The suspect in the murder of former banker Mikhail Yakhontov and his family, according to preliminary data, committed suicide in a temporary detention center in Vitebsk.

This was reported to RT by the Investigative Committee of Belarus.

“The Investigative Committee is now checking the circumstances of the death in the IVS in Vitebsk of a 55-year-old suspect in the murder of a family in Moscow.

The data obtained indicate that there has been a suicide, "Sergei Kabakovich, head of the information and public relations department of the Central Office of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus, told RT.

According to a RT source in law enforcement agencies, we are talking about Andrei Skripkin, with whom Yakhontov had a business relationship.

The interlocutor of RT in the investigating authorities said that on Thursday, October 28, Skripkin was supposed to be transferred to Moscow.

Asphyxia was reported to have been the cause of his death.

I came to resolve issues

57-year-old Mikhail Yakhontov, his 39-year-old wife Antonina Nosyreva and their eight-year-old son were killed in their apartment on Mosfilmovskaya Street.

The bodies on Tuesday, October 26, were discovered by the eldest daughter of Yakhontov.

According to media reports, Skripkin allegedly came to Yakhontov's home to discuss matters and demand that the former banker return a large sum of money to him: it is possible that the murdered and the alleged criminal had common debts.

When the man realized that he would not get money from Yakhontov, he tied the former financier and everyone who was in the apartment, and dealt with them.

Presumably, he killed the woman and the child as witnesses.

  • Mikhail Yakhontov.

    Former top manager of Smolensk Bank.

  • © rutube6 / YouTube

This version is confirmed by an RT source familiar with the case materials.

According to him, immediately after the murder, Andrei Skripkin managed to leave Russia, reaching Belarus, from where he subsequently intended to move to one of the European countries.

“In this case, of course, the murdered child, who, most likely, was sleeping peacefully at the time of the incident, arouses sympathy.

The wife of the murdered man, perhaps, also had nothing to do with her husband's affairs, "said the interlocutor of RT.

According to him, Skripkin was detained on October 27, and they managed to interrogate him.

The man said that he killed the former banker and his family because of "financial disagreements."

On the same day, the Kuntsevsky court of Moscow arrested a man in absentia.

The media reported that during the arrest, Skripkin was seized with edged weapons: a German dagger and four hunting knives.

In addition, the driver who was taking him to Belarus was detained with him.

The man was found with a traumatic pistol.

Now investigators are finding out whether the driver was involved in the murder of the family.

96 million rubles of debt

As RT found out, Andrei Skripkin has been in business for almost 20 years.

In recent years, he has been the director of several petroleum products and food wholesalers based in Moscow.

One of Skripkin's former business partners told RT that in his work he always made a positive impression on him and his colleagues.

“We were business partners about three years ago, then Andrey got out of business.

I have never seen him aggressive, he always seemed to me a level-headed guy.

I have a good impression of him, ”said the source.

According to him, Skripkin has a wife and daughter who live in America.

RT also tried to contact Skripkin's nephew, but he refused to communicate with journalists.

According to the Federal Bailiff Service, four enforcement proceedings have been initiated against Skripkin.

He owes more than 96 million rubles.

Over the past four years, legal entities and individuals have sued the man seven times with a demand to return money under loan and credit agreements.

As for Skripkin's connection with Mikhail Yakhontov, according to media reports, the men knew each other back in 2013, when Yakhontov worked as a top manager at the Smolensk Bank.

According to the Smolnarod portal, Yakhontov was engaged in lending to Skripkin's business.

According to some reports, during this period of time, the entrepreneur owned a company for the wholesale of alcoholic beverages in Noginsk in the Moscow region.

“Misha always lobbied him.

After the bankruptcy of the Smolensk Bank, it seems that they had a joint business, which could cause discord in their relationship.

Knowing him outwardly, I would never have thought that he was capable of such a thing, "- said the source of the portal.

Mikhail Yakhontov himself was officially declared bankrupt two months before his death.

He owes 8.4 billion rubles to creditors of the Smolensk Bank.

In 2016, Yakhontov, along with three colleagues, became involved in a criminal case on embezzlement on an especially large scale and deliberate bankruptcy of a credit institution (part 4 of article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and article 196 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

According to the investigation, the owner of the bank Pavel Shitov and other persons involved in the case learned in advance about the upcoming revocation of the bank's license.

Having suspended servicing of clients' accounts, top managers purchased unsecured securities from fictitious companies controlled by them, issued loans to fly-by-night firms and alienated the bank's real estate in their favor.

In March 2019, Yakhontov was sentenced to six years in a general regime colony.

The court counted in time the time he spent under arrest during the investigation, according to the formula "a day in a pre-trial detention center - a day and a half in a colony."

In 2020, Mikhail Yakhontov was released.