Diamonds with ALROSA carried out in a bra

The case of the theft of rough diamonds from AK ALROSA has been completed.
20.05.2020
Kommersant
Origin source
As Kommersant learned, SKR completed an investigation into a high-profile criminal case on embezzlement of rough diamonds from AK ALROSA, Russia's largest producer of diamonds. According to the investigation, the chief specialist of AK Yelena Kannunnikova from 2006 removed precious stones in her underwear from the warehouse, replacing them with cheaper diamonds used for the manufacture of tools. The damage caused to the enterprise exceeded 300 million rubles. There are five people involved in the case, two of whom fully admitted their guilt and entered into pre-trial agreements with the prosecutor on cooperation, within which they testified against accomplices.

The Main Directorate for Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Investigative Committee completed the main investigative actions in an unprecedented case in modern Russia for the theft of especially large amounts and illegal trafficking of natural precious stones (part 4 of article 158 and part 2 of article 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Its main defendants are Yelena Kanunnikova, ALROSA's former chief specialist, her friend Vladimir Tabidze and the unemployed Vladimir Gordinsky.

As the investigators of the GUROVD established, and one of them was Ivan Chibisov, who at the same time dealt with the circumstances of the mass protests in Moscow last summer, systematic thefts of high-quality rough diamonds used in jewelry manufacturing since 2006. For this, Ms Kanunnikova, according to investigators, entered into a conspiracy with a former ALROSA employee.

After leaving the company, he organized an individual enterprise related to the processing of so-called technical diamonds used in the production of various tools.

It was from this person (now under house arrest) that Elena Kannunikova, according to the investigation, acquired inexpensive raw materials, which subsequently replaced jewelry diamonds stolen from the warehouse of the Unified Sales Organization (ECO) ALROSA.

Then, according to the SKR, precious stones fell to her friend, a citizen of Russia and Georgia, Vladimir Tabidze, and from him to an unemployed Muscovite Vladimir Gordinsky, who was responsible for the sale of diamonds.

The first on June 6, 2019, the FSB officers detained Elena Kanunnikova, who in her underwear was trying to remove another batch of diamonds worth 22 million rubles from the ESO ALROSA warehouse. It is in this metropolitan office on the street. In 1812, almost all diamonds in Russia undergo sorting, initial assessment, pre-sale preparation and sale of almost all diamonds. The next day, the Chekists detained her alleged accomplices Tabidze, Gordinsky, as well as the final buyer, who is now also under house arrest. Like the former ALROSA employee, he fully admitted his guilt and entered into a pre-trial agreement on cooperation with the prosecutor.

As part of the deal, according to some reports, the two defendants testified against the other three, becoming the main witnesses for the prosecution in the main case. In court, their cases in a special order, guaranteeing a minimum time, have not yet been considered.

During searches in the apartments of the accused, employees of the Investigative Committee and the Federal Security Service discovered about 500 rough natural diamonds with a total mass of more than 2 thousand carats and 11 diamonds totaling more than $ 3 million, as well as more than $ 2 million and € 500 thousand already earned for the stolen goods. In addition, jewelry was found from well-known world brands, including more than 30 hours inlaid with diamonds, in which attackers, according to investigators, also invested money from the sale of diamonds.

As a result, all the defendants were charged with theft on an especially large scale and illegal trafficking of natural precious stones (part 4 of article 158 and part 2 of article 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to Kommersant, the damage caused by the defendants in the case is estimated at 300 million rubles. At the request of the investigation, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow sent all three of them to jail. Recently, the court extended the accused's term of arrest until June 6. It was assumed that by this time all of them would complete familiarization with the case materials. However, due to the quarantine introduced in the pre-trial detention center in connection with the pandemic, none of them has yet begun this procedure.

Note that Elena Kanunnikova, Vladimir Tabidze and Vladimir Gordinsky do not admit their guilt in the incriminated acts. Moreover, during the investigation, they all allegedly refused to testify, referring to Art. 51 of the Constitution.

“I don’t understand how my client can relate to the theft imputed to him. He never visited ALROSA and, accordingly, didn’t steal anything from there, ”lawyer of Vladimir Tabidze Tengiz Papaskua told Kommersant.“ It is also unclear how he could have participated in the crime since 2006, when he knew the same Kanunnikova only in 2015. ".

“Kommersant” failed to contact the lawyers of Elena Kannunikova and Vladimir Gordinsky. In SKR, having confirmed that the main investigative actions in the case have been completed, they refrained from further comments.

Crime

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