Absentee arrest of Andrei Puchkov. Governor Vorobyov's best friend is on the verge of prison

Former co-owner of the bankrupt Urban Group and head of Ivastroy, Andrei Puchkov, hid abroad from creditors and the police. The Savyolovsky Court of Moscow imposed a preventive measure in absentia on him in the form of arrest at the request of the investigator. Puchkov was also put on the federal and international wanted list.

Criminal case after bankruptcy of Urban Group

On August 2, the court decided to take Puchkov into custody for 2 months as soon as he is extradited to Russia. For abuse of power former director“Ivastroya” faces up to ten years in prison.

The criminal case was initiated after the bankruptcy of "" - the largest developer in the Moscow region, which also inherited the facilities of the previously bankrupt company SU-155. Searches were carried out at Andrei Puchkov's place. Investigators claim that the Ivastroy company, part of the Urban Group, collected money from shareholders for the construction of the Laikovo housing complex, but never built anything.

To complete this construction alone, 12 billion rubles are required, which the authorities will apparently take out of the pockets of citizens, but Urban Group still has many unfinished projects. The developer's debts can reach In total, the government will have to complete the construction of about 3.5 million square meters of real estate, but it will be extremely difficult to attract private investors to abandoned properties: there is a full-scale crisis in Russian construction.

Andrey Puchkov has something to fear

Meanwhile, Puchkov’s defense claims that the case against him is not related to shareholders; it was initiated under Part 2 of Article 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which does not apply to individuals. Lawyer Natalya Kotenochkina said she fears for the physical safety of her client.

Now that Puchkov’s financial situation has been shaken, he really has something to fear. As long as he had money, he was forgiven for many things - both dubious projects and management decisions that were flawed from a legal point of view. When the money was gone, justice's eyes were opened.

It is possible that Puchkov may be made a scapegoat in order to shield the other leaders of the group. On the other hand, there are probably people who are not interested in Puchkov saying something unnecessary to save himself.

Reasons for bankruptcy of Urban Group

Urban Group was founded by metallurgist Alexander Dolgin and existed for ten years. The collapse became obvious after Sberbank canceled its mortgage programs for buyers of apartments in Urban Group properties. The reasons for the collapse include conflict within management, dumping, and ineffective spending. However, all these are second-order reasons, the reason for which can be called a drop in demand for housing.

Demand fell for two simple reasons:

1. The decline in the well-being of Russians. Despite any reduction in mortgage interest rates, they can no longer afford to buy apartments.

2. Severe overheating of the construction market due to the lack of other areas for investment. All the easy money, including that obtained illegally, including by major officials, went to the construction site. As a result, residential complexes grew by leaps and bounds, luxury hotels appeared in depressed cities, and all this stood empty. But no one was going to stop, and no one could.

The upcoming collapse of construction was obvious to everyone, it was delayed by banks and officials (with the help maternity capital) forced mortgages on people, but the end finally came. The Urban Group bubble burst in the same way as the SU-155 bubble burst earlier.

At the same time, a crisis is unfolding in the banking sector, which may be aggravated by the failure of mortgage programs. So it is possible that others will soon follow Puchkov.

Detentions of major figures began in the construction market of the Moscow region. As Dozhd reports, the Savelovsky court in Moscow arrested the former head of the Urban Group in absentia and general director"Ivastroya" Andrey Puchkov in the case of abuse of power. Part 2 of Article 201 of the Criminal Code, which the detainee is charged with, provides for punishment of up to ten years in prison.

According to investigators, the suspects exceeded their authority when collecting funds for the construction of the Laikovo residential complex, which was not completed.

The reason for initiating the case, in addition to the statements of the shareholders, could be a complaint from the main owner of the Urban Group, Alexander Dolgin. According to the SPARK database, Andrey Puchkov remains a minority shareholder of the developer with a 5% stake.

According to the Ruspres agency, previously, with the help of administrative resources, the developer was able to evade responsibility for serious crimes - for example, when several people were poisoned to death by carbon monoxide in townhouses built by Urban Group due to violations in the installation of heating boilers.

Alas, Vorobyov’s resources are Lately became impoverished, and arrests were urgently needed.

Andrey Puchkov resigned as CEO of Urban Group in April. His post was taken by Alexander Dolgin. The group’s message said that the reason for Andrei Puchkov’s departure was “differences in views on business development.”

Earlier, the Ruspres agency talked about the connection between two Andreevs - governor Vorobyov and builder Puchkov during a scandal with the disappearance of apartments that the Urban Group was supposed to transfer to the winners of the 2014 Olympics. According to experts, if investigators take the time to check Puchkov’s connections with the Association of Developers of the Moscow Region, which acted as a fallback mechanism between developers and Vorobyov’s team, we will face a whole chain of imprisonments, bankruptcies and even more money from the budget for the completion of residential complexes in the Moscow region.

