"Black Friday" of Elvira Nabiullina

FLB: Central Bankrevoked the licenses ofthree banks with a trail of "bloody" crime

According to the press office of the Bank of Russia, the licenses were withdrawn from three Russian banks at a time- reports RBCTV on December 13. The Bank of Project Financing lost the right to carry out the financial transactions. Investbank that belongs to the hundred largest lending institutions in the country also lost its license. In Kaliningrad, the bank experienced difficulties with satisfaction of claims of the early repayment of deposits of all the depositors "because of the depositors’ undue panic, which was caused by an incorrect interpretation of reports in the media and on the forums". This was stated in the bank’s press release. And finally, Smolensky Bank also lost its license– the CB established the facts of material misreporting of data. " "The revocation of the license from Investbank is explained by the violation of the Central Bank’s regulations and the laws, including the submission of inaccurate reporting. The regulator said that over the last days the financial organization experienced difficulties in the performance of obligations due to the low quality of assets–reported Lenta.Ru on Friday. The documents were seized at Investbank’s head office on December 10 .In connection with the investigation activities, the office did not work that day .Subsequently, the financial organization was reported that the documents related to the operation of a number of the bank’s corporate clients had been seized. The regulator also explained revocation of the BPF’s permit for operation by the violation of the laws and the inability to satisfy the creditors’ claims. The Central Bank said that the reason for the poor financial state of the bank was in low quality of the assets due to high-risk credit policy. It is also reported that BPF was involved in the questionable transactions. Earlier, BPF had had liquidity problems due to the closure of Master-Bank, which provided processing services to the organization. On the background of panic, the depositors began to withdraw their money from BPF. Because of the liquidity problems, the bank suspended the operation of several departments. On December 4, BPF applied to the Central Bank with a request for collateral loan. Two days later, the regulator began to audit the bank. Smolensky Bank lost its license for the same reasons as BPF. The financial organization suspended its activities on December6. The bank, which also suffered from the license withdrawal from the Master-Bank, appealed to the Central Bank. The Regulator refused from the rehabilitation because of poor quality of the organization’s assets. In addition, as noted by the Central Bank, Smolensky Bank was engaged in the transactions aimed at the withdrawal of assets. BPF, Investbank and Smolensky Bank became the 25th, 26th and 27th banks that had lost their licenses for the second half of this year, after the new chairman of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina had taken the office. For comparison, only three licenses were withdrawn during the first half of the year. Number of the revoked banking permits in the previous few years was on average about 30licenses. "Clients of the three banks, whose licenses were revoked on Friday, December 13, -Investbank, Bank of Project Financing, Smolensky Bank -will be able to get their deposits before the New Year– writes Komsomolskaya Pravda in today's issue". As it became known, payments will begin no later than December 27.Until that date, the Deposit Insurance Agency shall notify of the time, place, form and procedure for acceptance of applications for deposit insurance payments .In this case, the agent banks for the issue of compensation will be determined no later than by December 19. All three banks are included in the deposit insurance system. This means that the compensation is paid to each client of the bank in the amount of100% of all deposits not exceeding RUB 700 thousand. - DIA calls the depositors of Investbank, Bank of Project Financing and Smolensky Bank to stay calm and assures that payments will begin within the specified time, – says the statement of the Deposit Insurance Agency. " "Two days ago Investbank depositors in Kaliningrad started panicking. Everyone was trying to withdraw their money. As a result, the Kaliningrad branches stopped working. Rush was caused by the reports of searches at the head office–reports Life news