This man can be called the prototype of Ostap Bender himself, and if the writers Ilf and Petrov lived in our days, they would certainly be interested in his personality. However, according to the degree of enrichment, businessman-wise businessman Pavel Sigal even outdid the “great combinator”. The material damage caused to the state is estimated to be far from one million rubles. The biography of Pavel Seagal, undoubtedly, deserves to be the basis of the plot for some novel with a criminal bias. What was so remarkable about her? Let's consider this question in more detail.
“And I’ll go to chemists …”
Pavel Sigal - a native of the Ukrainian city of Vinnitsa. He was born on June 5, 1954. The childhood of the future businessman was no different from the childhood of millions of Soviet boys. Pavel Sigal went to an ordinary school, where the same pioneers studied, and then the Komsomol members as he did. But having received a certificate of maturity, the young man wanted to “taste” his independent life and left his father’s house, going to graduate in Kazan.
He already knew in advance where he would go. The fact is that a young man at school showed a remarkable interest in chemistry. And he decided to become a student at the Chemical Engineering Institute, which he, in fact, did. Then Pavel Sigal became a graduate student, got a job as a researcher in his native university. But in the second half of the 80s, dramatic changes took place in his biography.
Change of priorities
When Mikhail Gorbachev announced the beginning of perestroika and glasnost, the future “great combinator” put aside the idea to engage in scientific activities. Sigal Pavel Abramovich decided to go into politics. He initiates the creation of the public structure "Popular Front of Tatarstan." Since the topic of environmental safety was popular in the political life of the late 80s, Segal becomes the founder and, at the same time, the head of the state-owned organization Scientific-Technical Center - Ecology. The profile of his brainchild is the creation of environmental regulations and cleaning technologies.
U-turn towards business
After some time, employees of the structure headed by Pavel Abramovich come up with an innovative product - sorbents that can purify water from oil impurities.
Seagal begins to actively contact representatives of a large industrial business. A graduate of a chemical institute convinces the heads of corporations of Tatarstan, Chuvashia and Moscow to create a business alliance called the Innovative Hardware and Technology Association (INATA). Pavel Abramovich invited partners to earn money by processing medicinal and plant materials. However, this area of activity did not bring tangible profits.
clothing industry
Then Seagal once again decides to change business priorities and enters special courses, whose graduates receive a new and promising profession in the mid-90s, "crisis manager." Having received the coveted document, Pavel Abramovich sets about “resuscitation” of the bankrupt “Diona” sewing factory in Kazan, which had previously specialized in the production of clothing for the Soviet Army. In the end, he managed to raise the aforementioned enterprise from the ruins, and in the spring of 1998, he reorganized legal entities, as a result of which the sewing concern Alton appeared.
Gradually, the new brainchild of a businessman covers not only domestic but also foreign markets. I even had to partially upgrade the equipment for the needs of Western customers. But after several years, the turnover of the sewing business began to decline, demand fell somewhat, so Seagal once again began to probe new horizons for entrepreneurial activity. One can only be surprised at how many posts the “great combinator” was able to test over the years of his many years of work. But several of them should be mentioned separately.
Scam
In 2002, an entrepreneur from Vinnitsa created LLC Center for Microfinance. As a result, he manages to “spin up” the business and make it prosperous. The business of Pavel Segal begins to bring in a millionth profit. Branches of the “Microfinance Center” are opening in many Russian regions. Employees of the above structure issued money to customers at 18.5% for a period of 90 days. Moreover, the amount could be up to 400, 000 rubles with a small one. It would seem that Pavel Segal makes money in a completely legal way, if not for one circumstance.
In 2013, law enforcement authorities reported that they managed to uncover a fraudulent scheme, as a result of which attackers were able to illegally cash out maternity capital for a large amount of 10.5 billion rubles. And the owner of the “Microfinance Center” Segal Pavel Abramovich appeared as a suspect. Investigators found that the crime involved over four hundred "controlled" businessman businessman who provided credit services.
Moreover, they worked in several Russian regions. For two years, criminals made false documents on the issue of money to holders of maternity certificates. So they proved the fact of debt, which was formed in most cases as a result of the acquisition of housing. Then the "fake" was sent to the territorial bodies of the Pension Fund. Moreover, detectives recorded 80 episodes of criminal activity with cashing in money according to a maternal certificate.
Business is at risk
Naturally, the "great combinator" was detained for his atrocities. And not only he, but his partners in microfinance organizations. The wife of Pavel Abramovich, who turned out to be a newcomer to the business, had to lead the Microfinance Center. In the most unenviable position were investors. They began to collect money en masse, banking institutions demanded that the Microfinance Center repay existing debts ahead of schedule, some branches in the regions refused to cooperate with the head office, whose employees began to engage in frank theft of property.
In such circumstances, Sigal’s wife reduced the staff, but the amount of monetary obligations to creditors was prohibitively high - 1.8 billion rubles. In addition, detectives seized the center’s “working” documentation and server, and the Pension Fund stopped paying money on maternity capital. This government agency could hypothetically “fork out” almost 200 million rubles, which would have come at the expense of a microfinance organization. But the business of Pavel Abramovich was on the verge of ruin.
Diversified Director
It should be noted that the Microfinance Center is far from the only brainchild of the “great combinator” from Vinnitsa. Even at the beginning of the 2000s, on an equal footing, he created the “Support of Russia” structure. She belonged to a number of public associations dealing with small and medium-sized businesses.
Soon, the “Pillar of Russia” has overgrown with branches in a number of Russian regions, and Segal led this organization for a long time, including on the periphery. The businessman also established several large business companies that are members of the Segal Group. This, in particular, refers to the financial company Sigal Invest, the insurance company Novy Vek, CJSC GKB Avtogradbank, NPF Pravo, the collection agency Resurs, the insurance agency MSB Insurance, etc. Another entrepreneur managed to become a co-owner of Ankor banking institution. So the scale of activity and volumes of financial assets of Pavel Abramovich are impressive. Moreover, the profits of his companies for a long time showed steady growth.
Case outcome
It would seem that a person who has stolen 10 billion rubles from the state should at least feel remorse and confess to the crime. But Segal Pavel Abramovich (Avtogradbank) did not plead guilty to commit fraud.
Some time after the arrest, he began to complain about the deterioration of his health. In addition, he complained about the investigators to the prosecutor's office, as if they extorted a bribe of 1 million euros from him. Then it turned out that the amount of damage caused by law enforcement agencies was somewhat overstated. At the same time, in press releases the figure of 10.5 million rubles was mentioned, and in the materials of the criminal case - as much as 30 million rubles. In the end, the investigators retrained the article to Pavel Abramovich, incriminating him only for illegally receiving interest on loans issued, and the amount of damage was reduced by detectives to 3 million rubles. Some experts in the field of advocacy agree with the position of law enforcement agencies. In their opinion, it’s very difficult to prove the guilt of one person when it comes to a whole group of intruders. And the police, who opened a case against a businessman from Vinnitsa, failed.
There is another point of view. Lawyers believe that the detectives had no special intention to put Pavel Abramovich in the dock. They supposedly only wanted to make him bankrupt, which they succeeded.
