A year ago, on November 17, 2011, the
Latvian bank Latvijas Krājbanka started to collapse. Dust has not settled yet.
There are also offended – the companies, the government, even Raimonds Pauls,
who lost about EUR 1 million in the bank. Russian banker Vladimir Antonov is
fighting off the charges in London. Leaders of the Latvian banking supervision
Irena Krumane and Janis Brazovskis have fallen one after another. Open City
magazine tells about the course of events a year ago.
Baltic
epic
Keen glance, clear answers to questions
asked, accidental British banking terms in his speech. No, it’s not just a rich kid, who decided to play
with daddy’s money. This is a man
who himself makes and invests hundreds of millions of dollars. This is how the
owner of Converse
Group, 37-year-old billionaire Vladimir Antonov, looked in summer 2011.
In winter, everything changed: Antonov lost
Lithuanian banks Snoras and Finasta, Latvian Latvijas Krājbanka. In
May, the British court, at the request of the bankruptcy administrator of the
Lithuanian Snoras Bank, decided to arrest Vladimir Antonov’s property worth EUR
493 mln. Antonov himself is trying to find protection in London from the
Prosecutor General of Lithuania, who issued an international warrant for his
arrest.
Baltic epic of Vladimir Antonov started 8
years ago. In 2003, Converse Group bought Lithuanian bank Snoras. Soon Antonov felt cramped in Lithuania, and in 2005 he
acquired Latvijas Krājbanka in Latvia.
Russian businessman acted more and more
ambitiously invading into new areas of business. However, in November 16, 2011,
a bombshell exploded. On this day, the Lithuanian government announced the
nationalization of Snoras, the fifth-largest bank in the country, 68% shares of which were held by Antonov. Apparently, the
decision was made at the top, the President of Lithuania Dalia Gribauskayte commented it actively and knowledgeably.
The next day, transactions of Latvijas Krājbanka
were stopped, and then supervisory bodies announced a major shortage (about $
1.4 billion in Snoras and around $ 300 million in Latvijas Krājbanka).
Everything was OK in Finasta bank, but the Lithuanian government withdrew it
the appendage to the parent Snoras bank. The same happened to the Latvian branch of
Finasta.
Baltic bank pool owners Vladimir Antonov and
Raimondas Baranauskas were accused in Latvia and Lithuania of book cooking and
asset stripping. Both of them were arrested in London and released on bail
pending trial.
First
bank presented by Dad
As a matter of fact, the financier who had
settled in the Baltic started his career, on the other edge of the former
Soviet Union - in Central Asia. More precisely - in Kyrgyzstan, where the
Antonovs lived up to the early 1990s. the head of the family, Aleksandr worked
in the nuclear industry, but also he never departed from the people – he was on
friendly terms with representatives of the Chechen diaspora, who appeared in
the Central Asian republics after Stalin’s deportations. And he even almost married a
Chechen girl. By the way, the Chechen trace in the Antonovs’ fate can be trailed not only in Bishkek,
but also in Moscow and Riga (see below).
The official version of the history of his
success indicates that Vladimir Antonov became engaged in the banking business
when he was 23 years old – this is the age when a young man got his
own bank. Vladimir does not deny the fact that his Dad gave the money to buy
the bank. Where does Dad’s money come from? “I traded in everything that can be bought and sold” – answers obliquely the billionaire’s father.
While Antonov Sr. was trading, Antonov Jr.
entered the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, then transferred to the bank college, and upon graduation even
worked as a simple teller in the Russian Savings Bank, and then in Lefko bank.
But not for
long. In 1998, Dad bought Akademkhimbank for his son. This was only the
beginning. By 2007, Antonov father and son had already owned at least ten
banks. Seven of them have worked in Russia - Moscow Conversbank,
Conversbank-Moscow (ex-Akademkhimbank), Interprogressbank, Kaliningrad
Investbank, Grankombank in Yekaterinburg, Yenisei Bank in Krasnoyarsk, Voronezh
Industrial Bank. Plus Snoras and Finasta in Lithuania, and Latvijas Krājbanka -
in Latvia, leave alone Panamanian bank Banco Transatlantico and Swiss AP Anlage
und Privatbank, disputes about ownership of which had almost quarreled Antonov
Jr. and the owner of Parex banka Valeryy Kargin.
In 2007, Finance journal estimated the
Antonov’s fortune at USD 300 mln., Kommersant, in 2009, gave the figure of USD
3.5 billion. Converse
Group itself, in 2011, claimed holding assets in excess of USD 7 bln., and the
number of employees working for the group was 12 thousand people.
