THE COURT ARRESTED THE DEPUTY HEAD OF THE DIA ALEXANDER PEPELYUKH

THE COURT ARRESTED THE DEPUTY HEAD OF THE DIA ALEXANDER PEPELYUKH

THE COURT ARRESTED THE DEPUTY HEAD OF THE DIA ALEXANDER PEPELYUKH
On October 9, 2024, the Lefortovo District Court of the capital detained Alexander Pepelyukh, Deputy director of the Deposit Insurance Agency, until November 24. The reason for the arrest could be financial fraud with the property of the bankrupt Joint-Stock Commercial Interregional Fuel and Energy Bank. He had the largest Russian water park, located in Novosibirsk, as collateral.

In January 2021, Rusbankrot reported on a conflict that broke out between the tenant of the water park and the company that owns the VDT Stroy building. She was one of the borrowers from the bank that signed the contract in 2013. The project itself was implemented in 2016, and the total amount of investments in construction exceeded 4.5 billion rubles.

The bank demanded about 2.2 billion from the owner of the water park. But the amount of debt turned out to be unaffordable for the company. In 2019, VDT Stroy came under surveillance, and in 2021 the company was declared bankrupt. In the same year, as Rusbankrot wrote, Aquamir Aquapark itself declared bankruptcy.

According to the FSB, the operation of the water park brought income not only to the bank, which took control of the facility, but also directly to Alexander Popelyukh. It is reported that they could have stolen about 200 million rubles. The insurance agency acted as the bankruptcy trustee of the bankrupt bank, overseeing the organization's settlements with lenders. The deputy head of the state corporation, who previously held the position of deputy prosecutor of the Novosibirsk region, could be involved in the theft of large sums received from the operation of Aquamir.

It is known that searches have already taken place at Popelyukh's house. Some of the items of interest to the investigation were seized by the investigative authorities. The defendant in this criminal case is Novosibirsk businessman Evgeny Bogorad. A few days after the arrest of the deputy head of the Insurance Agency, the CEO of RATM Holding, Eduard Taran, was sent under house arrest. Various media outlets associate the sanction against the head of an organization supplying energy coals for the needs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense with the detention and arrest of Popelyukh.

It is reported that the 46-year-old deputy head of the Insurance Agency is accused of participating in a particularly large fraud (under part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The severity of the chosen preventive measure is explained by the severity of the charge and the track record of the accused. It is known that before joining the Insurance Agency, Popelyukh worked for many years in the prosecutor's office in senior positions. His professional connections could have been aimed at countering the work of FSB investigators.

15.10.2024