The scapegoats of VIM-Avia are Kochnev, Kalashnikova and Panteleeva. VIM-Avia scapegoats - Kochnev, Kalashnikova and Panteleeva Rich Sabs - the heart and liver of Russian aviation
MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. The Basmanny Court of Moscow placed Alexander Kochnev, general director of VIM-Avia, accused of fraud with the airline's funds, under house arrest until November 25.
“The court decided to satisfy the investigation’s request and choose a preventive measure against Kochnev in the form of house arrest for a period until November 25,” judge Elena Lenskaya announced the decision.
The judge also noted that while under house arrest, Kochnev can visit medical institutions to provide qualified assistance, having previously notified the investigative authorities. Otherwise, the court imposed standard restrictions on Kochnev - not to leave his place of residence, not to communicate with the media, not to use the Internet and not to send mail. The court also did not allow him to take walks.
On Friday, the airline's chief accountant, Ekaterina Panteleeva, was also placed under house arrest until the same date. She did not object to this preventive measure. The accused will be under house arrest in her Moscow apartment. She is prohibited from contacting other defendants in the case.
The airline's management carried out the withdrawal of the company's assets with the aim of their subsequent theft; the investigation also established that, not being able to provide passenger transportation services, the company continued to sell tickets, the investigator clarified in court. At the moment, “not all possible accomplices of the crime have been identified and detained,” he added.
A source close to the investigation told TASS that the investigation accuses Kochnev and Panteleeva of selling flight tickets, despite the company’s objective inability to fulfill its obligations. “Kochnev and other persons knew in advance about the poor state of affairs at the airline, but did not take measures to stop the sale of tickets, and disposed of the funds received at their own discretion,” the agency’s interlocutor said.
According to the case materials, the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency, Alexander Neradko, was questioned as a witness in this case.
The case against the defendants was initiated on September 25 on the grounds of Part 4 of Art. 159 (“Fraud committed on an especially large scale”). The maximum punishment under this article is 10 years in prison.
The investigator in court said that the owners of the airline, Rashid and Svetlana Mursekaev, disappeared exactly on the day the criminal case was opened. Their location is being established. They will be put on the wanted list as part of a criminal case of fraud, law enforcement agencies previously reported to TASS. According to the Investigative Committee, “Rashid and Svetlana Mursekaev hastily left the country; according to the information available to the investigation, they are abroad.”
Positions of the parties
The investigator asked to place Kochnev and Panteleeva under house arrest and impose standard restrictions. “Kochnev managed the company and made all significant decisions,” the investigator said, motivating the petition. According to him, Kochnev and Panteleeva “by virtue of their official position can put pressure on other defendants in the case.”
The prosecutor supported the position of the investigation in court. “The investigation materials, taken together, allow us to consider the investigation’s position as justified,” the prosecutor said.
Kochnev, in turn, asked to be released on his own recognizance to eliminate difficulties that had arisen at the airline. He added that if house arrest is chosen as a preventive measure, he asks to be allowed two-hour walks and visits to doctors. Senior partner at the Yukov and Partners Bar Association, Kochnev’s lawyer Mikhail Voronin supported his client’s statement. He also added that “(Kochnev’s) detention was carried out with violations and is illegal.”
Non-flying airline
On September 25, VIM-Avia announced the termination of all charter flights due to financial problems and lack of working capital. This was preceded by a series of flight delays at Russian and foreign airports. According to the Federal Air Transport Agency, the total debt of VIM-Avia is about 7 billion rubles.
The day before, the government allocated 98 million rubles to the Federal Air Transport Agency for the maintenance of VIM-Avia aircraft, including payment for fuel and airport and ground flight support services. According to the order signed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the funds will be allocated from the Reserve Fund. At the same time, the total debt of VIM-Avia for work, services, fuel, airport and ground support for flights is about 1.3 billion rubles.
The Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia has completed the main investigative actions in a high-profile criminal case of fraud and abuse in what was once one of the largest airlines in the country "VIM-Avia", which is currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. On Friday, GSU investigators brought final charges against three persons involved in the investigation. Depending on the role of each of them, the former CEO of the company Alexander Kochnev, Vice President Alevtina Kalashnikov and accountant Ekaterina Panteleeva were accused of committing crimes under Part 2 of Art. 201, part 1 art. 176 and part 3 of Art. 193.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of authority resulting in grave consequences; illegal receipt of a loan and transfer of currency to non-residents of the Russian Federation using forged documents). Similar articles, but in absentia, the investigation incriminated the co-owner of the company Rashid Mursekaev, who left Russia even before the start of the proceedings.
Initially, the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee accused the defendants of particularly large-scale fraud committed by an organized criminal group (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to investigators, knowing that the airline located in a difficult financial situation and unable to pay for fuel and airfield services, they continued to sell tickets for flights that ultimately did not fly. However, according to Alexander Kochnev’s lawyer Mikhail Voronin, investigators, having analyzed this episode, obviously came to the conclusion that the airline still tried to fully fulfill its obligations to customers. The former top managers of VIM-Avia did not admit their guilt.
“Alexander Kochnev conscientiously performed the duties of the airline’s general director, so all his actions complied with the law,” says lawyer Voronin. “Kochnev himself believes that if the company had been able to pay for fuel in September last year, its planes would still be flying.”
According to Voronin's lawyer, after the final accusation was presented, his client refused to testify, considering it necessary to first familiarize himself with its text in detail. “In addition, we need to study several more documents that are not in the case,” the defense lawyer explained to Kommersant. “We assured the investigation that we would give our answer to the charges in a week.”
After the charges of fraud were dropped, the main issue in the case was the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on abuse of power, which provides for up to ten years in prison. According to the investigation, top managers of VIM-Avia allowed it, in particular, in relation to CJSC "Commercial agency of Domodedovo Airport", which was not paid more than 500 million rubles for ground maintenance of aircraft, as well as the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “State ATM Corporation”. The latter was unable to receive more than 200 million rubles for air navigation support of flights of VIM-Avia airliners. It is worth noting that the guarantor for fuel loans in Domodedovo was Rashid Mursekaev. The claim against him personally for 300 million rubles was satisfied, but in fact there was nothing to recover.
The press service of Domodedovo Airport reported that according to the arbitration decision, the entire debt was collected from VIM-Avia, but then it was fully included in the register of claims of the airline’s creditors.
Lawyers for those involved in the investigation were unable to explain exactly which episodes the charges under Art. 176 and 193.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, explaining this by the fact that they did not familiarize themselves with the investigation documents in detail. According to a Kommersant source, the investigation believes that hundreds of millions of rubles were withdrawn from the airline under fictitious contracts. The banking episode is obviously connected with PJSC "Bank Zenit"(62.66% belongs to PJSC Tatneft), which provided VIM-Avia with a credit line of 3.6 billion rubles until December 31, 2020. The funds were allocated as collateral for expensive aircraft engines, auxiliary power units and securities of various companies. In 2017, VIM-Avia stopped servicing the loan without paying interest on it in the amount of 32 million rubles. In addition, in violation of the agreement with Zenit, the airline received another loan - from Absolut Bank for 581 million rubles. Absolut, by the way, is still trying to get its money back through arbitration.
In turn, Zenit assigned the right to claim the loan to LLC RNGO, which also went to court. During an inspection of the collateral, it turned out that six out of ten aircraft engines and one auxiliary unit (valued at almost 1 billion rubles) were missing, and the securities did not really correspond to the value at which they were taken as collateral. The arbitration court recovered 3 billion rubles from the suspicious borrower in favor of the RNGO, allowing the remaining engines to be put up for auction and the bills to be sold.
It is expected that in a couple of weeks, those involved in the investigation can begin to familiarize themselves with its materials, after which the indictment will be sent for approval to the Prosecutor General's Office.
The Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia has completed the main investigative actions in a high-profile criminal case of fraud and abuse in what was once one of the largest airlines in the country "VIM-Avia", which is currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. On Friday, GSU investigators brought final charges against three persons involved in the investigation. Depending on the role of each of them, the former CEO of the company Alexander Kochnev, Vice President Alevtina Kalashnikov and accountant Ekaterina Panteleeva were accused of committing crimes under Part 2 of Art. 201, part 1 art. 176 and part 3 of Art. 193.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of authority resulting in grave consequences; illegal receipt of a loan and transfer of currency to non-residents of the Russian Federation using forged documents). Similar articles, but in absentia, the investigation incriminated the co-owner of the company Rashid Mursekaev, who left Russia even before the start of the proceedings.
Initially, the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee accused the defendants of particularly large-scale fraud committed by an organized criminal group (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to investigators, knowing that the airline located in a difficult financial situation and unable to pay for fuel and airfield services, they continued to sell tickets for flights that ultimately did not fly. However, according to Alexander Kochnev’s lawyer Mikhail Voronin, investigators, having analyzed this episode, obviously came to the conclusion that the airline still tried to fully fulfill its obligations to customers. The former top managers of VIM-Avia did not admit their guilt.
“Alexander Kochnev conscientiously performed the duties of the airline’s general director, so all his actions complied with the law,” says lawyer Voronin. “Kochnev himself believes that if the company had been able to pay for fuel in September last year, its planes would still be flying.”
According to Voronin's lawyer, after the final accusation was presented, his client refused to testify, considering it necessary to first familiarize himself with its text in detail. “In addition, we need to study several more documents that are not in the case,” the defense lawyer explained to Kommersant. “We assured the investigation that we would give our answer to the charges in a week.”
After the charges of fraud were dropped, the main issue in the case was the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on abuse of power, which provides for up to ten years in prison. According to the investigation, top managers of VIM-Avia allowed it, in particular, in relation to CJSC "Commercial agency of Domodedovo Airport", which was not paid more than 500 million rubles for ground maintenance of aircraft, as well as the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “State ATM Corporation”. The latter was unable to receive more than 200 million rubles for air navigation support of flights of VIM-Avia airliners. It is worth noting that the guarantor for fuel loans in Domodedovo was Rashid Mursekaev. The claim against him personally for 300 million rubles was satisfied, but in fact there was nothing to recover.
The press service of Domodedovo Airport reported that according to the arbitration decision, the entire debt was collected from VIM-Avia, but then it was fully included in the register of claims of the airline’s creditors.
Lawyers for those involved in the investigation were unable to explain exactly which episodes the charges under Art. 176 and 193.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, explaining this by the fact that they did not familiarize themselves with the investigation documents in detail. According to a Kommersant source, the investigation believes that hundreds of millions of rubles were withdrawn from the airline under fictitious contracts. The banking episode is obviously connected with PJSC "Bank Zenit"(62.66% belongs to PJSC Tatneft), which provided VIM-Avia with a credit line of 3.6 billion rubles until December 31, 2020. The funds were allocated as collateral for expensive aircraft engines, auxiliary power units and securities of various companies. In 2017, VIM-Avia stopped servicing the loan without paying interest on it in the amount of 32 million rubles. In addition, in violation of the agreement with Zenit, the airline received another loan - from Absolut Bank for 581 million rubles. Absolut, by the way, is still trying to get its money back through arbitration.
In turn, Zenit assigned the right to claim the loan to LLC RNGO, which also went to court. During an inspection of the collateral, it turned out that six out of ten aircraft engines and one auxiliary unit (valued at almost 1 billion rubles) were missing, and the securities did not really correspond to the value at which they were taken as collateral. The arbitration court recovered 3 billion rubles from the suspicious borrower in favor of the RNGO, allowing the remaining engines to be put up for auction and the bills to be sold.
It is expected that in a couple of weeks, those involved in the investigation can begin to familiarize themselves with its materials, after which the indictment will be sent for approval to the Prosecutor General's Office.
“The temporary financial difficulties that were associated with paying for fuel have nothing to do with the theft of funds,” lawyer Mikhail Voronin told Business FM
General Director of VIM-Avia Alexander Kochnev. Photo: Tatyana Belyakova/TASS
Updated at 15:06
The owners of the VIM-Avia company, Rashid and Svetlana Mursekaev, left Russia, the Investigative Committee reported. At the same time, the media write about the detention of the company’s general director, Alexander Kochnev, as well as the chief accountant of the air carrier, Ekaterina Panteleeva.