on Friday, 13. In Investbank’s press release, the panic was named unfounded. Representatives of the lending institution said that it was caused by an incorrect interpretation of media reports. Then Kaliningrad Governor Nikolai Tsukanov wrote in his Twitter account that "he personally spoke with the Central Bank leaders, and that there are no claims to Investbank". Tsukanov insisted that rumours of the problems at the bank have no grounds and promised that the region authorities would find" a way to protect the interests of residents". Until 2011, Investbank was owned by the head of Convers Group Vladimir Antonov. He lives in London now, Lithuania is seeking his extradition. There Antonov is suspected of deliberate bankruptcy of the largest Lithuanian bank "Snoras" and the withdrawal of its assets abroad. In 2012, the authors of the smashing hit "Anatomy of Protest -2" claimed that the banker had met with the former head of the Georgian Parliamentary Committee for Defense and Security Givi Targamadze and offered to send 200,000 armed nationalists to organize protest rallies in Russia. Antonov himself refused these assumptions strongly. The former banker also said that Snoras nationalization is a political reprisal for the support of the Lithuanian opposition". According to the Russian media, Investbank was created in 1989. In 2008, the banking group was also joined by Moscow Conversbank, Yekaterinburg Grankombank and Voronezh Voronezhprombank. The head office of the organization was moved from Kaliningrad to Moscow in 2011. According to Banki.ru portal, this November 1, the organization ranked 84th in the list of the largest Russian banks in terms of assets. On June 21, 2012, the publication of the Federal Investigations Agency FLB “Banker Antonov Looked into the Eyes of "Paymasters" stated: " The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation held one of the key face-to-face confrontation in the case of the murder of the former State Duma Deputy Ruslan Yamadayev and attempt on the banker Aleksandr Antonov. It was attended by Anton himself, as well as the big businessmen Sergei Mendeleyev and Petr Chuvilin. Antonov accused his former partners in organizing the attack on him. Mendeleyev and Chuvilin denied strongly their involvement in the crime. During the face-to-face confrontation, the surname of the State Duma Deputy from Chechnya Adam Delimkhanov came to the fore repeatedly. The criminal case against the paymasters of the attacks on Ruslan Yamadayev and Aleksandr Antonov was suspended by the IC of the RF back in 2010. The investigation was resumed this winter, after the banke rGerman Gorbuntsov wrote the acknowledgement of guilt to the law enforcement authorities. In his acknowledgement, he indicated that he had witnessed the discussions of the attemp ton the co-owner of Convers-Group Aleksandr Antonov, who was shot at by the same people that killed former State Duma Deputy Ruslan Yamadayev. "I inform you that I know the circumstances of the preparation and performance of the assassination attempt on Aleksandr Antonov committed on March 11, 2009. At that time, I lived in Moscow, was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Industrial Credit Bank located at Malaya Pirogovskaya Str., Moscow... Petr Chuvilin was my business partner at the time, who together with Sergei Mendeleyev jointly developed and implemented a plan of the assassination attempt on Aleksandr Antonov, "- says the acknowledgement of guilt by Gorbuntsov. In connection with newly discovered evidence, the IC of the RF resumed the investigation of a high-profile case. However, the investigators did not manage to interrogate Gorbuntsov - on March 21, a killer shot eight bullets in the banker in London. The financier survived, but is still going through a long course of treatment. After the incident, the Russian investigators took Aleksandr Antonov under the state protection. During interrogations, he said that he also considered that Chuvilin and Mendeleyev may be involved in the attack on him. They were confident that Antonov had to pay $ 106 million to them and Gorbuntsov, they even involved the State Duma Deputy from Chechnya Adam Delimkhanov to negotiate a repayment. Since March 2012,the IC of the RF had tried several times to hold a face-to-face confrontation between the persons involved in the case, but they could not do it–Chuvilin was outside Russia. Recently he has come to Moscow, which allowed the investigators to organize the interrogation of Chuvilin, Mendeleyev and Antonov. According to Rosbalt’s source in the law enforcement agencies, during investigation activities, Antonov said he believed Chuvilin and Mendeleyev to be the "paymasters" of the attempt on him. To confirm his words he told the following story. Allegedly, on January 26, 2009, in Zolotoy restaurant at Kutuzovsky Avenuethere was a meeting, which was also attended by Chuvilin, Gorbuntsov and Adam Delimkhanov. Gorbuntsov first said that Antonov had to pay them $ 50 million, but then Chuvilin abruptly interfered with the conversation. Chuvilin leaned across Demilkhanov shouted: "Why are you keeping silent, $ 106 million must be paid back!"