The key facts

  • The Moscow City Court upheld the verdict of the Nikulinsky District Court: 11 years in a penal colony and a fine of 2 million rubles
  • The appeal changed only the operative part on recovery under the civil claim — according to a participant in the proceedings, a technical point
  • Taicher did not plead guilty and asked for an acquittal or for the case to be returned for further investigation

Appeal upholds the sentence

The Moscow City Court has upheld the legality of the sentence against Alexey Taicher, former adviser to Russian Railways (RZD) and former co-owner of the leasing companies Transfin-M and SG-trans, who was sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony for fraud. This was reported by TASS citing the course of the proceedings.

What the Moscow City Court decided

The judge announced the ruling: “The verdict of the Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow shall be amended, in the operative part of the first-instance court regarding the recovery from Taicher within civil proceedings <…> in the remaining part, the verdict shall stand unchanged. The ruling enters into legal force.” According to one of the participants in the proceedings, the appeal corrected only a technical point. Thus, the main punishment remained the same, and the adjustment affected only the wording on the recovery under the civil claim.

The defense's position and the content of the verdict

Taicher did not plead guilty and asked the Moscow City Court to acquit him or to overturn the verdict, returning the case materials either to the same district court for a new trial or to a supervisory authority for further investigation. In April, the Nikulinsky District Court sentenced him to 11 years in a general-regime penal colony and a fine of 2 million rubles on three counts of fraud on an especially large scale, banned him from holding executive positions in commercial organizations for two years and 10 months, and also granted a claim for compensation of 1.2 billion rubles within civil proceedings. Once the ruling enters into force, the verdict is considered final; sources did not report any further appeals.