State Control Committee reveals new facts of Belgazprombank's illegal activities

The former head of the financial institution has been detained and is suspected under several economic articles of the Criminal Code.

The situation around the detention of Viktor Babaryko was commented on today by the Chairman of the State Control Committee. According to Ivan Tertel, the investigation has irrefutable evidence of the guilt of the former bank manager in legalizing money obtained by criminal means.

"Nothing hides fraud as smart as a political martyr's image." Julius Fucik, Czech journalist, publicist and critic (1903-1943).

Julius Fucik was executed by the Nazis in September 1943. But he had time to say the most important thing: behind many "political" cases there is banal greed, theft and outright crime.

In 80 years, these words are still urgent. In 2016, Belgazprombank drew the attention of the control authorities. The financial institution was used for personal enrichment, stealing and transferring money offshore.

How did it work? The bank, its board members, their relatives and friends created firms, where the most profitable assets were moved to, and in order to prevent the bank's indicators from falling, the assets were replaced by weak ones. If the bank went bankrupt, the criminals would have remained with money and real estate offshore, but investors could have lost over 3 billion rubles.

Protecting depositors and preventing bank fraud is a duty of the National Bank, which made requests to colleagues in Latvia, Great Britain and Cyprus. Answers came in December 2019.

The competent authorities in Cyprus provided detailed information on schemes, amounts and ultimate beneficiaries. Only after this, the scheme organizer and his accomplices went into politics to seek salvation through elections.

It is already obvious that offshore accounts, expensive real estate, gold, paintings and cash currency are only the top of the pyramid. The suspects began to cooperate with the investigation, telling about more and more new episodes of the scheme. There was money laundering, bribery, and criminal trade with loans.

Viktor Babaryko, who left his main position at the bank, likes to repeat it in the press and in public: "I had nothing to do with off-shore business. This was done by my former and current deputies, managers and clerks, let them sort it out."

The legend was completely denounced by the defendants themselves. Within the framework of the investigation, they claimed that it was Viktor Babaryko who organized the criminal scheme and who was its major beneficiary in 100% of cases.

The video of these confessions is available. Babaryko first had a quarter of all illegal income, but then his share even increased. This money was found during the first investigation. Then the ex-banker said that it was his personal savings.

One of the witnesses says: "I was squeezed out of the Latvian scheme. It's all gone to the former chief's family."

On June 11,Mrs. Kupreeva was detained at her home. The media claimed that she has nothing to do with the bank and the firms. She's just an innocent friend of Viktor Babaryko's family. But the documents confirm that both Babaryko himself and Ms. Kupreeva are major owners of offshore financial companies. This follows from the documents found in the bank and those sent by foreign financial investigators.

Can Ms. Kupreeva be a "proxy" and do not know about millions on the islands? Maybe. But that's what she has to explain to society and the investigation.

Bank laundry schemes have to be proven by facts from the countries where the money was withdrawn. That's why offshore is a headache for tax authorities around the world. Even the United States and Germany spend years and millions to return the stolen billions. Therefore the solidarity of fellow controllers is important.