- said Antonov in the face-to-face confrontation. According to Antonov, he refused to pay, after which he was attempted in Moscow. And then in the capital President Hotel, Chuvilin with "a person of Caucasian nationality" repeated the demand to pay $ 106 million. As a result, he had to sign a document stating that he agrees to pay the appropriate amount. During the face-to-face confrontation, Chuvilin himself confirmed that he knew Adam Delimkhanov. "However I do not know who invited him to a meeting at Zolotoy restaurant" – saidthe witness. According to Chuvilin, during a conversation in Zolotoy they really discussed the financial relationships of all participants at the table, but he does not remember the details of the conversation. To the question of whether, during the meeting, they expressed threats to Antonov, Chuvilin said: "I do not remember exactly, I do think so". He also explained that he had never demanded $ 106 million from Antonov and never threatened him. According to Chuvilin’s version, Antonov signed all the documents of his free will"in the presence of the Adviser to the ChechenRepublic President Khizriyev." Chuvilin strongly denied his involvement in organizing attacks on Antonov saying that he hadn’t had with this person "hostile relations". According to a source in the law enforcement agencies, during the face-to-face confrontation Aleksandr Antonov directly asked Sergey Mendeleyev: "Why did you organize an assassination attempt on me in March 2009?" Mendeleyev said that he was not involved in the organization of the assassination attempt on Antonov, "I did not shoot at him and did not order him" We shall remind that Gorbuntsov in the face-to-face confrontation indicated that by early 2009, co-owners of Convers Group and Investbank– Aleksandr Antonov and his son – Vladimir owed him$106 million. "Chuvilin approached me with a proposal to facilitate with this debt repayment by the Antonovs. This debt was to be a formal reason for the initial "harassment" at the Antonovs. Moreover, Chuvilin made no secret: the debt will be a lever allowing him to remove the Antonovs from the management of bank assets with their further transition under Mendeleyev’s control. Chuvilin also informed me that Mendeleev had already handed him $ 3 million in cash in advance for the assistance in obtaining by him (Mendeleyev) of full control over Investbank ... They do not plan to kill the Antonovs in the early stages as they thought that will be able to get control over Investbank with small blood, i.e. by threats and blackmailing. To this end, Chuvilin, who was proud of being able to resolve any issues with the Chechens, decided to involve Adam Delimkhanov, known for his family ties with the president Ramzan Kadyrov. According to Chuvilin, it would give weight to his demands and would show the Antonovs futility of attempting to "get off ", i.e. evade demands for the transfer of assets. In this case, Chuvilin decided not to tell Demilkhanov the details of the plan, he said only, that the Antonovs owed him a lot of money and it would be nice if he had just attended a meeting where they would be reminded of this. Chuvilin believed that if the Antonovs turned to the law enforcement agencies, Demilkhanov’s authority would help to avoid responsibility." This meeting was held at the restaurant at Kutuzovsky Avenue, after it had been over the Antonovs wrote to the Russian FSS the statement on threats against them. Thereafter, according to Gorbuntsov, and it was decided to eliminate Aleksandr Antonov. "I did not know who and how would kill the Antonovs, because when Chuvilin and Mendeleyev started talking seriously about killing Antonov, I asked them to buffer me against this crime, where at Chuvilin said that now I was their accomplice and that if I told someone about it, then they