The Gagarinsky Court of Moscow exacted from the ex-Minister for the Open Government Mikhail Abyzov and Alfa-Bank $ 126.5 million in favor of the state. The decision was made at the suit of the Prosecutor General’s Office, TASS reports with reference to the press service of the court.
“The court satisfied the claims of the Prosecutor General’s Office and collected $ 104.5 million from Alfa-Bank, and another $ 22 million from Abyzov,” the court told the agency.
Abyzov’s lawyer Yuliy Tai said he would appeal the decision.
The newspaper “Kommersant”, citing sources, reported that the lawsuit was a continuation of last year’s litigation to recover 32 billion rubles from Abyzov and the Cypriot offshore companies controlled by him. The Prosecutor General’s Office, the FSB and Rosfinmonitoring found that part of the proceeds from transactions with the ex-minister were converted into $ 115 million and invested at interest in the project of the TON blockchain platform of the Telegram messenger. However, in 2019, the US Securities and Exchange Commission through a court banned the issuance of cryptocurrency and its transfer to investors.
“Due to the fact that this project did not take place, the funds of Mr. Abyzov with 10 percent income, and only $ 126.5 million, were subject to return to Russia,” the newspaper noted.
Abyzov was arrested in March 2019. He was accused of transferring abroad 4 billion rubles belonging to Sibeko and Regional Electric Grids in the period from 2011 to 2014. In addition, at the end of September 2020, the prosecutor’s office found the ex-minister 70 companies in Estonia, which he owned in 2015. In October 2020, the Gagarinsky Court of Moscow satisfied the claim of the Prosecutor General’s Office to turn Abyzov’s funds into state revenue in the amount of more than 32 billion rubles. The ex-minister himself does not admit his guilt.
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