Later, part of the Russian banks and Panama
bank were sold, but the Ukrainian Conversbank appeared and Russian Investbank
expanded instead. According to some data, much of the money of Lithuanian and
Latvian depositors was spent to save the latter. However, the Swedish automotive industry was saved first.
Poisonous Saab
Why does the banker need auto industry for?
Ten exclusive “cars” to drive for himself will do, but the
plants are capable of producing thousands of cars a year? Not only outsiders
but also the inner circle of Vladimir Antonov wondered why.
This question
was answered by his close friend, the head of the Dutch auto group Spyker,
Victor Mueller: “Vladimir
made a grand profitable deal - investing just $ 80 mln., he got the
technologies for which General Motors (GM) paid $ 2 billion!” "The opportunity to buy the brand
like Saab appears once in a lifetime. This opportunity cannot be missed. In
addition, Saab managers, when they learned that GM is going to sell the
company, made up their own plan for lifting the enterprise out of crisis. A
very good plan, in my opinion,”-
Vladimir Antonov explained his desire to become a carmaker.
However, the Mueller’s joy was premature -
as it later turned out, the opportunity ought to have been missed. Saab eagerly
goggled up 80 mln. but was not willing to share the billions.
Right before signing the deal with General
Motors a row blew out. Swedish tabloid Dagens Industri devoted huge news story
to Antonov, in which the Russian businessman was accused of having connections
with criminals: Antonov was attributed the money laundering, illegal financial
operations, connections with the Mafia, etc.
Newspaper publication has changed the entire
course of Saab deal. The very next day, the representatives of GM put Spyker a
condition - Antonov was to sell its stake in the Dutch auto group, otherwise GM “would rather bankrupt Saab,
than sell it to the Russian mafia”. To avoid disruption of Saab acquisition,
Vladimir Antonov had to give in, he sold all his Spyker shares to his friend
Mueller.
Surprisingly, Antonov managed to try and
prove that dogs don’t
climb trees. For this, he hired two external audit groups (one of them - the
American detective agency Kroll). Both independent audits of Vladimir Antonov’s
activities proved that the Russian businessman was not involved in the illegal
business.
However,
there were new problems that Antonov himself told the Telegraph in summer 2011:
“The situation is as follows: the Swedish
government gave permission for the sale of Saab shares, but the transaction
must be approved by two other parties - the US General Motors (it is easier in
their case) and the European Investment Bank. Unfortunately, with regard to the
investment bank, I can say nothing definite about them – I have never met them,
for me this agency is not clear, I cannot get a clear answer “yes” or “no” from them. So I cannot
comment what will happen to Saab, because I do not know; I cannot fund it -
because they do not allow me. Do you believe that you can make a successful
company of Saab? Yes, I do. And I believe that this can
be done quickly”.
It soon became clear that only cats are born
quickly. And yet, the game was worth the candle. What would have happened if
the transaction had not failed? If Antonov as the co-owner had brought Saab to
large Russian market? Bets on Swedish cars were grand - they planned to launch
Saab assembly line in Kaliningrad specifically for Russia, have Ryazan, Vologda
and Kostroma drive inexpensive but high quality cars. And if they could break
through on - to China (there were such plans too)? Opening prospects were breathtaking;
it seemed that it would take a little more, a bit longer...
But it was not to be. The Lithuanians nationalized Snoras.
On the wings of success
Sometimes it seemed that Antonov invested in
everything that moves or goes, or all the more that flies. Another big, but, alas, loss-making project was
funding of the Latvian national airline airBaltic.
In all
fairness it has to be added that in the midst of 2008 crisis, when the
companies and the entire industries collapsed, the airline showed miracles.
Suffice it to say that over the five-year period the number of airBaltic
passengers has grown from a few hundred thousand to several million. By
mid-2009 airBaltic fleet had 34 aircrafts. For comparison, Estonian Air had
only 7, and the Lithuanian FlyLAL - 0 (Lithuanian national airline went
bankrupt in early 2009). Oh,
forget about Baltics! By this time, by number of planes and flight directions,
airBaltic among flagship airlines of the former Soviet Union was second only to
Russia’s Aeroflot.
If we add to this persistently circulating
rumours that Russia is about
to open its domestic lines for foreign airlines, airBaltic prospects looked
bright.
The head of the Latvian airline the German
Bertolt Flick became the embodiment of the Latvian dream - he was interviewed,
major European publications wrote excitedly about him, the airline was awarded
diplomas and medals worldwide. German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche, for
example, included airBaltic in TOP-10 largest European low-cost airlines.