would get rid of me as well as of the Antonovs. I only knew that it was decided to kill Aleksandr Antonov(father), because after his death Antonov Junior would become more cooperative, or go abroad and would not interfere." As a result, in March 2009, Aleksandr Antonov was attempted. He was badly injured, but survived. Only actual perpetrator of the crime – the Chechnya people Aslanbek Dadayev, Elim-Pasha Khatsuyev and Timur Isaev were arrested for the murder of Ruslan Yamadayev and attempt on Aleksandr Antonov. In October 2010, they were sentenced to 20, 15 and 14years in prison respectively. Materials against "unidentified paymasters" were extracted by the IC of the RF into separate proceeding. During the face-to-face confrontation Chuvilin and Mendeleyev said that they had never been familiar with the perpetrators of these crimes. The publication "Traps of Perfidious Albion" of the Federal Investigation Agency FLB reported:" at the request of the administrator of the bankrupt and nationalized Snoras Bank the UK court gave an order to seize the property of the bank's former largest shareholder Vladimir Antonov amounting to EUR 492million. As stated in the decision of the Commercial Court of England and Upper Wales Queen's Bench dated May 18, real estate both directly and indirectly owned by Antonov, securities he held, funds held in the bank accounts, and other property deposited in the banks were seized. Court order was given without notice to Antonov; it can be appealed in the manner established in the UK with the prior reasonable notice to Snoras’s  lawyers. The court will continue to consider this matter on June 15. Lithuanian bank Snoras was nationalized on November 16, Latvijas Krajbanka transactions were stopped the next day, and then the Central Banks of Lithuania and Latvia required their bankruptcy. Regulators found shortage in them (EUR 1.42 billion in Snoras and EUR 210 million in Latvijas Krajbanka). The defendants in this case –the main owners of the bank Russian citizen, former co-owner of the Russian Investbank Vladimir Antonov (held 68.1% in Snoras) and Lithuanian citizen Raimondas Baranauskas (25.31%). In late November 2011, they were arrested in London on warrants of search and arrest signed by Prosecutor General of Lithuania, but subsequently they were released on bail on his recognizance not to leave –till consideration of the case on the merits. Both former shareholders and heads of Snoras bank are accused absent of embezzlement on a large scale and forgery. Furthermore, Raimondas Baranauskas is charged with black accounting and abuse of office. Bankrupt Snoras had the clients from Russia, in particular, the Lithuanian press claimed that the Basic Element left EUR58 million in Snoras accounts. Clients of Snoras group-Sergei Polonskiy’ company,  Gazprom, Major Auto. As reported in December2011 by Federal Investigation Agency FLB, “employees of one of the Russian companies controlled by Oleg Deripaska’s Basic Element had pay pause being explained that it occurred because of “what had happened to Snoras bank”. "We confirm that funds of Basic Element companies are on the current accounts with Snoras bank, though they are times less than the press writes,"– said Basic Element representative in a letter. Lithuanian newspaper Lietuvos Rytas reported that about EUR58 million belonging to Deripaska's companies, including Norilsk Nickel are stuck in the bank. Norilsk Nickel representative denied it. However, Basic Element was “not the only Russian company, which had suffered from Snoras bankruptcy”. Latvijas Krajbanka, Snoras’s subsidiary, has "current accounts of a number of Suleyman Kerimov’s Nafta-Moscow associates. Amounts stuck in the Baltics are "noticeable but not critical", said a source in one of the group companies. In late 2010, the volume of deposits and current accounts of non-residents, mostly from Russia, in Snoras and Latvijas Krajbanka, was about 20% of all client accounts, USD 507 and216 million, said Fitch analyst Vladimir Markelov. Most of these deposits are not likely to fall under the insurance payments: accounts of the Russian clients were some of the largest, they are the ones that may lose money in the end. As reported by Delfi, the topic of Snoras Bank was discussed by the foreign ministers of the two countries, Sergei Lavrov and Audronius Ažubalis. Ažubalis told Lavrov that the Russians holding the deposits in Snoras bank shall act in the manner established in Lithuania for their repayment.