Puchkov Andrey Viktorovich (born February 26, 1969, Kimovsk, Tula region, RSFSR, USSR) is a Russian businessman, former general director (2008-2018) and co-owner of a development company. A defendant in a criminal case for abuse of power. In August 2018, he was put on the federal and international criminal wanted list.

In 1993 he graduated from Moscow State Technical University named after N.E. Bauman. In 1999, Puchkov received an MBA degree from the Higher School of International Business at the Academy National economy under the government of the Russian Federation. In 2003 he graduated from the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation.

In 2006, Puchkov took the position of financial director of the Urban Group, and in 2008 he became the holding’s general director. He left this post in April 2018.

On August 2, 2018, the Savelovsky District Court of Moscow arrested Andrei Puchkov in absentia. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation accused an entrepreneur who fled from Russia of abuse of power. He was put on the international wanted list.

How Roman Gromozdov became a beneficiary of VTB State Bank projects

Dollar millionaire, owner of a factory and hunting grounds - this is all about Roman Gromozdov, an almost unknown entrepreneur. He makes money from Moscow real estate, the construction of which is financed by VTB. Perhaps the reason for the businessman’s success is his acquaintance with the deputy chairman of the state bank Andrei Puchkov, the “right hand” of Andrei Kostin.

Co-owners of Urban Group fled Russia

Former co-owner of Urban Group Andrei Puchkov managed to escape abroad before his arrest. The main owner of the development company, “professor” Alexander Dolgin, did this even earlier.

The court arrested the former CEO of Urban Group Andrei Puchkov

The former general director of Urban Group and Ivastroy, Andrei Puchkov, was arrested in absentia by the court: he is charged with abuse of power, leading to grave consequences. The media linked the case against Puchkov with the unfinished Laikovo residential complex. The owner of the bankrupt company, Alexander Dolgin, is hiding in Europe.

Urban Group received its first criminal case

The Investigative Committee, with great delay, took over the management of one of the subsidiaries of the Urban Group, from which 70 to 120 billion rubles were withdrawn.

And the general director of Ivastroy Andrei Puchkov in the case of abuse of power. Part 2 of Article 201 of the Criminal Code, which the detainee is charged with, provides for punishment of up to ten years in prison.

According to investigators, the suspects exceeded their authority when collecting funds for the construction of the Laikovo residential complex, which was not completed. The reason for initiating the case, in addition to the statements of the shareholders, could be a complaint from the main owner of the Urban Group, Alexander Dolgin. According to the SPARK database, Puchkov remains a minority shareholder of the developer with a 5% stake.

In July, surveillance procedures were introduced at five companies associated with the Urban Group. The audit showed that almost 71 billion rubles are missing to complete the construction of Urban Group projects. The case against Puchkov was opened at the beginning of July; all month he tried to “slow down the case” with the help of the connections and resources of his fellow governor of the Moscow region Andrei Vorobyov. According to the Ruspres agency, previously, with the help of administrative resources, the developer was able to evade responsibility for serious crimes - for example, when several people were poisoned to death by carbon monoxide in townhouses built by the Urban Group due to violations in the installation of heating boilers.

Alas, Vorobyov’s resources have become scarce recently, and arrests were urgently needed in the Urban Group case.

Puchkov resigned as CEO of Urban Group in April. Dolgin took his post. The group’s message said that the reason for Puchkov’s departure was “differences in views on business development.”

VAT refund schemes were generally relevant at that time: just two months after this story, lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was trying to investigate such cases, was killed in a Moscow pre-trial detention center. It was his death, and not Crimea and Donbass, that led to the first anti-Russian sanctions in the form of the “Magnitsky Law” and the corresponding lists, which are replenished to this day.

Let's return to Russobank. Why did this particular organization participate in the dubious operation, why was it the account opened for the deceased? Would this have been possible without the personal consent of at least Mark Weinstein? There are a lot of interesting points in his biography. By his first and main profession, he is not a banker, but an antiquarian: it is unnecessary to remind about the absolute opacity and criminality of this type of activity. He is friends with Alexander Khochinsky - the same one who lost Voltaire's letters prepared as a gift to Putin, and was then arrested in New York at the request of the Poles for illegal possession of a Polish painting previously stolen by the Nazis. Antique dealers have a busy life!

Even earlier, both comrades were involved in a murky case involving the purchase of five paintings famous artists. In 2002, a certain Vitaly Tikhonov took five paintings from an antique dealer in order to sell them to Weinstein through Khochinsky and some US citizen. The complexity of the scheme already implied the presence of risks for the female dealer. And so it happened: Khochinsky, who back in the USSR received eight years for his frauds, began to demand more money from the dealer than he gave as collateral. As a result, only Tikhonov was brought to justice.

