Recently it became known about stunningly simple and genius scheme to withdraw money from Russia abroad. Only in the last year fictitious companies managed to withdraw 16 billion rubles with its use. And, perhaps, we are talking about tens of billions. Fraudulent scheme is absolutely legal and, more importantly, regulators can not do anything about it. Or do not want to. Besides, there are no official reports from the Central Bank, and the head of the regulator, Elvira Nabiullina, is also silent.

Rascal gave, rascal took away

The scheme is simple to indecency. A certain foreign company gives the Russian company a good loan. Usually from 400 million to 6 billion rubles. After some time, the debtor does not return the loan. A foreigner, of course, goes to court. Since it credited the Russian resident, the juridsiction is local, too. During the process the defendant admits he did the wrong thing. Parties either make peace or a court verdicts in favor of the plaintiff. After that, the lender issues a writ of execution, with which it goes to the bailiffs. Those address the bank where the debtor keeps his money. A credit institution shall transfer the amount of the debt to a foreigner. Into a foreign bank, of course. And that is all.

From conventional litigation this situation is different only in one small but very important fact: initially there was no debt. Both the plaintiff and the defendant are fictious companies that do not conduct real activity. They are connected with each other and act in the interests of one and the same person. And that person becomes the owner of substantial capital in a foreign bank. Legally, it should be noted. He was given his debt back, what questions might be there? What kind of money it was initially, nobody knows. Possibly, criminal finances, large bribes, anything. Perfect "laundry room", which does not violate the law.

Moldavian offshore scheme

The money withdrawal scheme described above is very similar to the famous "Moldovan scheme." The story was very loud: law enforcement officers found that tens of billions of dollars were withdrawn from the country in a few years. One offshore company borrowed from another. Guarantor were Russian entities. But there were also guarantors. Certain residents of Moldova. Often it was the people of the so-called "vulnerable groups in society." If we reject the politically correct term: the homeless. Cases were discussed in the Moldovan district courts, the decisions handed down in favor of the creditors, and the Russian loan guarantees had to repay the money to the plaintiffs. The scheme was no less ingenious, but domestic security forces were able to see through it. And as a result, businessman Alexander Grigoriev, whom the media called the organizer, was arrested.

The uniqueness of the new scheme is that the courts are in Russia, and Russian bailiffs are involved. The bank, even if it suspects something, is obliged to transfer money on the writ of execution. FSSP just complies with a decision of the court, and the rest is not its business. A court only supports the side of the lender. No threads left. However, the central bank is well aware of such a scenario. Moreover, the regulator even calculated that last year with the help of the above scheme 16 billion rubles were withdrawn from the country. And if you take into account all the transactions having similarity to that scheme, then we can talk about 37 billion. It only remains to find a way to prevent criminal acts. And at this point the Central Bank seems to be a helpless gesture. And the head of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina, whose duty is to explain and calm down, just remained silent.

It is clear who is to blame, but what to do?

FSSP immediately washed its hands, saying that it was not competent to check money laundering. And it cannot be reproached for the answer. In fact, its business is to collect and not to check the decisions of courts. Aha, so the courts are to blame? Sensible grain's there. Judges may conduct an audit and find out the debtor and the creditor had no actual activities, and their turnovers even remotely do not match the huge amounts of debt. But practice shows that judges either do not want to do it, or they do not have time. The Central Bank now wants to oblige the banks to conduct checks before transferring the money. Also an option. But the banks, frightened by strict control measures will so actively check everyone and everything that modest company will be hurt as well, and, in general, the entire financial process will stall or at least slow down. The Central Bank itself, though, sees all the cash flows coming from the country, but cannot do anything. Money's gone, it remains only to admit that we've been fooled again. 

Probably, it is necessary to operate in a complex, but it has always been difficult in a country where radical solutions are preferred. But there is a suspicion that if regulators do not come up with a sensible solution, then use of the scheme will become widespread, and the amount of withdrawn money will grow like a snowball. And then the central bank will have only two choices. First, shut the hell the financial borders and introduce currency controls. The idea is very popular among the people, but for the economy, it can be fatal. And the authorities will not allow it. And the second is to cry and confess: despite all our efforts, we can not do anything. The judges are lazy and biased, institutions are rotten and barely working, unscrupulous bankers are stealing money and withdraw billions abroad. In general, everything is lost, here's the head, and here's the ax! And it is desirable that Elvira Nabiullina does it herself. Finally accept the responsibility. Such a fantastic outcome could bring temporary moral relief. But how to live with it? It is better to pretend that everything is under control and going according to plan. Perhaps, it will work again.