Ex-Investigator Charged with Theft of Seized Money
The ex-investigator argues her innocence in court and hints she may have been framed.
For two years now, a court has been hearing the criminal case of a former investigator of the Novosibirsk UMVD (Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs). The trial is being held behind closed doors, and no official statements about the investigation have been made so far. Ekaterina Korsakova was detained in 2022: she is accused of embezzling money that was evidence in another criminal case. Interestingly, that case involves one of the largest «currency organized crime groups» (OPG), which at one time funneled almost half a billion rubles (approximately $5.56 million at current rates) abroad. A correspondent for NGS.RU attempted to piece together the chronology of events and learned how the capture of the group set off a chain reaction of arrests.
More than 430 million rubles were funneled out of the country by the group.
Case No. 1. Currency OPG: The Setup
Authorities seized about 6 million rubles from a travel agency and its director’s apartment.
In February 2021, an organized crime group involved in funneling money abroad was uncovered in Novosibirsk. The group had been operating since 2016 and over five years illegally transferred more than 430 million rubles (approximately $4.78 million at current rates) out of the country. The scheme was exposed by the Siberian Customs Administration, with operational search activities also conducted by officers of the FSB Directorate for Novosibirsk Region.
Part of the money vanished; an internal investigation pointed to senior investigator Ekaterina Korsakova.
Law enforcement established that the group included eight people: citizens of Kyrgyzstan Shaiyrgul Yusupova, Uulu Durusbek, Zhanybek Asanaliev, as well as Novosibirsk residents Denis Dyachkov, Georgy Tereshchenko, Alexandra Mitichkina, Olga Orlova, and Andrey Sharkunov. Criminal proceedings were initiated against the first seven participants for conducting currency transactions to non-resident accounts using forged documents. The defendants’ situation was aggravated by the clauses on an especially large scale and an organized group.
Defendants in the money laundering case also hold victim status and are actively fighting for the missing funds in court.
The investigation established that the OPG members used the details of 150 individuals to transfer money in foreign currency to accounts of foreign organizations. To carry out the transactions, they used forged documents, which were submitted to city banks.
One of the eight defendants, Andrey Sharkunov, immediately after his arrest entered into a plea deal with the investigation. He gave testimony and helped law enforcement untangle the complex scheme of funneling money abroad. In exchange, the Zaeltsovsky District Court considered his case under a special procedure.
The sanction of the article provides for up to ten years in prison. The case took only three months to hear, and the verdict was announced at the fourth hearing. In the fall of 2022, Andrey Sharkunov was found guilty and sentenced to three years of probation with a fine of one million rubles (approximately $11,100 at current rates).
The case of the remaining group members was heard by the court over a year. In March 2023, seven defendants were found guilty and received sentences ranging from three to five and a half years of probation with fines. The defendants pleaded guilty and repented. Subsequently, the court removed from the verdict the clause that the convicted had acted as part of a criminal group.
Case No. 2. Cash-out Operators: The Climax
From the case materials, it follows that the members of the «currency OPG» were merely intermediaries. Their clients included both individuals and legal entities. The prosecution concluded that the money funneling was related to «the conduct of entrepreneurial activity». Since all the convicted actively cooperated with the investigation, and one even entered into a pre-trial agreement, the capture of potential clients of the «currency dealers» was only a matter of time.
And so it happened a few months after Andrey Sharkunov first gave a confession. Already in June 2021, operatives conducted searches in the office of the Novosibirsk travel company «Garuda Travel» on Derzhavina Street.
According to Rusprofile, LLC «Garuda Travel» was registered in April 2012, and since its founding the company has been solely managed by Zlata Motovilovets. The organization’s revenue in 2024 amounted to 6 million rubles, net profit 4.1 million rubles. During the period of investigative actions, profit was 1.2 million rubles with revenue of 3 million rubles. Zlata Motovilovets is also registered as an individual entrepreneur since 2012.
