Seven people will be tried from Monday in Nancy for money laundering, in this singular case which involves Ukrainian defendants facing a Russian shareholder.
After a nine-month postponement, the hearing, which will last two weeks until November 21, must shed light on the purchase in 2015 of the Château de La Rochepot, a neo-Gothic Burgundian fortress from the 12th century.e century. Seven people are charged “for laundering the funds used for the purchase of the castle”explains a judicial source.
The main defendant, Dmitri Malinovsky, will appear free under judicial supervision, alongside the six other defendants: it will be necessary to determine the role of each in the case. All defendants “dispute the facts”adds a judicial source.
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Among the other people prosecuted, the ex-wife of Mr. Malinovsky, Alla Tscherkasova, and his former companion, Olga Kiselova, both of Ukrainian nationality. The latter claims to have provided the funds for the purchase of the castle and therefore to be the true owner. For the prosecution, she advanced the funds and was reimbursed, and therefore only served as an intermediary, a judicial source explains.
postcard village
Behind this acquisition, a complex legal arrangement is emerging: La Rochepot was bought by a French SCI, itself owned by the Luxembourg company GAPM, and is managed by a SARL. It remains to determine the source of the funds which were used to pay for the castle, and who is the real beneficiary behind this structure.
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For the plaintiff, a Singaporean fertilizer trading company owned by a Russian national, their origin is very clear: the millions used come from a scam committed against him up to 13 million euros in 2015, says his lawyer , Charlotte Plantin. “My client is waiting for justice, the conviction of the protagonists, and to be able to recover part of his assets”, she adds. The trial is coming “River”indicates Benoit Diry, lawyer for Dmitri Malinovsky, and “will be rich in debates both on a purely legal and on a factual level”he adds.
The castle of La Rochepot, a postcard village in Burgundy wine, was bought in 2015 after remaining on sale for three years. A relief for the inhabitants of this village of 300 inhabitants. The new buyers had assured them that they would respect the premises, a condition of the sale set by the previous owner, a descendant of the former President of the Republic Sadi Carnot.
Deceased, but not too much
But the new owners, who have paid some three million euros, remain shrouded in mystery. In the village, sometimes a Ukrainian appears who talks about “his” castle but prefers to be called “Sir” rather than giving his name.
In December 2017, the local daily The Public Good reveals that the craftsmen hired for the renovation project were never paid. Justice is then seized. Alerted, Europol discovers that this “Sir” is a “high-flying fugitive” who pretended to be dead in 2014 to escape Ukrainian justice. She accuses him of fraud.
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But at the time of the purchase of the castle, he is actually very much alive and lives in France “under false identities”, says the judicial source. On October 5, 2018, the gendarmes arrested him at the castle. In front, there “inherent complexity in the financing of the castle”the Dijon prosecutor’s office relinquished the case at the end of 2018 in favor of the specialized inter-regional court (Jirs) of Nancy.
Seized by justice in 2018, the premises have since been closed and empty; the furniture was sold last year at an auction in Beaune. A “heartbreaking” for the inhabitants, who saw some 30,000 tourists per year thanks to the castle.
Its management was recently entrusted to the Agency for the Management and Recovery of Seized and Confiscated Assets (Agrasc) by the prosecution, a decision welcomed by the city councilor. Véronique Richer, the mayor of the village, explains that this will make it possible to undertake necessary maintenance work on the building.
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