Antonov says Snoras funds were used temporarily to save bank

Former Snoras shareholder Vladimir Antonov said the use of the failed bank’s funds to rescue it was intended to be temporary, LRT reported. He made the statement on Tuesday while being questioned by the Lithuanian Court of Appeal in a criminal case concerning the embezzlement of assets of exceptionally high value.

“If we managed to maintain the bank’s liquidity, the use of this mechanism would be limited in time and we would find sources to solve the problem,” Antonov said in Russian through an interpreter.

Prosecutor Dainius Stankevičius asked Antonov about the specific instruments used to improve Snoras’s financial position. Antonov said the mechanism for using the bank’s funds had existed before he entered banking and was the only way to maintain the bank’s liquidity and save its finances.

According to Antonov, the scheme was carried out together with Raimondas Baranauskas, another former Snoras shareholder and executive who is also on trial. Asked whether funds transferred from Snoras under the scheme were used only to rescue the bank or also for other projects, taxes or similar purposes, Antonov said the bank administration’s funds were not used for any other purpose.

The prosecutor also questioned him about transfers made through Sberbank, HSBC and Switzerland’s Julius Baer. Antonov has previously told the court that the shareholders’ actions were intended to preserve Snoras’s liquidity during the economic crisis, and that the transactions were to be completed by 2012 at the latest.

Antonov said thousands of transactions had been carried out in an effort to save the bank. In earlier hearings, he acknowledged that securities belonging to Snoras had temporarily been transferred to his personal account, while bonds had been purchased, loans issued, the bank’s capital increased and creditors paid last.

He said these actions were intended to increase Snoras’s capital and reserves and preserve its liquidity, but that he had not been able to do so using his personal funds.

Authorities have said Antonov and Baranauskas appropriated assets worth 509.18 million euros, causing Snoras and its creditors losses of 466.67 million euros, and embezzled a further 14.5 million euros.

At the first hearing on June 30, Antonov gave evidence for the first time, admitted his guilt and asked to be allowed to begin serving his sentence. On July 2, the court allowed him to start serving a prison sentence under a Vilnius Regional Court ruling that had not yet become final.

Last November, the Vilnius Regional Court sentenced both former bank owners in absentia to 10.5 years in prison. They were convicted of abuse of office, misappropriation and embezzlement of property of exceptionally high value, document forgery, fraudulent bankruptcy, money laundering and fraudulent accounting.

Antonov was also recognised as the main organiser of the crimes. The court ordered both men to pay 375.18 million euros in damages and confiscate assets worth 105 million euros that had been acquired through crime. European arrest warrants were issued for both defendants.