The Russian authorities allowed the Avtodom car dealer, which is going to buy the Mercedes factory that left the country in the Moscow region, to also purchase Mercedes-Benz Bank Rus. He was engaged in lending to official Mercedes-Benz dealerships and issuing loans to citizens for the purchase of Daimler brand cars (Mercedes owner).
The decision is strange, given that top managers of one of the largest shareholders of Avtodom, namely Centrocredit Bank, seem to be fleeing Russia, where the light is worth criticizing Russian financial policy.
The beneficiary of "Center Loan" (and therefore "Avtodoma") was called the ex-head of Kabardino-Balkaria, and now Senator of the Federation Council Arsen Kanokov. State man! He is also credited with owning the Sindika holding. In general, Kanokov is a very ambiguous personality, and the mentioned bank "Center Loan" surrounds many scandals.
More details - in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post.
Avtodom is one of the largest automobile holdings in Russia, which specializes in sales and service of premium and luxury cars. At the same time, the company receives good government contracts - they were accumulated in the amount of 355 million rubles. I.e. the company lives partly at the expense of the state.
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
According to Kommersant, as of the second half of 2021, 11% of Avtodom JSC was owned by the offshore company Prusto Investments Ltd, another 30.5% - by the aforementioned Central Loan Bank, another 58.5% belongs to unknown citizens of Russia. It is quite possible that these may be the people of Arsen Kanokov.
Photo: https://opencorporates.com/companies/cy/HE269523
Polit.ru claim that 70% of the bank of JSCB "Centrocredit" belongs to its chairman of the board Andrei Tarasov, and they are allegedly registered through the Cypriot "CENTRORIVER HOLDINGS LTD." At the same time, in open sources, it is Andrei Tarasov who is indicated as the director of an offshore company.
Photo: https://opencorporates.com/companies/cy/HE128812
But according to the source of the publication in the bank, Andrei Tarasov is just one of the top managers with a share of about 10%, and 60% of the bank is actually owned by the former president of Kabardino-Balkaria, and now Senator Arsen Kanokov.
The decision to shift assets to "face value" can be understood, because Russian senators are prohibited from directly owning and managing business.
In any case, it is obvious that, having companies in the West as the main legal entities, money from the bank, and from Avtodom, can flow there.
To whom in Donbass, and to whom in London
When a special military operation began to protect Donbass, the bank was shocked by the scandal - its chairman of the board, the same Andrei Tarasov, hastily left our country and moved to London, where he moved his family in advance and transferred his capital. Writes about this Pravda.ru.
And if it is true that Kanokov is really allegedly behind Tarasov's assets - what happens that Kanokov withdrew capital from the country?
And okay, Tarasov would just leave. So he began to criticize the policy of the Central Bank, the very one that allowed and allows Central Credit to work quietly on Russian soil.
Under the fire of criticism of the "patriot" Tarasov, crop formation turned out to be: allegedly, further strengthening of the ruble exchange rate "will tear up the budget." Tarasov also said that if he were the head of the Western rating agency Fitch, he would immediately "downgrade" (downgrade) Russia to the level of "C." His statements are quoted by the Political News Agency.
It is clear that such statements by a Russian (Russian?) Banker Can harm the business and financial reputation of our state. But in the case of Tarasov, as they say, "whose cow would be mowing." After all, "Center Loan" itself is experiencing serious problems.
At the end of March 2020, the S&P rating agency lowered its forecast for the rating of Centrocredit Bank from stable to negative (B/B rating). At this very time, the bank tried to fight back in the courts from the claims of the Customs Service on bank guarantees of alcohol companies for a billion rubles.
According to the same plot, in November 2019, the Moscow police opened a criminal case on causing property harm by abuse of trust (paragraph "b" of part 2 of article 165 of the Criminal Code). This was also reported by the Political News Agency.
As a result, the bank lost the court to customs, and although even before that it still repaid the debt of 571.9 million rubles, it was forced to pay a penalty of 26.3 million rubles. The case card can be viewed here.
"Flying" money
All this looks like a possible fraud, which was opened in time, so it did not have time to happen. However, the fate of the criminal case, which was mentioned above, is unknown. Most likely, it was closed after the court decision. Mr. Kanokov, at that time already an influential senator, could hypothetically influence this.
