The Russian Investigative Committee is actively looking into jailed former governor Sergey Furgal for alleged involvement in misappropriating funds from MSP Bank, reports Kommersant.
At the same time, MSP Bank Board Chairman Dmitry Golovanov has been placed under house arrest in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation into abuse of power.
The case file states that in March and August 2019, the bank issued two loans of nearly a billion rubles (about $13.55 million) to the Khabarovsk-based LLC “Skrap Far Ist” for the purchase of scrap metals. This firm is the trustee of Furgal’s ex-wife Larisa Starodubova’s share in the “Amurstal” metallurgy plant.
Skrap Far Ist managed to return just a little more than 230 million rubles ($3.12 million) on the loan, the case file says. State investigators believe that Golovanov deliberately showed indulgence towards businesses associated with Furgal.
In July 2020, MSP Bank filed for arbitration, demanding that Skrap Far Ist be declared bankrupt. A similar suit was filed against Amurstal itself. Larisa Starodubova was interrogated as a witness in a criminal case for the misappropriation of loans and her home was searched.