Panteleeva and Kochnev the day before, September 27, were summoned to the Investigative Committee for questioning as witnesses and were questioned regarding the case. Only this morning the investigation formalized their detention as suspects. After this, Kochnev and Panteleeva refused to testify at this stage, citing fatigue. Both plead not guilty in the fraud case and claim that there was no theft.
Mikhail Voronin, partner at Yukov and Partners Law Firm, lawyer for the detained VIM-Avia CEO Alexander Kochnev, told Business FM about the details of this case.
What is the current status of VIM-Avia owner Rashid Mursekaev and general director Alexander Kochnev - suspects, witnesses?
Mikhail Voronin: I don’t know anything about Mursekaev, I’m not defending him, I don’t know where he is. I defend General Director Kochnev. Kochnev is in the status of a suspect, and he is now detained for a period of 48 hours, but, apparently, the issue of a preventive measure will be decided tomorrow. He is suspected of committing a crime under Part 4 of Article 159 “theft on an especially large scale” ( “Fraud on an especially large scale.” — Business FM) on the grounds that the money received from the sale of air tickets was spent in some inappropriate way. That is, they were not spent on paying for fuel, in particular. The whole problem is that the charge has not yet been brought, has not been specified, so for now I am saying this based on the decisions to initiate a criminal case.
What is your position as a lawyer in the case? Whether Alexander will admit guilt or not, what is his position?
Mikhail Voronin: No, for Alexander this was all a complete surprise, because those temporary financial difficulties that were associated with paying for fuel had nothing to do with the theft of funds. Therefore, Kochnev is at a loss. We testified last night, right up to the night as a witness, told in detail why everything happened this way, and then in the night it turned out that he was suspected. At six o'clock the evening before, Kochnev was summoned for questioning as a witness. He was interrogated for several hours in this capacity. Then he spent the whole night in the Investigative Committee, and his official detention was formalized only today at nine in the morning. Today we refused any interrogations, because not eating or sleeping for several hours was simply physically impossible, so we refused to testify.
Did he take Article 51 of the Constitution (which gives the right not to testify against oneself)?
Mikhail Voronin: Not really. He said that he wanted to testify, but not at the moment due to the fact that he had not eaten or slept for several hours.
That is, they didn’t take him to the temporary detention center to sleep at night?
Mikhail Voronin: No. Because the arrest was registered only in the morning.
How does he explain the flight delays?
Mikhail Voronin: Temporary financial cash gap. This was a temporary financial difficulty. Untimely financing led to the fact that they were unable to pay for fuel within a certain number of days. But, in principle, the situation was initially solvable; the amount of debt that existed was not critical for the airline. But there was not enough working capital at this particular moment. In principle, the company was working, negotiations were held at the bank about providing a loan. Then someone there provided some of the money. But at the moment when it was necessary, they were not there. Ultimately, a bank guarantee was provided and flights resumed on Saturday, September 23.
I’ll touch on Mursekaev once again. If, after all, he disappeared, as the Investigative Committee says, does this somehow aggravate the guilt of your client Kochnev and the chief accountant?
Mikhail Voronin: Firstly, I can’t comment on the information, whether he disappeared or not, I don’t know anything about it. It may be aggravating now, apparently, in the sense that the full force of the accusation will be thrown at the general director and chief accountant. I say again, I don’t know anything about Mursekaev, because yesterday we arrived at six o’clock in the evening and now, at one o’clock in the afternoon, I just left the Investigative Committee, so I don’t have any information about Mursekaev or anyone else.
The lawyer of the chief accountant Ekaterina Panteleeva, Ekaterina Pavlovskaya, told Business FM that her client shares the position of Alexander Kochnev. She said that her client had also voluntarily appeared at the Investigative Committee the day before for questioning as a witness, spent the night in a building in the Investigative Committee, and this morning she was officially detained for 48 hours.