From the company’s office, 28,900 USD were seized, and from the apartment of the travel company’s general director Zlata Motovilovets (located in the same building) 26,100 EUR, 12,700 USD, and 361,800 rubles (approximately $4,000 at current rates). Today this is almost 6 million rubles (approximately $66,700 at current rates).
Criminal cases were initiated against the businesswoman for money laundering and illegal banking activities (par. ‘a’ of Part 3 of Article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and par. ‘b’ of Part 2 of Article 172 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The same charges were brought against a person named Lyu Litsyan. According to NGS.RU, this is the spouse of the company’s director. The case was handled by investigator of the Novosibirsk UMVD Ekaterina Korsakova.
Since the beginning of 2023, the criminal case of the spouses has been heard by the Central District Court of Novosibirsk, with the last session held a week ago. The defendants are under recognizance not to leave. What relation the defendants have to the «currency OPG» could not be established. Defense lawyer Maxim Pogudin was unable to disclose details of the case, as his clients are not ready to comment on the investigation before the verdict.
From the databases of Novosibirsk courts, it follows that both Zlata Motovilovets and Lyu Litsyan currently have the status not only of defendants, but also of victims. LLC «Garuda Travel» has the same status. The reason is that part of the physical evidence, specifically the 293,000 rubles (approximately $3,300 at current rates) seized during the search, disappeared without a trace during investigative actions.
Case No. 3. Ex-Investigator: The Impending Denouement
The «cash-out operators» case was supposed to be the last for investigator Ekaterina Korsakova. In September 2022, she retired, having served in the internal affairs bodies since 2006. The rest did not last long: three months later, a criminal case was initiated against Ekaterina Korsakova for embezzlement of other people’s money (Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to the investigation, the investigator stole about 300,000 rubles belonging to the defendants in the money laundering case.
From the materials, it follows that investigator Korsakova took over the case in July 2021. At the same time, she drew up a protocol for inspecting the physical evidence (bags of money) and attached them to the case. According to the documents, the money was deposited into the deposit account of the accounting department of the UMVD of Russia for Novosibirsk.
The disappearance was discovered after the lawyer demanded the return of the money seized during the search. By the end of 2022, when the case had already been transferred to the Investigative Committee, it turned out that the money had disappeared.
«The money was not deposited into the deposit account of the accounting department of the UMVD of Russia for Novosibirsk, the whereabouts of these funds have not been established, and, moreover, there are grounds to believe that they were stolen,» is stated in the investigator’s report.
The check showed that the money could have been stolen by Ekaterina Korsakova, while Zlata Motovilovets and Lyu Litsyan were recognized as victims, as the money belongs to «Garuda Travel». The criminal case has been heard by the Central District Court since February 2024, and charges of abuse of official powers have been added.
Ekaterina Korsakova’s lawyer Alexei Ivanov, in a conversation with NGS.RU, noted that the verdict is expected within the coming months, but his client refrains from commenting. A restraining order has been imposed on her as a preventive measure.
The courts have different positions on the issue of the disappearance of physical evidence. For example, the Arbitration Court of Novosibirsk Region, which was considering a lawsuit by «Garuda Travel» against the regional Federal Treasury Department, initially ordered the Interior Ministry to compensate for the missing 293,000 rubles. It concluded that the money disappeared due to the fault of internal affairs officers. The cassation court overturned the decision and ordered a re-hearing. Proceedings in the case are currently suspended.
Ekaterina Korsakova disagrees with the criminal prosecution and is actively proving this in court. For example, in her lawsuit against the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Novosibirsk Region, she stated that the internal investigation against her was conducted with gross violations. In her arguments, she notes that she handled the case for only a short time because she went on sick leave, and the investigation was transferred to another person.
Moreover, according to the lawsuit, Ekaterina Korsakova herself complained about the negligent attitude of employees toward physical evidence, after which she was told to «find a new place of service,» the case materials state.
The Central District Court of Novosibirsk refused to recognize the ex-investigator’s claims against her former employer and found no violations during the internal investigation.
At the end of last year, a group of local residents was detained in Pervomaisky District on suspicion of torturing a Novosibirsk resident and extorting money. Local residents assure that this is a new gang.
