A businessman from the “Titov’s list”, who was the first to return to Russia, received 4.5 years in prison

In Rostov-on-Don, the Leninsky District Court passed a verdict on businessman Andrei Kakovkin, who appeared on the Titov’s list. It includes several businessmen who left Russia due to the threat of criminal prosecution. Boris Titov, the presidential ombudsman for the protection of entrepreneurs’ rights, convinced some of them to return after receiving guarantees that they would not be taken into custody. It was Andrei Kakovkin who was the first to return to his homeland.

The court sentenced Kakovkin to 4.5 years in a general regime colony. He was found guilty of a particularly large fraud, informs “Interfax” with reference to the joint press service of the courts of the Rostov region.

According to investigators, from March to May 2015, Andrei Kakovkin, under the pretext of providing services for the acquisition of agricultural land in the Shcherbinovsky District of the Krasnodar Territory, stole about $ 400,000 from the victim.

At the beginning of 2018, business ombudsman Boris Titov, who at that moment ran for the presidency,

handed over to Vladimir Putin a list of Russian businessmen who are abroad and want to return to Russia, but fear unjustified criminal prosecution. Titov offered to review their affairs and give them the opportunity to return. He made the list after meeting with fugitive Russian businessmen in London.

Andrei Kakovkin, director of the GRIF trading house, was included in that “London” list and became the first to return. Upon his return, he was arrested but then released home. The criminal case on the embezzlement of 10 million rubles, issued to Kakovkin as a loan, was first closed in August 2018, but the investigation was resumed in September.

In October 2019, the Kirovsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don found Kakovkin guilty under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud) and sentenced him to three years in a general regime colony. As follows from the materials of the case, the director of LLC “Trading House” GRIF “Kakovkin, acting in collusion with the founder of the company” DITIS “, on August 11, 2015, stole 10 million rubles belonging to LLC” MKT “.

In January 2020, the Rostov Regional Court replaced a businessman for a real suspended sentence. Then the Fourth Cassation Court in Krasnodar canceled the ruling of the Rostov Regional Court and sent the case for a new trial, which also ended with a suspended sentence for the businessman. However, Kakovkin remained in custody pending investigation of other cases.

One of the cases in which Kakovkin is under arrest is related to credit fraud. A statement about this was submitted to the law enforcement agencies of Sberbank of Russia, attorney Genrikh Khachaturov told Interfax. He represented the interests of the victims in the 10 million rubles fraud case.

There were 136 names in the “Titov’s list” in total. However, in 3.5 years only 12 people returned to Russia. In 2018 – Andrey Kakovkin, Sergey Kapchuk, Alexey Kuznetsov, Ernest Kim, Dmitry Pankov and Anatoly Loktionov, in 2019 – Leonid Kuraev, Roman Starodubets, Yulia Makurina, in 2020 – Dmitry Zotov, Alexey Latypov and Mikhail Ershov.

On July 12, 2021, business ombudsman Boris Titov announced the suspension of work on the London List. British businessman Alexei Shmatko said “MBH Media” that such an ending was predetermined by resistance from judges, prosecutors and other security officials who are appointed by Vladimir Putin in Russia. “When people return, then all the sins will emerge – the seizure of assets, illegal courts, torture, criminal cases, and someone will have to answer for this, but no one wants to do this,” Aleksey Shmatko explained.