Hiding in Ukraine: Kazan court convicts gambling zones operator Rashid Taymasov in absentia
The court punished him with 4 years 9 months of colony and a fine of 500 thousand rubles for “assisting” the embezzlement of nearly a billion
In Kazan a guilty verdict was pronounced in the case of complicity in the embezzlement of 936 million rubles at “Timer Bank.” Guilty of this crime was recognized in absentia the Kazan businessman and investor of the gambling zone “Azov City," Rashid Taymasov, who had been put on the international wanted list. The court sentenced him to 4 years 9 months of a general regime colony with a fine of 500 thousand rubles, ordering the sentence to be executed from the day of extradition or detention of the “absentee” on the territory of the Russian Federation, the participants of the in absentia process specified to “Real Time.”
Also the Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan preserved the arrest on Taymasov's apartment with an area of 81.7 sq. m in the center of Kazan. Other assets of the fugitive gambling king were arrested in the course of bankruptcy procedures.
In the debates the state prosecutor Renata Ismagilova requested 9 years of a general regime colony with a fine of 950 thousand rubles. Approximately the same terms the prosecution at one time proposed in the same story for two bankers.
The interests of Taymasov in court were represented by the appointed defense lawyer Yulia Volodyagina. In a conversation with “Real Time” she admitted — it was not easy to work on the case given the absence of communication with the accused in absentia, who during the preliminary investigation was not even interrogated. “Considering the absence of damage to the bank, I asked for an acquittal. I consider that in this case the right to defense was violated, since the person did not familiarize himself with the accusation and could not present some of his evidence to the investigation. I will appeal the verdict," she commented on her first experience of participating in an in absentia case.
The process stretched over a whole year. Most of this time went to the reading out of the case materials and the testimony of witnesses. In court only the representative of the injured bank was questioned. He did not file a civil claim in this case.
Let us recall that the investigation of the case of embezzlement at “Timer Bank” began in 2020. In February 2021 the top managers of two banks were arrested — the ex-head of the board of “Timer Bank," Ayrat Kamalov, and the former chairman of the board of directors of the same bank, Ramil Nasyrov, who earlier simultaneously held the post of first deputy chairman of the board of “Tatfondbank.” The beneficiary of “Royal Time Group” was no longer in Russia at that moment. Even before the criminal case was opened he had left first for Belarus, from there — for Ukraine, the homeland of his spouse; at the finish of the preliminary investigation he was put on the international wanted list. At the in absentia process it was said that he is now hiding in Ukraine.
Kamalov and Nasyrov, in collusion with Taymasov, were charged with the embezzlement of 936 million rubles of “Timer Bank” under a deal of October 24, 2016. On that day an agreement on the assignment of claims under eight loan agreements of “Royal Time Group” was signed between “Tatfondbank” and “Timer Bank.” As a result “Timer” paid TFB the above-mentioned amount of the debt, including interest, became the new creditor of Taymasov's company, it stopped repaying the debt, and a year later received the status of bankrupt. The businessman himself also went through personal bankruptcy.
In 2023 the courts of two instances recognized both bankers guilty, moreover in the appellate instance the prison term of each was increased from 3 to 5 years of a general regime colony. Taymasov was put on the international wanted list, charged in absentia with complicity in that very embezzlement, and in 2025, considering that the businessman was deliberately hiding from justice and that his extradition from the territory of Ukraine is currently impossible, the case was sent to court. By that moment Kamalov and Nasyrov, taking into account the time under arrest, were already at liberty.
Let us note that the defense of the bankers was built among other things on the data about the repayment of those very, according to the investigation's version, uncollectible loans of “Royal.” In particular, Ramil Nasyrov pointed out in court: after the deal there were payments of 1 billion 360 million rubles (340 million — scheduled payments, 518 million — repayment of the debt from the “Royal” account in TFB in December 2016, 506 million rubles — full repayment of the debt as a result of the conclusion by “Timer Bank” of an agreement on the assignment of claims to “Royal Time Group” (RTG) in favor of LLC “Neft Povolzhya”). The last agreement was concluded on August 16, 2021 — already during the period of the investigation in this case.
For reference: Rashid Taymasov is 46 years old. He worked in the Tatarstan holding “Suvar” and in 2004 took the helm of the company LLC “Royal Time," created for the development of the gambling business. He headed the Kazan hotel and entertainment complex “Riviera," and then founded LLC “Royal Time Group," which worked in the gambling zone in Kamskiye Polyany until its liquidation. In 2010 he received the status of a resident and opened the casino “Oracle” in the special zone “Azov City," on the border of Krasnodar Krai and Rostov Oblast. The firm “Restorator," connected with Taymasov, announced a project of a future resort with hotels and a casino on 19.5 hectares in “Azov City” with investments of 17 billion rubles.
In parallel “Royal Time” developed the gambling business in Altai and Primorsky Krai, as well as in Kaliningrad Oblast. The decision of the Russian government to liquidate gambling in “Azov City” with the aim of creating a new gambling zone in Krasnaya Polyana became a big blow for investors — in 2.3 billion rubles they had managed to erect a casino and a hotel, in total they invested 3.4 billion rubles in this territory, and without clients there were no chances to “recoup” this money. The attempt of “Royal Time Group” to recover compensation from the government of Krasnodar Krai was not crowned with success.
The indicated projects of Taymasov were financed by “Tatfondbank," which in 2017 lost its license. Against the background of the investigation of the criminal case on the withdrawal of bank funds it came to the detention of the new director of “Royal Time Group," Elena Leushina, in connection with the investigation of the criminal case on frauds in “Tatfondbank," however later her prosecution was terminated. At the end of 2017 the procedure of bankruptcy of “Royal Time Group” began, and in 2018 this status was also received by the former gambling king Taymasov. In 2022 in Krasnodar Krai the assets of LLC “Royal Time Group” went from bankruptcy auctions in “Azov City," which became a ghost town. The sum of the deal turned out to be 76 times less than the investments.