01/11/2024
Finantsinspektsioon terminated the misdemeanour case against AB Kreditex AS because the time limit on misdemeanour proceedings had passed. The time expired for the misdemeanour proceedings on 11 October, when the two-year period allowed for the proceedings was completed.
Member of the Finantsinspektsioon management board Siim Tammer explained that unfortunately the misdemeanour proceedings had not yet reached the point where a fine could be issued. “This can be the outcome with complicated cases, but it does not mean that Kreditex was acting within the law”, he said.
The violations of the law that had been identified were very serious, and so Finantsinspektsioon withdrew the operating licence from AB Kreditex AS as a creditor and mortgage lender on 31 October 2023. Finantsinspektsioon acted immediately once it became aware that the company was using a fictitious management model. It emerged that the company was being run by the shadow manager Alexey Kiprushenkov, who had previously been declared unsuitable to work as a manager in the financial sector by Finantsinspektsioon because of his earlier actions. A court case about the withdrawal of the operating licence is still ongoing at the Tallinn Administrative Court.
“We identified an unprecedented case at Kreditex of a clearly fraudulent management model. At the centre of the model was a shadow manager who had been declared unsuitable as a manager in the financial sector. This deliberately fraudulent set-up meant the strictest supervisory decision was taken, and the licence was withdrawn”, said Mr Tammer. He added that the top priority for the supervisor is the honesty, legality and transparent functioning of the financial sector. He further pointed out that a ban on working in the financial sector is a harsher punishment than a fine of any amount in euros, and the punishment was made more effective by Kreditex no longer being able to provide services.
Finantsinspektsioon has for years been pointing out the problems with time limits for misdemeanour proceedings and fine levels, and they have both now been increased. Unfortunately the new and extended time limits and the higher fine levels did not apply in the misdemeanour proceedings against AB Kreditex AS.