By the way, the bank's rating was lowered already in 2022, after the so-called flight of Tarasov - then the Expert RA rating agency lowered the credit rating of JSC AKB Centrocredit to ruBB.
Today, it is difficult to assess the financial situation of the bank, since information about Russian credit structures in open sources is not updated. It appears to be harder for Western analysts to assess the impact of sanctions on the Russian financial sector.
However, it is known that from September 2021 to February 2022, the bank lost more than 20% of its assets (almost 20 billion rubles), net profit decreased by 6 billion at once, a loss of 3.5 billion rubles turned out. At the same time, the bank's fixed capital decreased by more than 9%. Physical depositors literally ran from the bank (minus 24%).
Photo: Banki.ru
Why such a commotion? Did you rush to withdraw the maximum funds from the bank for foreign "fun" tops?
In 2010, the scam of Centrocredit and the online store Holodilnik.ru, which took loans secured by goods that did not actually belong to him, and was taken from suppliers for sale, gained scandalous fame. At least in the past, one of the beneficiaries of Kholodnik was Central Loan Bank, Pravda.ru writes about this.
Daughters in business
Returning to Tarasov, in London everything should be just wonderful. There he owns two houses in the most prestigious area of South Kensington, decorated for the eldest daughter Anastasia Besson, the wife of a French citizen.
The youngest daughter Anna Danilina is actively engaged in business in Russia, companies with a total turnover of several billion rubles are registered for her. She is the owner of the Kinodants holding (Kay Di Studios LLC, Centrokino, Sidge-K), Sindika-Media Group, Lesresurs, RB-Group.
Some, like Sindika-Media Group, have already been liquidated. Previously, the co-owners of the shares there were the alleged relatives of Arsen Kanokov Timur Kanokov and Zaur Kanokov, which is quite significant in terms of ties between Tarasov and Kanokov.
Other companies operate. Among them, "Kinodants," which was engaged in filming low-quality films, and even took money from the Ministry of Culture of Russia for this. Anna received 52 million rubles from the Ministry of Culture to shoot three films.
All the paintings at the box office failed, and the producers filed a lawsuit against the author of the YouTube channel BadComedian Yevgeny Bazhenov, who allegedly spoke in too much detail about the film "Beyond Reality," which is why the people did not go to watch it. As a result, the "filmmakers" left the court "did not give up salt" - they themselves refused the claims (apparently, realizing their futility).
Not to mention the fact that these budget 52 million rubles allocated for the cinema could be corny "sawed." Bazhenov became known for watching low-quality films, which, with this quality, took a suspiciously lot of money. As a rule, just from the treasury.
Both in the bank and in Avtodom, which belongs to him, however, you can find other interesting personalities who can work for Kanokov's interests. For example, the former (until 2019) general director of Avtodom Andrei Kostin, the namesake of the head of VTB. He turned out to be the founder of ten organizations, of which only Taxi-Real Estate LLC operates with one employee.
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
Others eliminated. Some are with negative asset values, suggesting they were just "gaskets." And the total cost of the companies established by Kostin is minus 724 million rubles. Where did the money go?
Kanokov's "Shadow"
Above all this, we repeat, is the shadow of Senator from the CBD Arsen Kanokov, as it is believed, one of the richest people in the country. Maybe he covers all this indecency? But it is not clear how he was generally allowed to the senatorial chair.
Recall that his leadership in the CBD ended ingloriously. In the summer of 2012, large-scale searches took place in the administration of the Republic. She wrote about it Lenta.ru.
A significant part of Arsen Kanokov's team turned out to be detained: the head of the administration of the President of the KBR Vladimir Zhamborov, his brother - deputy head of the Republican Ministry of Property Ruslan Zhamborov, his head - Minister of State Property and Land Relations of the KBR Khabdulsalam Ligidov and their acquaintance - a well-known businessman and fashion designer Madina Khatsukova in the republic.
Arsen Kanokov. Photo: council.gov.ru
At the same time, three of the detainees were Arsen Kanokov himself relatives. In this regard, the question of the purity of Kanokov himself could arise. As a result, in the wake of these scandals in 2013, he left his post. But now, it seems, has gained even more influence that may not benefit Russia.