The case of the hiding from Russian justice in the European Union Chikovani scammers family has moved to a new stage: the Spanish police have begun active cooperation with their Russian colleagues.
Even despite the sanctions from EU, the security forces of both countries conduct successful and productive communication. The Russian Federation took advantage of the agreement with Spain on legal assistance in civil cases, sending a request to local law enforcement to find out the location of the fraudster Alexander Chikovani and the property registered to him, which he withdrew from Russia in order not to settle with creditors.
For a long time, Alexander and his wife Ksenia managed to hide outside of Russia, where they were put on the Federal wanted list for a number of major economic crimes, but now things may go very differently, thanks to the joint work of the law-enforcement agencies of Spain and Russia.
According to information received by Rosbalt sources in the law enforcement, the Spanish police confirmed the presence of the Russian Federation citizen Alexander Chikovani on the territory of the Kingdom of Spain. According to the data, he was granted an initial temporary residence permit in the fall of 2019 in Barcelona. As part of the legal assistance, the Spaniards provided comprehensive information about the Bank accounts registered for the fraudster and officially declared property of him.
In addition to the accounts in Austria, which were previously known, two more accounts in the name of Alexander Chikovani were found in the Spanish CaixaBank. It is known that Alexander Chikovani transferred the main property acquired at the expense of stolen funds to his wife Ksenia, who became an accomplice to his crimes and currently owns hotels and restaurants on the resort coast of Spain.
The greed and pettiness of the Chikovani family turned out to be so incommensurable that in addition to the income taxes that were not paid to the Russian budget and funds stolen from creditors, Mercedes-Benz GLE 400 4MATIC and Mercedes-Benz 350 CDI BLUETEC cars were also exported from Russia to Spain. All to ensure that the bailiffs did not take them to pay off debts to creditors. In Barcelona, he registered the cars as “imports”.
Earlier, the question of whether to stay in Spain arose from several MEPs, who sent a corresponding request to local law enforcement. The European Parliament considered unacceptable the presence on the EU territory of a criminal wanted by the Russian authorities on charges of major economic crimes.
Alexander Chikovani, a native of Kemerovo, began his fraudulent activities with the creation of the Nordconstruction construction company, although, according to some reports, the first crimes were committed long before that.
Nordconstruction specialized in cooperation with development companies as a contractor of major construction projects. But, according to media reports, the company did not fulfill its obligations to partners, constantly breaking deadlines, which affected the reputation of the capital’s developers. Soon, Nordconstruction was bombarded with accusations not only from former partners but also from its own employees, who called unbearable working in the company.
As a result, the company was declared bankrupt, and Chikovani himself moved to a new level of fraud in the newly created company “CC Hephaestus”.
This time the swindler acted more thoughtfully. Law enforcement officers had to make serious efforts to prove the involvement of Alexander Chikovani in the “CC Hephaestus”, using modern technologies for calculating IP addresses. That time 50 million rubles were withdrawn from the company, which were intended for payment on the loan, after that an attempt was made to conduct bankruptcy proceedings. While dealing with this case, investigators came to another crime of deliberate non-payment of value-added taxes for three years, which led to a 300-million debt to the state.
During numerous court sessions, the involvement of Alexander Chikovani in a number of companies with signs of deliberate bankruptcy was revealed. The defendant was brought by the court to subsidiary liability for the obligations of debtors totaling more than 200 million.
Instead of paying off debts to creditors, Alexander Chikovani began alienating his property in favor of his wife Ksenia Chikovani, and then moved the property to Spain. A Russian court has already declared such actions illegal, nullifying the agreements on the division of property between the spouses.
