Alexander Zarubin sentenced in absentia to ten years in Komi

Syktyvkar City Court found the businessman guilty of fraud and money laundering. It also imposed a fine of 1.5 million rubles.

The verdict was announced on October 12. Zarubin was stripped of his honorary title as an honoured worker of the Komi Republic. He was tried in absentia because he is abroad and on an international wanted list.

Investigators said the group Zarubin formed obtained control of all shares in the Zelenetskaya poultry farm between 2006 and 2011. The shares were transferred out of state ownership into the capital of Metleasing, a company he controlled. Damage to the republic was assessed at 2.4 billion rubles.

From May 2011 to September 2015, the poultry farm paid Metleasing 1.45 billion rubles in dividends. Investigators reported that more than 828 million rubles were laundered through transactions involving controlled companies.

A separate episode concerned the theft of more than 64 million rubles from Komi's investment-project support fund through the sale of shares in the Syktyvkar industrial company. Zarubin's prison term will run from his detention in Russia or extradition. The announcement did not confirm that the verdict had become final.