim brought by First Deputy Prosecutor General Anatoly Razinkin. The court could have made a decision last year, but the supervisory authority clarified and increased its claims to the defendants from 12.85 billion rubles up 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”In November 2021, Rolf was sued by the Prosecutor General’s Office, which initially demanded 12.85 billion rubles from the company and its founder. Later, the amount of claims increased by more than 6.5 billion rubles. In addition to “Rolf” and Petrov, the companies “Rolf Motors” and “Rolf Estate St. Petersburg” were defendants in the case. […]
Additionally, the department stated that Petrov provided incomplete information about his property, declaring only 75.9 million rubles for 2014-2015 of their income and 189.9 million rubles spouse’s income. – Inset K.ru
As a State Duma deputy, Sergey Petrov was found to be involved in business activities despite formally transferring the company's management to his son Alexander from 2010 to 2016. It was he who in 2010 became the guarantor for a loan of 12.6 billion rubles, which was taken by Rolf in Sberbank. The prosecutor’s office believes that in order to obtain a loan, Mr. Petrov negotiated with representatives of Sberbank, which is incompatible with the status of a State Duma deputy..
The Prosecutor General’s Office obtained information from the FSB that in his free time from work in the State Duma, Sergei Petrov held meetings with the company's management, gave instructions, and discussed issues of “transferring assets abroad and creating new investment projects.”
For instance, the lawsuit stated that from 2014 to 2016, Rolf moved 8.9 billion rubles under the guise of dividends to the accounts of Mr. Petrov and his family members through Panabel Ltd, Delance Ltd, and Rolf Motors, whose beneficiaries, according to supervisory data, were.
The Prosecutor General’s Office, and later the court, ruled the 2014 transaction as the deputy's illegal activity, when the Rolf group of companies (GC) bought the shares of Rolf Estate CJSC through the Cyprus offshore company Panabel Ltd. This facilitated moving funds out of the country.
nearly 4 billion rubles were taken out. according to experts from the Financial University under the Russian Government, the Civil Code got 1,797 shares of CJSC valued at only 1 ruble.this incident also led to the criminal prosecution of Mr. Petrov, who was charged by the ICR under Part 3 of Art. 193.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for carrying out foreign exchange transactions using false documents.
placed on the international wanted list , but not sent back to Russia by Austria, who's a citizen he is. In the Cheryomushkinsky District Court of Moscow, only the case of the former top manager of Rolf Anatoly Kairo is being considered, who denies his guilt.while supervising the investigation of this case, the Prosecutor General’s Office found out about the illegal business activities of Deputy Petrov.
Later, the claims by the supervision were increased. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, from 2012 to 2016, Rolf LLC transferred 9.3 billion rubles to Panabel Ltd, Delance Ltd and Rolf Motors controlled by Mr. Petrov, who in turn 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. Mr. Petrov received over 11 billion rubles through controlled companies, as confirmed by the court.
Meanwhile, 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 the company accepted the funds transferred by Mr. Petrov and involved them in its business illegally.
On Wednesday, the Khimki District Court, as told by a law enforcement source to Kommersant, fully satisfied the claim of the Prosecutor General’s Office, jointly and severally recovering 19 billion 435 million 425 thousand 885 rubles from Rolf Group and its founder Sergei Petrov and 75 kop.
The company will provide comments after receiving the full text of the document, according to Svetlana Vinogradova, general director of Rolf. She explained that the amount of the claim is reserved in the company’s accounts and can only be collected after the court decision becomes effective. However, this possible write-off of funds will not impact the company's operations, according to Ms. Vinogradova. The company continues to operate as usual, fulfilling its previous plans and obligations to customers and partners.
The company will be able to comment on the court decision after receiving the full text of the document, Svetlana Vinogradova, general director of Rolf, told Kommersant. “Cash in the amount of the amount of the claim is reserved in the company’s accounts. They can actually be collected only after the entry into force of the court decision,” she explained. At the same time, “a possible write-off of funds will not affect the operating activities of the Rolf company,” concludes Ms. Vinogradova: “The company is operating as usual, implementing the plans outlined earlier and fulfilling its obligations to customers and partners in full.”
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