The Lithuanian government is ready to allocate the Deposit Insurance Fund LTL 3.3 billion (approximately 960 million) for payments to the depositors of Snoras bank under the bankruptcy procedure. The State Commission for Loans made corresponding decision. The final amount of the allocated funds will be determined "according to the actual needs," said the Minister of Finance of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonytė. The Lithuanian government shall approve the decision to allocate funds for Snoras depositors at a meeting on Monday or Wednesday.

Currently, the Deposit Insurance Fund of Lithuania has about LTL 1.7 billion. It was previously reported that in general, about LTL 4.1 billion is needed for the repayment of deposits in Snoras, according to preliminary estimates. In Lithuania, the deposits of natural persons and legal entities of up to LTL 100 thousand are insured; in rubles, third countries’ currencies are not insured. By the government decision, deposits in Snoras of up to LTL 345 thousand will be repaid in eight commercial banks. Snoras holds deposits of 440 thousand natural persons and legal entities in the amount of LTL 5.6 billion. Deposits of 11.1 thousand legal entities (88.5 % of depositors-legal entities) and 376.3 thousand of natiral persons (88.3 %) will be fully refunded.

It is assumed tha tthe bank's main owners – a Russian citizen, former co-owner of Russian Investbank Vladimir Antonov (held 68.1% in Snoras) and a Lithuanian citizen Raimondas Baranauskas (25.31%) will be held responsible for the incident.

As previously reported by the Federal Investigation Agency FLB in the publication "Pauls’s Money are Hidden under Arrest in Albion", "the former shareholders of the nationalized Snoras bank–a Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov and a Lithuanian citizen Raimondas  Baranauskas – are arrested in the UK under the European arrest warrant issued by the Lithuania.

The Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius has already been informed about the detention of the former Snoras owners."This news has reached me. I have nothing more to comment on", - said Kubilius refusing to disclose any details of the arrest.

On November 16, the Government of Lithuania, at an extraordinary special meeting, decided to nationalize Snoras to save it from bankruptcy. The Central Bank of Lithuania called the bank's incompliance with the regulator’s instructions, failure to provide the requested information and the poor quality of assets as a reason for the nationalization – the bank was found to be missing securities for approximately $470 million.

Thereafter, the Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office issued an international arrest warrant against Antonov and Baranauskas, they are suspected of property misappropriation and forgery.

Snoras bank was a member of Convers Group owned by the Russian businessman Antonov. Antonov also owns English football club Portsmouth.

The day before, the President of Latvijas Krajbanka, also a member of Antonov’s Convers Group, was arrested in Latvia."

Former Investbank owner Vladimir Antonov is wanted on an international arrest warrant. The Lithuanian authorities suspect him of misappropriating funds on a large scale and forgery of documents Snoras bank owned by him. Mr.Antonov himself believes the actions against the bank to be apolitical lynching initiated by the President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite and the National Bank of the Republic, and is ready to seek political asylum in the UK.

A number of London bankers-in mates who applied for political asylum in the UK may be joined by another one. Following the ex-head of the Kazakh BTA Bank Mukhtar Ablyazov and former President of the Bank of Moscow Andrey Borodin, Vladimir Antonov, the owner of Convers Group, a number of foreign banks and the former owner of Investbank, is going to hide in Albion. Raimondas Baranauskas, the Chairman and co-owner of the bank Snoras (25.31% of ordinary shares and 10% of preferred shares) is ready to walk in his footsteps.

However, if Mr. Abliyazov and Mr. Borodin sought asylum in London justifying it by political pressure on them by Kazakh and Russian authorities, Vladimir Antonov will be difficult to appeal to the fact that he is haunted by the Lithuanian financial authorities because of the proximity of the Baltic countries to the European banking standards.

Vladimir Antonov’s Baltic banks started experiencing problems last week – firs tthe National Bank of Lithunia stopped activities of Snoras Bank because of its irresponsible credit policies and poor quality of assets and nationalized it. Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office started pre-trial investigation into the financial violations in Snoras, which was found to be missing securities for USD 470 million. The Lithuanian Prosecutor General Darius Valis signed a European arrest warrant for Vladimir Antonov and Raimondas Baranauskas, who had been accused of misappropriating the funds on a large scale and forgery of the documents. Moreover, the Financial and Capital Market Commission of neighboring Latvia suspended the activities of other Vladimir Antonov’s asset – Latvijas Krajbanka, which was found to be missing USD 200 million.

