The Basmanny Court of Moscow granted the motion of the Investigative Committee to arrest the co-owner of VIM-Avia, Svetlana Mursekaeva, who is accused of fraud. RBC was informed about this in the press service of the court.

By a court decision, detention for a period of two months was chosen as a preventive measure for Mursekaeva. This measure will take effect from the moment of arrest or extradition to the territory of Russia, the court explained.

According to the investigation, Mursekaeva is outside Russia. She was put on the international wanted list and arrested in absentia. She was charged under Part 4 of Art. 159.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud on an especially large scale in the field of lending).

VIM-Avia stopped charter and regular flights at the end of September 2017. The Federal Air Transport Agency later explained that the airline's problems are related to unsettled debts to refueling organizations.

100% of VIM-Avia, according to SPARK, belongs to the spouses Rashid and Svetlana Mursekaev. Svetlana owns 99%, Rashid - 1%. Both, as reported on September 28, 2017 by the Investigative Committee, went abroad. On the same day, the Investigative Committee reported on the arrest of the general director of the airline, Alexander Kochnev, and the chief accountant of VIM-Avia, Ekaterina Panteleeva. Depending on the role of each, they are charged with Part 2 of Art. 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of power), part 4 of Art. 159.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud in the field of lending) and clause "a", clause "b", part 3 of Art. 193.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (performing foreign exchange transactions to transfer funds in foreign currency to the accounts of non-residents using forged documents).

The court satisfied the claim of Domodedovo against VIM-Avia for 550 million rubles.

In December of the same year, the Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested in absentia the co-owner of the airline Rashid Mursekaev and the former financial director of VIM-Avia Alevtina Kalashnikova. They were accused of abuse of power (part 2 of article 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and put on the international wanted list. The criminal case against Mursekaev and Kalashnikova is in separate proceedings, since both have left abroad.

According to the case file, in 2015-2017, the defendants, having abused their powers, purchased aviation fuel from nominee companies controlled by Mursekaev at an inflated cost. As a result, according to the investigation, the airline's counterparties suffered damage in the amount of more than RUB 890 million. 13 legal entities were recognized as victims in the case. VIM-Avia itself suffered damage in the amount of over 117 million rubles. In addition, according to the prosecutor's office, in 2016 top managers of VIM-Avia stole 1.6 billion rubles borrowed from the airline, which the airline received for the purchase of aircraft engines. Traces of this money are lost in Luxembourg and other European countries, the department noted. The Tatarstan Arbitration Court declared VIM-Avia bankrupt in September 2018.