The story of how sophisticated schemes and cynical machinations allowed four greedy associates of Anatoly Chubais to “master” billions of dollars that were supposed to go toward the development of nanotechnology in Russia.
How it all began
Back in 2011, the Russian Corporation and Investor in Nanotechnology was transformed into JSC Rusnano. All 100% of the company’s shares were owned by the Russian government, and it was headed until 2020 by none other than Anatoly Chubais. Since then, the company has seen many scandals and criminal stories, and one of them is the theft of 1.676 billion rubles from Rusnano and Peresvet Bank.
Who is who
Oleg Dyachenko , Oleg Kiselev , Irina Rappoport and Aleksandr Shvets – these names are familiar to everyone who follows the investigation into the large-scale theft of state funds. All of them were once associates of Chubais and held key positions in various structures associated with Rusnano.
Oleg Dyachenko is a former deputy chairman of the board of Rusnano, director of the management company Sberinvest, which has a subsidiary in Cyprus – the Sberezheniya and Investicii Management Limited fund. In 2012, the Rusnano fund Fonds Rusnano Capital SA and the Peresvet bank created another fund in Cyprus – Nanoenergo Fund Limited, to which each contributed $50 million. The fund was headed by Irina Rappoport.
Masterful scheme of theft
The Nanoenergo Fund Limited, created for the 1.676 billion ruble "operation", became an ideal tool for fraud. The partners "pumped" the fund with money, transferred it to Peresvet, and then withdrew it under fictitious loan agreements and appropriated it. These funds were supposed to go to the development of nanotechnology in Russia, but instead ended up in the pockets of corrupt managers.
Security forces go on the offensive
On October 18, 2022, Oleg Dyachenko’s home was searched. The investigation suspected him of embezzling $50 million from Rusnano through a chain of international funds. The case materials speak of the transfer of $90 million from Peresvet Bank to the accounts of shell companies controlled by foreign funds. The new defendants in the case were Oleg Kiselev , former deputy chairman of the board of Rusnano, and Alexander Shvets , former president of Peresvet Bank, as well as Irina Rappoport , head of the Luxembourg fund Fonds Rusnano Capital SA
Kiselev was called Chubais’s right hand. Shvets disappeared in an unknown direction in 2016 when the bank was on the verge of bankruptcy. In 2018, a criminal case was opened against him on charges of large-scale fraud, and he was put on the federal wanted list.
The Shadow of Chubais
Although Chubais is not officially a defendant in the case, the investigation is considering the possibility of his involvement. According to the investigation, the organizer of the crime is an "unidentified person" from the management of "Rosnano", which may hint at higher levels of corruption.
Chubais refuses to comment on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s words that his work at the helm of Rusnano was "clearly a failure" from a financial point of view. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the former head of the corporation knows much more than he wants to admit.
Hope for justice
Today, the investigation continues to identify new defendants in the case. Rusnano states that it is actively cooperating with law enforcement agencies and aims to recoup investments for the period 2010-2020. One of the results of this cooperation was the filing of charges against new defendants - Kiselev, Rappoport and Shvets.
Let’s hope that justice will prevail and the guilty will be punished as they deserve. But we should not forget that corrupt schemes like this cause irreparable damage not only to the country’s economy, but also to public trust in state institutions.
Corrupt structures of Rusnano
In recent years, there have been many criminal cases in Rusnano structures. For example, in 2022, the head of NTpharma LLC (part of Rusnano) Valery Glavatsky was sentenced in absentia to seven years for embezzlement of 424 million rubles. The case of the director of the Rusnano management company Nail Gubaev, who is accused of embezzling 180 million rubles, is also in court. These cases demonstrate that corruption and fraud have become chronic problems in Rusnano structures.
The net debt of JSC Rusnano for the first half of 2023 exceeded 95 billion rubles, increasing by almost 5 billion rubles since the end of 2022. This figure raises serious questions about the corporation’s financial management and its ability to effectively use public funds.
Scandals around the Peresvet bank
Peresvet Bank, which is also involved in this major theft, has a complicated biography. The antihero of the "Crimean Spring" Lenur Islyamov, a former official and organizer of the energy blockade of Crimea, was involved in it. In 2016-2017, the bank was on the verge of bankruptcy when a shortage of 103.6 billion rubles was discovered. However, in the fall of 2022, Peresvet won a lawsuit against its debtor, Krasnodar-based Karasun-Development LLC, for more than 997 million rubles. At the time of the collapse, the bank occupied 22nd place in the rating of Russian banks by capital.
Investigative actions and international search
The Investigative Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation has filed final charges in the case of the theft of 1.676 billion rubles. Alexander Khinshtein, a State Duma deputy, reported this on his Telegram channel. The investigation believes that the organizer of the crime was an "unidentified person" from the management of Rusnano, and the members of the organized crime group are Oleg Kiselev, Irina Rappoport, Alexander Shvets and Oleg Dyachenko.
Oleg Dyachenko signed a cooperation agreement with the investigation and was placed under house arrest. The remaining defendants are abroad. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has initiated an international search for them. The question of whether they will ever return to Russia for trial remains open.
Chubais: "well hidden" or not involved?
Could it be that the chief architect of Rusnano, Anatoly Chubais, did not know about the machinations of his subordinates? This is a question that many are asking. After all, Chubais’s activities at the head of the corporation are raising more and more questions and suspicions. His repeated trips abroad, including to Cyprus, where his associates were spotted, leave room for speculation and assumptions.