In 2006, the same Weinstein, in the office of Russobank, “settled” the case of antique dealer Tatyana Preobrazhenskaya, who was accused of selling five fake paintings. Weinstein seemed to have persuaded all interested parties to hush up the matter and not spoil each other’s reputations. It didn’t help: two years later Tatyana received 9 years in prison, her husband - 8.5 years.

It is clear that with such a busy life, Weinstein is not in poverty. He became one of the beneficiaries of the development of Moskvoretsky Park, where, according to documents, a sports and recreational zone was built, and for some reason private guarded mansions were erected, one of the owners of which was Weinstein. He co-founded Virazh CJSC and the non-profit charitable foundation Veteran: private cottages and even a yacht pier mysteriously grew up on his site. In 2008, the court ordered the demolition of these buildings. But even now, in 2018, the prosecutor’s office is again seeking the demolition of buildings in Moskvoretsky...

One should respect the courage of the majority owners of Russobank, who keep such a person in the main position in a credit institution. These people really aren't afraid of anything. But maybe only as long as Vorobyov holds the post of governor?

The Savyolovsky Court of Moscow authorized the arrest of the former general director of the Moscow region developer Urban Group, Andrei Puchkov. The petition to select a preventive measure in the form of detention was granted on August 1, 2018, as follows from the information on the case posted on the court’s website.

The case against Puchkov was opened under Part 2 of Article 201 of the Criminal Code of Russia (abuse of power resulting in grave consequences). This act is punishable by a fine of up to 1 million rubles, forced labor for up to five years, or imprisonment for up to 10 years.

In mid-July, the Kommersant newspaper reported on a criminal case opened by the Investigative Committee of Russia against the management of Ivastroy LLC, of which Puchkov was the general director. Ivastroy, part of the Urban Group, collected, according to investigators, 6.7 billion rubles from 2,595 shareholders, but never commissioned the Laikovo housing complex, which it had been building in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region since 2016. Now the completion of Laikovo will require 12 billion rubles.

In April 2018, Dolgin initiated an external audit process of Urban Group, during which gross errors and violations in the company’s management and governance system were identified. “Biased reporting, misappropriation of funds, unmotivated distribution of budgets, direction and redirection of cash flows are only part of the identified violations,” the company’s press service reported.

Then, in April, Andrei Puchkov, who headed the Urban Group in 2008 and implemented projects such as “City of Embankments”, “Opalikha O2”, “Pyatnitsky Quarters” and others, left the company due to divergent views on business development. On April 23, 2018, Alexander Dolgin assumed operational management of the company. In May, the owner of one of the largest developers in the Moscow region decided to form a new team and develop an anti-crisis management regime to get the Urban Group out of a difficult situation.

On May 22, Sberbank curtailed its mortgage programs at the sites of the Moscow region developer Urban Group, which is completing the construction of problematic properties behind the SU-155. Forbes' source in Sberbank then explained that the credit institution decided to cancel the accreditation of Urban Group facilities due to the group's accumulated financial problems, including a lack of cash flow, significant cash gaps and delays in construction deadlines. The bank was also concerned about the developer's significant obligations under investment contracts with the authorities of the Moscow region, which, against the backdrop of cash gaps, created additional pressure on the company's business. Sberbank emphasized that they see significant risks for the entire Urban Group business, and not just for individual projects.

The event city “Laikovo” (as Urban Group positions it on its website) was designed on the site of the Like City residential complex, which the SU-155 company intended to build. Due to the bankruptcy of the company, the project was not completed. And in February 2016, Urban Group became involved in solving the problems of defrauded shareholders. She signed a tripartite agreement with the regional Ministry of Construction Complex and SU-155, committing herself to solving the problems of 164 citizens who had invested in apartments of the bankrupt SU-155. In addition, the tripartite agreement also provided for the repayment of tax and credit debts of the bankrupt developer, as well as the completion of 12 SU-155 social infrastructure facilities in the Moscow region.

The area of the site for the Laikovo project, which Urban Group was building in the Odintsovo district, 12 km from the Moscow Ring Road, is 116.84 hectares. It was planned to build 62 apartment buildings with a height of 4 to 12 floors and 11 townhouses. We are talking about 1.75 million square meters. m of real estate, of which 875,000 sq. m. will be apartments. m.

According to the Vedomosti newspaper, the scale of unfinished housing in Urban Group projects is impressive. Of the planned 14 houses in the Laikovo residential complex, construction of only three houses has begun, the degree of completion of which ranges from 30% to 67%. The readiness of seven houses is estimated from 0% to 5%. Four more houses are in a state of 10–16% completion. 1,960 shareholders have already bought apartments in this residential complex.

The Lesoberezhny residential complex project includes 15 houses. Of these, the readiness of one house is estimated at 45%, four houses at 10–16% and 10 houses at 0–5%. Apartments in this project were purchased by 1,507 shareholders.