Ekaterina Pavlovskaya: I was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement regarding the preliminary investigation, so I can’t say much. For now, Panteleeva remains in the status of a suspect. Next, the investigation will decide on the choice of a preventive measure. Either this will be a preventive measure not related to deprivation of liberty, or the investigation will go to court with a petition for arrest.
What is the defense going to ask for her?
Ekaterina Pavlovskaya: Naturally, I will ask for either house arrest or a written undertaking not to leave
The case was initiated under a rather serious charge. Does she deny that any thefts took place?
Ekaterina Pavlovskaya: At the moment, yes. But formal charges have not yet been filed. I can fully confirm the position that Kochnev’s defender voiced to you that the company turned to the banks. It was not a situation of one day, September 22, when everything happened. Before this, the company made a lot of efforts to settle the debt, but there was some overlap with the bank, and that’s why this situation arose. Purely financial and economic activity with its own risks and with certain nuances of a certain type of activity.
When will the preventive measure be chosen?
Ekaterina Pavlovskaya: This will become known only tomorrow. To date, Panteleeva has refused to testify as a suspect, but this does not mean that we will continue to refuse them. This was due to the fact that the investigative actions were carried out starting yesterday and for a very long time - until 12 o'clock today.
Replenishment of an airline's fleet is always a great event, AK has an increase in passengers, the airport is busier, passengers have more comfort, directions, flying on a new type of aircraft (although many of them probably don’t think about it), and photographers have a new object of hunt.
On February 17, another joyful event took place in the history of VIM-AVIA and Domodedovo Airport - a new type of aircraft Airbus A330-200 was handed over in a solemn ceremony.
The event turned out great in terms of brightness and emotions. Steadfastly enduring the Moscow cold weather, Vim-Avia flight attendants participated in a photo shoot with both the A330 model and the hero of the occasion. 
The guys, judging by their smiles and emotions, did not notice the cold and happily helped us, responding to our “look there”, “look here”, “.. into the lens” 
The event was attended by representatives of VIM-AVIA, Airbus, and Domodedovo Airport.
In the photo: Elena Fedorova, Director of Public Relations of VIM-AVIA, General Director of VIM-AVIA Alexander Yakovlevich Kochnev and Vadim Marusov, Regional Director for Business Development in Russia and the Republic of Belarus.
Alexander Yakovlevich said that already having Airbus aircraft in the fleet, in particular the A319, which have shown themselves to be excellent, VIM-AVIA is pleased to receive an addition to the A330, another milestone in cooperation with Airbus and a new stage in the development of AK. In 2017, VIM-AVIA will celebrate its 15th anniversary and plan to double its air fleet, this will happen mainly due to wide-body aircraft. Thanks to this, AK’s route network will also actively develop in the segment of long-haul routes.
And Vadim Marusov wholeheartedly welcomed the new A330 operator and expressed confidence that VIM-AVIA, as a successful and efficient A319 operator, will fully appreciate the benefits of unifying the Airbus aircraft families. 
PIC appreciated the replenishment 
Well done guys, thank you very much. 
It’s a pleasure to fly with such flight attendants, if you fly with them, say hello from us)
Look with what warmth they look at their newcomer, soon they will have to accompany him in the sky. 
This is how you sometimes have to do squats for a good shot - so spotting is also fitness)) 
Can't tear yourself away from the guys) 
Although some switched to themselves) 
Oh, and Seryoga is so carried away by the A330 that he doesn’t look back and is about to get pecked in the back of the head)) 
And here is our handsome man in full height, angle and girth. 
Welcome on board 
Tea, coffee, cutlets?) 
And here is such a bright and positive safety card for the A330 
And we didn’t lag behind the flight attendants on board) 
A330-200 VIM-AVIA is presented in 252 seat configurations, of which: 24 for businessmen, 228 for economists. 
Guess the riddle - what is the name of the flight attendant?
Hussars and hussars be silent!) 
Plowshare) 
well, you understand - no comments) 
I had a strange association - a whale shark 
Big plane 
Engines and winglets, in my opinion, are one of the most fascinating elements in airplanes, and of course also the mechanization of the wing during takeoff and landing.