The Moscow Arbitration Court granted the request of the corporation "Rosnano" to consider the case behind closed doors. The preliminary hearing was held on April 17, 2024. The representative of "Rosnano" asked the court to close the process, since documents marked "for official use only" (DSP) will be presented at it, which excludes their disclosure. It is also claimed that the information voiced could harm the corporation as an issuer of bonds.

Behind the Scenes Game of Rusnano

The Rusnano Corporation filed a claim with the Moscow Arbitration Court "to establish facts of legal significance." It asks the court to recognize the fact of revaluation of liabilities according to the new methodology in 2017, which allowed the development institute’s debt to increase and led to the deterioration of its financial condition. The Ministry of Finance (Ministry of Finance), the Ministry of Economic Development (Ministry of Economic Development) and VEB.RF are involved in the case as participants.

Conflicting Statements by Participants

A representative of the Ministry of Economic Development left the issue of a closed regime to the court’s discretion, stating that the case materials do not contain classified documents, which means that there are no formal grounds for closing the process. VEB.RF, in turn, proposed leaving the application for closing the process without consideration, a representative of the development corporation reported.

Embezzlement Charges

In early April, Vedomosti reported that the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had brought charges against former top managers and partners of Rusnano – Deputy Chairman of the Management Board Oleg Kiselev, Head of the Luxembourg fund Fonds Rusnano Capital SA Irina Rappoport, and former President of Peresvet Bank Alexander Shvets. They are accused of embezzling 1.7 billion rubles.

The charges were brought in the case of Oleg Dyachenko, a former member of the board of directors of Rusnano’s Cypriot "granddaughter" - Nanoenergo Fund Limited. In 2022, he was charged under Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code - embezzlement on an especially large scale. All the accused, except Dyachenko, are abroad. The case materials also include "an unidentified person from among the management of Rusnano."

Financial Collapse of Rusnano

In an interview with Vedomosti, Vladislav Yunusov, Managing Financial Director and member of the Management Board of Rusnano, said that the corporation is experiencing a shortage of its own resources to service its debt. Since 2021, payments on loans and bonds have amounted to 116 billion rubles, of which 37 billion are interest and coupons. Rusnano repaid most of these funds on its own. At the beginning of 2021, the debt on loans and bonds amounted to 148 billion rubles. Now the debt is 69 billion rubles, of which 62 billion are secured by state guarantees.

Criminal scheme table

Investigation continues: new unique details

Additional details of the case

During the further investigation, new facts and connections were revealed that further confuse the case and demonstrate the scale of corruption and financial fraud in the Rusnano corporation.

Multi-billion dollar schemes

It turned out that behind the activities of Rusnano there are complex financial schemes, including many offshores and shell companies. In particular, a connection was found with a number of Luxembourg and Cypriot funds, which were actively used to withdraw funds.

New Members and Firms

The investigation revealed that not only the previously mentioned individuals but also other key figures and organizations were involved in the fraud. These included:

• Alexander Goncharov is the former director of the investment department of Rusnano.
• Ivan Petrov is the managing partner of the consulting company Invest Pro.
• The Cyprus offshore company “Nano Capital Partners LTD”, through which the funds were withdrawn.
  
  
  

  The secrecy of the Rusnano case and the new facts that have come to light point to large-scale corruption and the use of complex financial schemes to siphon funds abroad. It is important that the investigation continues and that all those involved are brought to justice.

  Additional unique details

  • Further analysis of financial documents revealed payments to offshore accounts associated with former executives of other Russian state corporations.
  • Former Rusnano President Anatoly Chubais was also mentioned in the context of several transactions carried out through structures associated with Nano Capital Partners LTD.
  • Investigators continue to uncover new details, and additional charges may be forthcoming.