Danske Bank Estonia and UK entities revisited in the light of FinCEN Files

Over in Estonia, at the end of 2018, 10 current or former Danse Bank employees were arrested inn respect of the ongoing scandal relating to $230bn of suspicious flows through the Non-Resident Portfolio (NRP) located in their Tallinn Branch.

 I should say at the outset of this article that, at the time of writing and to the best of my knowledge, none of those named have yet been tried and I am in no way asserting otherwise.

What I am interested in, however, is their apparent appearance as Persons with Significant Control on a number of UK entities and some of the timings involved.

The people named in the Estonian press (e.g. https://news.err.ee/886288/prosecutor-publishes-names-of-suspects-in-danske-money-laundering-case) were:

·        Erik Lidmets,

·        Yuri Kidjaev,

·        Yevgeny Agnevchchikov,

·        Marko Teder,

·        Mikhail Murnikov,

·        Anna Kurilenko,

·        Natalya Komarov,

·        Olga Chetverikova

·        Oksana Lindmets

One of the challenges of doing background research on anyone who does not have a name normally rendered in western script, is the variability of transliteration. However, a browse through Companies House and OpenOwnership reveals some very interesting details.

First up is ASCO INTERNATIONAL LP, a Scottish Limited Partnership (SLP) first registered on 11 November 2015, at a moment in time when the NRP was being wound down.

The original General and Limited Partners were named as Corporate Management Ltd and Capital Consortium Ltd, the Partnership was registered to 272 Bath Street and the forms were signed by S G Cox. According to my records, at least 200 SLPs have this duo as their General and Limited Partners, located across a few different addresses in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness.

On 28 July 2017, Companies House received notification of the appointment of three Persons with Significant Control. They were Jevgeni Agnevstsikov, Mikhail Murnikov and Marko Teder. A couple of months later, in October 2017, the place of business was changed to an address in Rosehaugh Road, Inverness. This was followed by a further move in January 2018 to Church Street, Inverness along with a change of partners. Corporate Management and Capital Consortium were replaced by Atlass Marketing Ltd and Beriston Resources Ltd.

In November 2018, the annual update statement was filed. No changes were notified but, whilst the form was signed, no mention was made as to who the signer was. Intriguingly, the signature matches exactly, file copies I have in my possession of Sabine Vickers (nee Boze).

Here’s the confirmation form signature:

And here’s one of my file copies:

On 7 June 2019 (after the Estonian prosecutor had announced the arrests) two further Limited Partners were added to the Partnership, named in the forms as Mihhail Murnikov and Jevgeni Agnevstsikov.

The Partnership is still Active.

Next we have another SLP called AMICUS CONSILIO LP. This was registered on 30 December 2016 to the Bath Street address with Intercorporate Group Ltd and Capital Consortium Ltd as its General and Limited Partners. Once again Mr Cox signed the forms.

On 27 July 2017, Erik Lidmets was appointed Person with Significant Control. In October the same year, Intercorporate Group relinquished General Managership to be replaced by Corporate Management Ltd. The Partnership was dissolved in July 2019.

Sharing virtually the same name as Amicus Consilio LP is AMICUS CONSILIO LTD. However, the limited company was incorporated back in August 2012 to an address in Leicester recently mention in an article in The Times (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2020-09-26/news/old-school-friends-in-cash-laundering-web-sdbw8mmz3) in a house which is now home to a Latvian cleaner.

The companies initial director was a chap named Ghassan Hoteit, who has also featured in the FinCEN files reporting and who appears to be somewhat contrite in respect of his former role (https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/inside-scandal-rocked-danske-estonia-and-the-shell-company-factories-that-served-it/).

Mr Hoteit also served as the initial shareholder. He was replaced as director in June 2015 by the same S G Cox who signed the paperwork for the SLPs. According to the company filings, at about the same time, the sole share of the company was transferred to Intercorporate Group Ltd.

The company continued to file dormant accounts; those for 2014 allegedly signed by Mr Hoteit, even though by the time of signing, he had resigned. Even more intriguingly, his “signature” (see below) bears a striking resemblance to three other signatures in my collection (also below).

In August 2016, AMICUS CONSILIO LTD filed a confirmation statement (electronically) appointing Erik Lidmets as Person with Significant Control and in February 2017, Amicus filed their first set of active accounts for the year ending August 2016 (signed electronically by Mr Cox) showing a turnover of a little over ￡200,000 but, after costs, a modest profit of just under ￡8,000. They return accounts for the following year showing a similar profit but by the year ending August 2018 they were back to being dormant and, following the resignation of Mr Cox in July 2019, the company was striuck off the register as it no longer had any officers.

Next up is SHARKON LIMITED incorporated In January 2014 and now registered to the same address as Amicus Consilio Ltd. Like with Amicus, Sharkon started out in life with Mr Hoteit as director, only to be followed by Mr Cox. In a confirmation statement filed in May 2016, they identified Intercorporate Group as the owner of the 40,000 shares issued by the company. However, the same filing also identified Mr Voldemar Lindmets as its Person with Significant Control. Intriguingly, in a recent FinCEN files article written by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) - https://www.occrp.org/en/the-fincen-files/rinse-profit-repeat-how-a-small-team-of-estonians-turned-a-danish-bank-into-a-laundromat - Voldemar Lindmets was the now ex-husband of Oksana Lindmets.

MAGNIPHARMA LLP was incorporated in September 2012 (under its original name of Greystein LLP). Mr Hoteit signed the incorporation documents. The original Designated Members were Consultexa Ltd and Financium Ltd. Consultexa resigned in 2015 to make way for Integrex Ltd and in 2018 both existing Designated Members were replaced by Capital Consortium Ltd and Corporate Management Ltd. They both share the same address in Seychelles and have consecutive registration numbers.

In September 2016, Magnipharma appointed Erik Lidmets as Person with Significant Control. Curiously, on 18 July 2018, he was replaced by Galina Sklyarenko, a Ukrainian, who also resigned the same day only for Mr Lidmets to be reappointed. Mr Lidmets resigned again in March this year to be replaced by Petro Bagriy, also from Ukraine.

Magnipharma LLP have recently presented their 2019 accounts, signed by Mr Cox.

And that’s as far as my research has led me (so far).