Latvian airline with its 900 weekly flights was only slightly behind the German
GermanWings. How can one pass over lending to this Flick? They did lend. And very soon regretted it.
Despite the fact that Snoras and Latvijas Krājbanka provided loans amounting to tens of millions
of lats to the airline, in September 2011, the entire mission had to be
organized to save airBaltic. As a result of hard negotiations with the
government of Latvia, the parties agreed that the state will invest in the
airline another LVL 57.6 million, while the private shareholder credited by
Antonov’s banks – another 50 million.
However, in November the activities of the
airline’s main lenders - banks Snoras and Krājbanka - stopped.
Shadow of Šlesers
Is there a connection between these events?
Direct! This was stated by Vladimir Antonov’s father, the banker Alexander
Antonov, who arrived to
Riga in December 2011. Speaking to the media, he tried to convey the main
message: money from the banks was not stolen, the money from the banks was
invested in airBaltic. Firstly. And secondly, money from the banks was
invested in airBaltic under the pressure of the Latvian senior officials.
That is, in fact, Antonov accused the
officials of blackmail: “We
were afraid that if we did not help the state company airBaltic, the large
deposits would be withdrawn from the bank”. He did not give any specific names, but
the media assumed that it was about Ainars Slesers, who headed the Ministry of Transport of
Latvia.
According to Antonov, airBaltic was given a
huge amount, which was almost equal to the bank’s capital (June 30, 2011, the principal
paid-up capital of Latvijas Krājbanka
was LVL 25.8 mln.). The collapse of the airline would mean and the collapse of
the bank. “We could not let that
happen,” - said Antonov.
The bankers were not willing to take
responsibility for investment mistakes.
One should admit that there is a difference
between a bankrupt investor- profiteer
and an investor, who lost his money as a result of political pressure from the
country’s top officials.
Be it as it was, the dream of exorbitant
profits was broken against prose of financial statements. Latvian government
had to quickly take over the private stake in airBaltic, which was pledged to
the Lithuanian Snoras bank, and the Lithuanian government could get it. Later
it was decided to reduce the airline’s fleet by 10 aircrafts - up to 24 aircrafts - and close a number of
flight directions.
Shooting...
The main difference between a large
post-Soviet business and a large western business is that bankruptcy in the
West, as a rule, is accompanied by sighs and heart drops, while bankruptcy in
the East – quite often by obituaries.
“- I’ll be honest – I’m
afraid. They’ll kill me.
— Who is the paymaster and the killer?
— It is
silly to ask about it. There are a lot of evil people now and not only in
Lithuania.”
This is an excerpt from the interview of
Vladimir Antonov to the Lithuanian newspaper Respublika shortly after his
taking in custody in London.
Antonov was
already attempted - in March 2009. Not Vladimir, his father - Aleksandr. He got
five gunshot wounds but survived. Two and a half years ago, Aleksandr Antonov
was ambushed outside his home in Raspletina Street in the north-west of Moscow. At ten o’clock a.m., the financier accompanied by his
bodyguard came out of the house and headed to the car. At this moment, they
were shot with automatic weapons. According to eyewitnesses, the criminal fired
long bursts - the bullets hit the parked cars in the yard, the house walls and
even the windows of infant food kitchen located on the ground floor. Aleksandr
Antonov received five gunshot wounds including a serious one - in the chest. The financier
bodyguard was wounded as well.
Wounded Antonov was taken to hospital.
Financier lost a lot of blood, but after a complicated surgery his life was out
of danger.
The investigators found the Chechen trace,
the banker was shot by some Timur Isaev, and the criminals’ car was driven by
Aslanbek Dadaev. In the autumn 2008, Dadaev with another killer killed the
State Duma deputy Ruslan Yamadaev - a longtime foe of Chechen President Ramzan
Kadyrov and his confidant, the State Duma deputy Adam Delimkhanov.
As Aleksndr Antonov himself reported in a
statement addressed to the director of the Russian FSS, he was threatened by
people close to the leadership of the Chechen Republic.
However, we
shall go back to 2011 – to Vladimir Antonov’s phrase that “There
are a lot of evil people now and not only in Lithuania”. It makes no sense to build unproven
assumptions of whom exactly the banker meant. We shall just say that the funds
of a huge number of clients were frozen in Snoras and Latvijas Krājbanka,
including major ones. Thus, according to the Russian newspaper Vedomosti, such
large companies as Nafta Moskva of billionaire Suleyman Kerimov and the company controlled
by Oleg Deripaska’s
Basic Element held their accounts in Snoras. Anonymous sources also refer to
Gazprom agencies, Russian billionaire Sergey Polonskiy,
Major Auto...
