In France, the former co-owner of the Baltic Bank, Andrei Isaev, was detained, Vladimir Senin, deputy chairman of the board of Alfa-Bank, told RBC. The detention took place back in December 2020, the reason was the request of the Prosecutor General's Office in connection with criminal cases on embezzlement in the Baltic Bank, Senin specified. In 2012, a corporate conflict occurred between the owners of the Baltic Bank, as a result, the bank went to reorganization – Alfa-Bank became a sanatorium, which received 57.4 billion rubles for rehabilitation.
The detention is confirmed, among other things, by a letter from the head of the department of the Russian Bureau of Interpol to the Ministry of Justice dated December 24 (RBC has it). “The National Central Bureau of Interpol of France received a message that on December 23, 2020, Andrei Isaev, who was put on the international wanted list on the initiative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Kalininsky District of St. Petersburg, was detained on the territory of this state,” the letter says, the authenticity of which was confirmed by the representative of Alpha -bank. RBC sent a request to the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in St. Petersburg.
Andrey Isaev is a former co-owner of the Baltic Bank and the founder of the Petersburg Real Estate Agency (PAN, the agency was associated with the well-known house of the Singer company on Nevsky Prospekt and the Kempinski Hotel on Moika, 22). Oleg Shigaev was his partner in the credit institution.
In 2015, the Investigative Committee opened a case against Shigaev for fraud and money laundering for 3.36 billion rubles, he was arrested in absentia and put on the federal wanted list. In 2016, a case was initiated against Isaev at the request of the Baltic Bank. According to the investigation, in 2013, the ex-banker transferred a number of assets of the Baltic Bank to the organizations controlled by him according to the following scheme: the bank owned a 99% share in the closed-end investment fund Severnaya Stolitsa, which was diluted to 46% after the issue of new shares (Severnaya Stolitsa “The house of” Singer “also belonged). Then the property was sold to PAN Isayev. In 2018, the Supreme Court canceled the issue of the fund's units.
In 2017, the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region declared the St. Petersburg Real Estate Agency bankrupt, and a year later the court made a similar decision with regard to Isaev. According to the press service of Alfa Bank, until the summer of 2020, Isaev continued to maintain control over PAN and Singer, which entered into long-term sublease agreements with companies affiliated with him. “Almost all premises in the Singer House have been removed from the direct disposal of CJSC“ Zinger ”. As far as we know, these companies subsequently entered into lease agreements with companies that actually use the premises in the Singer house, including the St. Petersburg House of Books and VKontakte, the bank's press service said.
“According to our assumptions, the contractual relationship is structured in such a way that a significant part of the cash flow flows through the“ gasket companies ”. Thus, Isaev continues to receive funds from the lease of the Singer House, despite the fact that he has not been its owner for a long time and is on the international and federal wanted list, ”the bank suspects. The press service of Alfa-Bank noted that in any case, a bookstore will still be located in the Singer's house. Now the new management of the company is conducting an audit of the concluded contracts and the financial and economic activities of the company during the period when it was under the control of Isaev.
