A Russian court today sentenced German investor Ralf Novak to five years in prison on charges of involvement in a fraud scheme with the sale of shares in the Russian car rental company "Belka car", Reuters reported, citing the defendant's lawyer, BTA reported.
The Russian site RBC Daily reported that Novak, who has dual German and Russian citizenship, is the general director of the investment consulting company "Cingular" (Singular CIS), based in the Swiss city of Zug.
He was arrested on fraud charges in early 2022 along with Ilmar Azmukhanov, director of investments of the company "Vinterberg Group" (Winterberg Group AG), which is also headquartered in Zug. Today, Azmukhanov was sentenced to four years in prison.
Novak, who has been under house arrest until now, was not present in the courtroom today, his lawyer announced. "He is not at home, we are trying to find him", said Konstantin Elfimov.
The case against Novak was initiated in 2021, when Benedikt Sobotka, co-founder of the Swiss company "Bryanston Resources" (Bryanston Resources AG) filed a complaint with the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, accusing Novak and German businessman Fabian Kroecher of selling 52 percent of the shares of "Belka kar" at discounted prices behind his back.
The RBC Daily site also informs that a Russian court issued in August 2022 an arrest warrant in absentia for Kroecher, who was not in Russia at the time. Kroecher was accused of frauds amounting to 47 million euros.