Schemes with the securities have been very popular in Russia recently. Thus, the famous banker bully Matvei Urin (now under arrest) withdrew assets from his banks using fictitious securities, allegedly held in the depositaries, which were also in collusion with the fraudsters. By the way, Matvey Urin had an account in Investbank, which belonged to Vladimir Antonov until this spring. At the beginning of the year, Investbank as payment under the assignment agreement received fake bills of Trado-bank, also controlled by Matvei Urin, for RUB 214 million.

In addition to Snoras, Latvijas Krajbanka and Panamanian Banco Transatlantico, ConversGroup included the Ukrainian Conversbank, but yesterday it was reported that Mr. Antonov urgently get rid of the asset, sold his stake to ReynisTumovs, Andrey Strizhak and Vadim Kotovich.

Despite the charges with financial fraud, Vladimir Antonov and Raimondas Baranauskas, now living in London, believe that actions against their banks are related to the political lynching on the part of the President of Lithuania and the National Bank of the Republic. In an interview to the Lithuanian newspaper Respublika, Mr. Baranauskas said that everything that is happening around Snoras bank is primarily directed against Vladimir Antonov, "with the desire to destroy him and his business". Mr. Antonov himself told the newspaper that he and Raimondas Baranauskas surrendered their passports to the municipality of London: "This is proof that we are not hiding – we are neither thieves nor bandits. When Lithuania is ready to interrogate us according to the civilized methods, we will come."

Vladimir Antonov’s reputation has been discredited twice. At its time, the Bank of Russia did not admit Conversbank and Conversbank-Moscow owned by Antonov to the deposit insurance system, and then Mr. Antonov purchased a small regional bank that had already been included in it. Since 2003, Vladimir Antonov had started relocating the banking business to the Baltic states, first buying Snoras, and then Latvijas Krajbanka. In 2010, British intelligence services suspected Mr. Antonov of the links with crime, which led to his withdrawal from the shareholders of the Dutch manufacturer of exclusive sports cars Spyker (he held 29.9 % of the shares, which he sold to the management) under General Motors’s unspoken request when selling Saab company to the Dutch".

Fugitive banker Vladimir Antonov turned out to have close connection with another fugitive Russian banker - German Gorbuntsov, involved in a criminal high-profile case on attempted murder. The publication "The Last Refuge of Scoundrels" by the Federal Investigation Agency FLB reported: "shots heard on March 20 at the respectable Byng Street, once turned German Gorbuntsov (Read more in the publications of the Federal Investigation Agency FLB “Confessions of German Gorbuntsov”, “Killers Instead of Investigators” and “London – not a Place for Confessions”), a banker with an ambiguous past, into a person of the first bands of the world's leading publications. Scandal related to the extradition to Lithuania of the other London anchorite, former owner of Snoras bank Vladimir Antonov (Read more in the publication of the Federal Investigation Agency FLB “Pauls’s Money are Hidden under Arrest in Albion”) went unnoticed. Meanwhile, persons involved in both stories are so closely related to each other that it is time to investigate them within a single case of “Russian banking mafia”.

There are many versions of possible attempt pay master circulating and this is not surprising.45-year-old German Gorbuntsov has very turbulent biography. According to media reports, in the 80s, he was convicted of robbery. In the 90s, he started doing business, having become a co-founder of 40 companies. At the same time he met the banker Alexei Frenkel, later acknowledged the paymaster of the murder of Central Bank’s First Deputy Chairman Andrey Kozlov.

Former robber began the career of financier in 2002, having become a shareholder and a board member of Interus-Bank. Gorbuntsov did not stay too long in the position of the head of the lending institution –in2005, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation revoked Interus-Bank’s license, as stated by the Ministry of the Interior officials, "for participation in illegal activities on legalization of proceeds from crime". Instead, by the end of 2006, he acquired a 41% stake in Incredbank, also included in Frenkel’s system. Then his paths crossed with Antonov father and son, from whom Gorbuntsov bought out a controlling stake in Interprogress bank and Conversbank -Moscow (former Akademkhimbank).

