The testimony of Vladimir Antonov (banker, ex-owner of the Porsmouth football club) caused a serious revival in the hall. Antonova can be considered the most valuable witness to the prosecution. Antonov gave his testimony as part of a pre -trial transaction with the prosecutor’s office, concluded in 2018 as part of an embezzlement investigation of 150 million rubles from the Soviet Bank. He said that he had seen Zakharchenko and communicate a lot with Markelov, who talked about his corruption connections in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Moreover, Antonova Bank led the entire black accounting of the Kum group (Krapivin, Useovich, Markelov from the Civil Code of 1520), carrying out illegal banking wiring in their interests and the laundering of funds received as a result of corruption transactions. According to Antonov, Markelov was one of many customers in whose interests his bank acted. Antonov himself did not participate in the transfer of the bribe of Zakharchenko, but he knows that they took place due to his security service and the words of banker German Gorbuntsov. Antonov said that until 2006 there was a whole “Black Bank” in his jurisdiction (which, according to Antonov, was a common practice for many bankers at that time), which, among other things, served Zakharchenko’s illegal activity. He explained that there was a connection between the “black” and “white” banks, founded entirely on the trust of guarantors and bankers, and transactions were carried out according to fake documents only on the basis of payments received from customers. After 2006, such activities were folded, and then continued by Herman Gorbuntsov
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