As Russian state-run media later reported, citing a source in law enforcement, the $120 million had previously been siphoned off from Nota-bank, one of the top 100 Russian banks. Nota-bank’s license to operate was withdrawn in November of 2015. The investigators didn’t say how exactly the money arrived at the apartment of Zakharchenko’s relative, but there is only one real possibility: Zakharchenko was being paid to provide cover for Nota-bank’s illegal activities. According to the pictures taken at the crime scene, the banknotes were brand new and probably from the same series, although it’s not exactly clear where they came from. Usually, such sums of money arrive from abroad: Russian banks in need of U.S. dollars have the cash flown in on airplanes, legally, after withdrawing the money from corresponding accounts at American banks. What happens after is in a legal gray zone and is called in Russian slang an obnalichka, or a “cash-out”.
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Karina Orlova: Busted anti-corruption official cashed out $120 million
Another week, another major arrest among the siloviki in Russia: on Sunday, the FSB detained deputy chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Committee for Economic Security and Combating Corruption, Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko. The special forces officers found $120 million of cash, in dollars bills, during searches conducted in the apartment of a Zakharchenko's relative in Moscow. An additional $176,000 of cash was discovered in the Zakharchenko's office. Zakharchenko's boss, Andrey Kurnosenko, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Committee for Economic Security, resigned after Zakharchenko's arrest.