The bankers turned out to have much in common. For example, Antonov senior and German Gorbuntsov at various times sponsored Grozny "Terek ", having vainly promised the Chechen Republic leadership great investments. Moreover, both the Antonovs and Gorbuntsov were repeatedly involved in the criminal scandals. For example, in 2000 , Sergey Ponomarev, the Chairman of Akademkhimbank owned by them, was killed, in early 2002, the IC at the Ministry of the Interior of the Russain Federation initiated a criminal case on the money laundering, whereafter the Central Bank’s First Deputy Chairman Andrey Kozlov strongly refused to accept Akademkhimbank to the Deposit Insurance System.

At the time of sale, Conversbank -Moscow turned out to be the holder of the funds of one of the state monopolies with the deposit amount of about USD 1 billion. However, when in 2008 its leaders tried to get their billion back (holder had been renamed into Stolichny Torgovy Bank by that time) it revealed that the bank was unable to pay. Gorbuntsov could not answer the question of where the money was. At the same time, the remaining assets of the banker – constructioncompany "Flat & Co.", Moscow sports palace "Sokolniki", hockey club "Spartak" and several others did not experience lack of funds. In 2008, Moldovan Universalbank became one of Gorbuntsov’s latest acquisitions. According to Moskovskaya Pravda, it was used for withdrawal of state monopoly’s funds and their further legalization. Aleksandr Antonov also hit the orbit of the scandal. In 2009, he was attempted: the financier received five wounds, but survived and quickly went to England.

Meanwhile, German Gorbuntsov, against whom Russia had several criminal cases, received Moldovan citizenship. For a while he was hiding in Moldova, and then moved to London, too. In 2011, the court seized Universalbank’s shares to repay the claim of $ 5 billion, and in February 2012, the Moldovan authorities issued an international arrest warrant against the banker. Gorbuntsov made no secret that he intended to ask for political asylum in Britain. And shortly before the accident, he sent an application to the IC of the RF, in which he gave his version of the attempt on Aleksandr Antonov in 2009. As Gorbuntsov explained, the reason for the accident was his attempt to get back USD 106 million, which the Antonovs owed him. And the Chechen authorities assisting him simply "overdone".

The Antonovs family, who moved to London, felt uncomfortable: Lithuanian Snoras that was a part in their financial empire was nationalized and is now bankrupt. The same fate befell Latvian Krajbank. Regulators found shortage in it($ 1.42 billion in Snoras and EUR 210 million in Latvijas Krajbank) and accused Vladimir Antonov and his partner Raimondas Baranauskas of fraud. The question of their extradition was to be resolved on March 22, but the court postponed the trial for June. It is possible that shots on Byng Street played their role in this decision.

The investigation will sooner or later define who exactly decided to spifflicate with the banker. German Gorbuntsov had plenty of enemies. British detectives have to study the whole list of his disgruntled creditors, defrauded partners and robbed shareholders. There is no political background, as far as known, among the versions. Nevertheless, sooner or later, Vladimir Antonov and German Gorbuntsov will announce of their intention to stay in the "country of fugitive oligarchs". The logic is simple: only application for political asylum would protect them from prosecution and perspectives of shoot-outs. Moreover, it is much easier to get it being a person involved in the case on the assassination attempt and conspiracy".

Antonov was also connected with the former Minister of Agriculture Yelena Skrynnik. As reported by the Federal Investigation Agency FLB in the publication "Elena Skrynnik is Surrounded by Arrestees": "business partner of Elena Skrynnik, who was transferred her stakes in the commercial enterprises, the founder of Convers Group (total assets estimated at more than $ 3 billion), Aleksandr Antonov was repeatedly mentioned in the press in connection with the suspicions of his criminal connections, and Akademkhimbank owned by him and associated with Rosagroleasing – of money laundering. Although the information on money laundering by Akademkhimbank has not been officially confirmed by the Central Bank.(Today Antonov is under the state protection on charges with the attempted murder of banker German Gorbuntsov in London. Federal Investigation Agency FLB told about this in the publication "Confessions of German Gorbuntsov")".

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