VDD has ended the criminal proceedings against one of Putin’s closest oligarchs

At the end of March, the State Security Service (VDD) ended the criminal proceedings against billionaire Pyotr Avens for a possible attempt to violate the European Union (EU) sanctions in connection with the sale of the helicopter “Bell 429” owned by him and the owner of “Amber Latvijas balzams”, billionaire Yuri Šefler’s company, according to the agencies. LETA’s decision.

The helicopter belonged to SIA “Country Heli”, and the shares of this company are in turn partly owned by Šefler’s controlled SIA “Čiekuri-Shishki” and Avena’s Cyprus-registered company “Abacus Limited”.

Bailiff Elīna Balanasjana sold the helicopter in a forced auction at the end of 2022 for 2.979 million euros without VAT, because the assets of “Country Heli” as a company controlled by a person subject to sanctions have been frozen in Latvian credit institutions and the company had a tax debt.

Debts, airports and other expenses were covered from the funds obtained at the auction, while the remaining 2.8 million euros were stored in the bailiff’s deposit account.

After the sale of the helicopter, Šefler’s company “Čiekuri-Shishki” asked the Riga District Court to recover from “Country Heli” EUR 3.6 million in debt and loan interest. On September 13 of last year, the court satisfied the claim, and “Chiekuri-Shishki” turned to Balanasyan to start the execution of the judgment.

The bailiff had suspicions that the verdict serves as a tool to circumvent sanctions, so she turned to the VDD, which started criminal proceedings on November 9 last year.

Gints Rudzītis, a member of the board of “Čiekuri-Shishki”, was questioned during the investigation, who testified that the helicopter “Bell 429” was purchased based on the loan agreements concluded in 2015. On the other hand, after the helicopter was sold at an auction to cover tax debts, a lawyer was hired whose task was to recover the funds invested in the company “Country Heli”.

Scheffler, on the other hand, testified that Aven was not personally involved in the helicopter purchase transaction, but that there was an agreement with Aven’s ex-wife.

Scheffler also testified that he did not discuss the redistribution or transfer of the funds obtained as a result of the helicopter auction to Aven. Scheffler allegedly instructed his lawyers alone to legally recover the funds invested in “Country Heli”.

At the end of 2022, the authorized persons of the two companies signed a settlement deed, in which they recognized the debt obligations of “Country Heli” to “Čiekuri-Shishki” in the amount of 3.6 million, and in January 2023, “Čiekuri-Shishki” submitted a claim to the court for debt collection. The court satisfied the claim, and a writ of execution issued by the court for the recovery of this amount was submitted to the bailiff.

After evaluating the testimony, content of documents and other information provided during the investigation, the VDD has concluded that the May 2015 loan agreement of “Čiekuri-Shishki” and its amendments are not fictitious.

Although the investigation revealed that Avens and his authorized persons were interested in the possibility of recovering the funds that were once invested in the purchase of the helicopter, however, VDD did not receive confirmation that there was an agreement between the authorized persons of “Country Heli” and “Čiekuri-Shishki” and Avenus regarding the auction transfer of acquired funds to or for Aven.

Taking into account the above, the VDD terminated the criminal proceedings, as there is no composition of a criminal offense. Also, VDD canceled the seizure of funds belonging to “Country Heli” in the amount of 2.9 million.

It has already been reported that in the EU sanctions list, Aven is named as one of the oligarchs closest to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who actively provided material or financial support to Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Ukraine, and benefited from them. He promised to challenge these accusations in court.

Aven is not prevented from entering Latvia because he is a citizen of Latvia. It is true that at one time the investigation into the circumstances of Avena’s citizenship was conducted by the Corruption Prevention and Combating Office. The case was closed without finding any bribery, but revealing special favoritism by the leadership of the Directorate of Citizenship and Migration Affairs towards Avena.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, discussions began about whether Aven should be allowed to retain his citizenship. At the beginning of this year, the director of the Constitutional Protection Bureau (SAB) Egils Zviedris told the TV3 program “Neka personalisa” that “the SAB is still waiting for information from certain cooperation partners that could give a significant reason to make a decision that could lead to the solution of Aven’s citizenship issue”.

Aven was placed on the EU sanctions list on February 28, 2022, and his assets and financial resources have been frozen.