Investigation Committee announced the arrest on 43-year-old businessman Konstantin Koloyan in Moscow. He was a defendant in a notorious criminal case more than a decade ago. According to investigators, Mr. Koloyan and former deputy chairman of the Moscow National Bank Yuri Simonenkov are charged for using forged documents in the mid 90’s in order to steal 100 million dollars from the cashier of the bank, belonging to the state-owned companies Rosvooruzhenie and intended "to finance long-term state programs and budgetary organizations”.
According to official information, Mr. Koloyan was put on international wanted list nine years ago. However, according to the source close to the investigation, the businessman was very surprised by this fact at the detention, saying that he had been living in Moscow in recent years and had not been hiding from anyone.
This criminal case was filed by Moscow Prosecutor in January 1999 based on inspection of tax authorities and the Central Bank of Russia. During the investigation it was found that Mosnatsbank was registered on Jan. 29, 1993, and its shareholders became Rosvooruzhenie, the Russian Foreign Economic Association “Zarubezhneft”, State Foreign Economic Association "Prommashimport” and several commercial structures. As announced, the principal activities of the bank were as follows: work with precious metals, oil, and maintenance of contracts in GK “Rosvooruzhenie” and the accounts of the federal budget.
According to the case, Mosnatsbank was known in the banking circles as a structure closed to outsiders – they were reluctant to tell about the bank’s activities and did not show interest in expanding the customer base. According to the investigation, in 1995-1996, the bank "undertook several steps for the development of branches in the Moscow region, as it was authorized to maintain accounts of the federal Treasury Department in Moscow and Moscow region”. The prosecution assumes that during the campaign the leadership of Mosnatsbanka managed to take control over AKB “Unikombank” (license was revoked on May 18, 1999), which had the status of authorized bank in the Moscow region and branch network.
During the investigation it was found that afterwards the "leadership of Mosnatsbank became engaged in pumping money through Unikombank, resulting in delayed payments by Mosnatsbank to customers. In particular, the financial-accounting department of the Central Bank revealed that Mosnatsbank had repeatedly delayed execution of payment orders to the state company Rosvooruzhenie, therefore it was concluded that the bank had suffered "financial problems".
According to the case, on October 16, 1996 at the initiative of deputy president of Mosnatsbank Mr. Simonenkov a loan agreement with an offshore company "ABC Bank.Corp.” was signed. Under that agreement $ 50 million were transferred to the account of the latter. According to investigators, in July 1997, Mosnatsbank signed a similar credit agreement with another offshore company - Veksmark Bank Inc., 68.6 million dollars was transferred to its account then. Investigators found out that the two offshore companies had been registered in Nauru (ministate on the similar coral island in the Western Pacific Ocean) on Mr. Koloyan. According to the investigation, the latter received approximately $ 20 million of "commission" for those operations.
The investigation concluded that all the stolen funds had been withdrawn from the accounts of GK “Rosvooruzhenie» that had not been “returned to the bank and stolen by those people, as proved in the criminal case." Nevertheless, there were no formal complaints against Koloyan and Simonenkov for many years, and the charges on the art.147-3 of the RSFSR Criminal Code and Art. 159-3 of the Criminal Code (fraud) were presented to them in absentia only in 2001, as soon as they had left Russia. Later they were put on the international wanted list, but due to the absence of the accused the case was adjourned several times and almost did not develop.
In 1998, the Bank of Russia revoked the license of Mosnatsbank in connection with the non-performance the requirements of federal laws regulating banking activities, regulations of the Bank of Russia, establishing the facts of inaccurate reporting of data." An interim administration was appointed in the bank, but after three months of its mandate was terminated "in connection with the impossibility of implementation of proceedings providing the financial health of the bank."
Since then, there was no news about the criminal case on Mosnatsbank, even though the search for the accused had nearly succeeded at once. As it turned out, back in June 2006, Mr. Simonenkov was detained in the U.S., and $ 200 million were blocked on his accounts and of the companies, as American law enforcement officers immediately notified the Russian colleagues. However, as our source in the Prosecutor General's Office told, the Russian side had "not claimed for Simonenkov from the U.S for some reason; then he was released and his account by unlocking as he had not violated any of the U.S. laws.
However, it occurred so that the Russian investigators have not forgotten about the case. On April 9 this year Konstantin Koloyan was detained by the police in Moscow when leaving a nightclub. According to unofficial data, the businessman was surprised by the appearance of the operatives, did not resist and let the police to put on handcuffs. During the interrogation, he told he had been living in Moscow the recent years and could not even imagine that he had been on the international wanted list since 2001.
As for Unikombank, in April 2001, the Central Investigation Department under the police department of the Moscow region filed a criminal case on his fictitious bankruptcy. The former leaders of the field and bankers got suspected, as well as representatives of the Principal Territorial Administratio
