VLADIVOSTOK, June 7The court in Vladivostok postponed until the end of June the preliminary hearing in the second criminal case against the Sakhalin fishing industry Oleg Kan on the creation of a criminal community, smuggling and tax evasion, reported Head of the joint press service of the regional judicial system Elena Oleneva.
Kan is accused in absentia of creating and leading a criminal community, smuggling strategically important resources, and evading customs duties and taxes. According to investigators, Kan and his accomplices were involved in smuggling crabs abroad in 2014-2019. During this time, the criminal group exported more than 3 thousand tons of seafood delicacy worth 2.6 billion rubles. During export, the goods were declared at one price, but in reality they were shipped at an inflated price. Previously, the case was sent from Vladivostok to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, but later it was returned to the capital of Primorye. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Friday in the Frunzensky District Court of Vladivostok. 
< br />«The preliminary hearing has been postponed to June 25, 16.00 (09.00 Moscow time),» Oleneva said.
The meeting was held behind closed doors, the reason for the adjournment was not reported.
In April, a panel of judges found Kan guilty of organizing the murder-for-hire of businessman Valery Phidenko in Vladivostok in 2010 and sentenced him in absentia to 17 years in a maximum security colony. The court also ordered compensation for moral damages from Kan in favor of five victims in the amount of 3 million rubles each. The defense appealed the verdict.
According to investigators, in 2010, Kan organized the murder of Phidenko, who, as he believed, was involved in the attempt on his life. In August-October of the same year, Kan found the perpetrator of the murder, whom the investigation had not yet found, as well as local resident Dmitry Polyakov as an accomplice. Polyakov invited the victim to Vladivostok under the guise of business negotiations, provided him with a telephone number, the number of which he gave to the organizer of the murder. When the businessman arrived at the Three Bogatyrya restaurant, the killer killed him with three shots. Polyakov was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2011.
Kan hid from investigation abroad, was put on the international wanted list, and was arrested in absentia. Earlier, during the consideration of another lawsuit, a lawyer released information about Kahn’s possible death in the UK. The Prosecutor General's Office called the version of his death staged.