The expert of the Innsbruck city court, where the lawsuit of the former Inteko co-owners against each other is now being considered, came to the conclusion that there was no forgery of pages in the appendix on the sale of 25% of Inteko shares, as Elena Baturina had previously stated. Consequently, Viktor can claim 13 billion rubles, according to the valuation of the sold company at that time.

Since 2017, the brother of the founder of Inteko, Elena Baturina, Viktor Baturin has been seeking the protection of honor and dignity in Austrian courts. In the Regional Court of Innsbruck, Viktor demands to refute his sister's statements that he falsified "Appendix 1" of the amicable agreement on the division of "Inteko". The A1 company of Mikhail Fridman helps him in this. The dispute is about which of the versions of the settlement agreement is genuine: the one according to which Baturin receives money for his 25% in Inteko, or the one according to which he receives nothing. Austrian expert Christian Grafl made an examination of the handwriting of the conclusion of an amicable agreement between the Baturins and came to the conclusion that the document of Viktor Baturin bears the genuine signature of his sister. The magazine "Company" has the text of the examination. The court session itself with the examination of the examination will take place in February, but its exact date is still unknown.

A jury-certified expert in criminology, document and handwriting research Christian Grafl carried out not only analysis of Baturina's handwriting, but also a spectral analysis of ink. As a result, he came to the conclusion that both settlement agreements (copies of Elena and Victor) were made with one hand. Consequently, there was no forgery of pages, as Elena Baturina argued, and Viktor can claim 13 billion rubles. This is the amount of his shares in the claim in the Moscow Arbitration Court. The representative of Elena Baturina, Gennady Terebkov, told the "Company" that Viktor Baturin had no rights to the shares of Inteko, and his manager had forged Appendix 1. A1 does not comment on the situation.

15 year dispute

Elena Baturina is the richest Russian woman ($ 1.3 billion), who made a fortune in construction in Moscow, whose mayor was her husband Yuri Luzhkov. Her brother Viktor Baturin was vice president of Inteko from 1999 to 2005. In 2006, according to Baturina, he was fired from Inteko because of embezzlement. At first, Victor was suing his sister, but in 2008 the Baturins signed an amicable agreement. However, in 2010, after her husband Yelena Baturina resigned from the post of mayor of Moscow, Viktor Baturin began to claim that his sister had misappropriated his 25% stake and had not paid the salary for 2005 in the amount of 3.46 billion rubles.

In 2011, Viktor Baturin tried to get 10.8 million rubles through Inteko's promissory notes, eventually getting a sentence for fraud. From 2013 to 2016, Baturin spent in prison. In 2016 he went into business, but soon declared himself bankrupt. Erenzen Manzheev became its financial manager. Baturin's debts in 2018 turned out to be with A1, which declared the right to claim 3.2 billion.

In 2017, Baturin filed a lawsuit for the protection of honor and dignity in the Land Court of Innsbruck (Austria) for 280 thousand euros against Elena. He demanded to refute his sister's statements that he had falsified “Appendix 1” of the 2008 settlement agreement. This court appointed an examination of the settlement agreement of a copy of Elena Baturina in September 2020. In 2017, Viktor Baturin also filed a lawsuit against his sister for the protection of honor and dignity in the Austrian court of Kitzbühel. The essence of the lawsuit was that Elena in 2010, in fact, accused him of "theft" and damaged his business reputation.

Who did the forgery?

In the Austrian court, Baturina claims that the bankruptcy administrator of Baturin's bankruptcy Erentsen Manzheev forged "Appendix 1". Manzheev responded by filing a libel suit against Baturina in September 2019 in Kalmykia. In May 2020, the libel case was closed due to the dismissal of the claim. Baturina's representative Gennady Terebkov called A1 a raider. A1 sued him for libel, but in October 2020 the case was lost. In September 2020, the Moscow Arbitration Court dismissed Erenzen Manzheev's claim on the illegality of alienating 25% of Inteko shares owned by Baturin in favor of his sister, and refused to collect 13 billion rubles in favor of Baturin.

Victor Baturin has been trying to get his share in Inteko for more than 15 years. During this time, the company itself was sold to the co-owner of B&N Bank Mikail Shishkhanov. This happened after Elena Baturina's husband, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, was dismissed in 2010, and Elena herself and her two daughters immediately moved to London. In 2017, after the bankruptcy of B&N Bank, Inteko came under the control of Trust Bank. In December 2019, Yuri Luzhkov died.

What follows from the conclusion of Professor Grafl

The opinion of Christian Grafl confirms the validity of the claim of Viktor Baturin against Elena Baturina in the Austrian Regional Court. It turns out that Baturina unfoundedly accused her brother of forging documents. It turned out that Victor's document was real, and Elena's was fake. This means that the Austrian court with a high degree of probability will oblige Elena to refute her allegations publicly.

Grafl's conclusion confirms that the document, on the basis of which Manzheev demands recovery from Elena in the Tverskoy court for 25% of Inteko shares, is genuine, and the criminal claims against Manzheev and Baturin are groundless. On the contrary, Baturina should be the defendant in the criminal case, and her brother should be the victim.

Grafl's conclusion means that Baturina committed crimes on the territory of Austria: falsification of evidence in a civil case and procedural fraud.

Grafl's imprisonment is a new circumstance that may make it possible to reconsider the verdict of the Gagarinsky Court of Moscow, according to which Baturin was sentenced to real imprisonment in 2013. If this happens, then Viktor Baturin should be acquitted and should be entitled to rehabilitation.

According to the logic of the further development of the situation in Austria, a criminal case may be initiated against Elena Baturina on the fact of falsification of "Appendix 1", procedural fraud, pressure on witnesses in order to give the latter knowingly false testimony. The issue of initiating a criminal case against Elena Baturina, filing civil claims in connection with the damage caused to Viktor Baturin caused by the illegal sale in 2011 of his block of shares is also being considered.

Perhaps, a reason will be given to recognize the basis of Elena Baturina's fortune as corrupt, since, based on the logic of a possible court decision, she, in fact, legalized the proceeds from the theft of 25% of Inteko, which did not belong to her. It is possible to initiate criminal cases in Russia and Austria against Elena Baturina on the fact of non-payment of tax on income received from the transaction in 2011. All this can destroy the reputation of Elena Baturina in the West, where she does business.

However, the press service of Elena Baturina denies the fact of forgery. According to the representatives of Baturina, manipulations were carried out with "Appendix 1" of Mr. Baturin, that is, that the original sheets could be replaced in it and, in fact, the entire text of the Appendix itself could be changed. The representative of Baturina refers to the examination made by Marianne Nuremberg at the private request of Viktor Baturin (the "Company" has the text of the Nuremberg report). At the same time, the last sheet with the original signature of Ms. Baturina, taken from the original annex, could have been preserved. Expert Michael Buxbaum claims that the text of the appendix has not changed. It was printed on the same printer, and the document itself was not embroidered and pages were not replaced. The "Company" has the text of Buxbaum's examination, which was completed in November 2020.

In turn, the representative of Elena Baturina recalls that Viktor Baturin has repeatedly sued his sister and lost all the courts. And this litigation in order to protect the reputation of the claim in Austria, according to the representative of Baturina, will not be an exception. However, it is worth noting that all previous trials were held in Russia.