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Lawyer of former Bank of Moscow president protests new charges

The investigator said Borodin had stolen Bank of Moscow' money by extending a loan to the Premier Estate private company

MOSCOW, October 26 (Itar-Tass) — The lawyer of former Bank of Moscow president Andrei Borodin on Wednesday appealed against the new charges of fraud within the case over the theft of 13 billion roubles of bank funds.

"Today, a statement was forwarded to the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) about a violation of law by the investigator when bringing new charges against Borodin. I wish to express confidence that the PGO will check the investigator’s actions, as we request to take the appropriate measures of prosecutor's response, so that the violations against Borodin are eliminated," lawyer Mikhail Dolomanov said.

Dolomanov underlined that the charges brought against Borodin contain no other episodes except the issue of the above credit.

The fact of extending a loan cannot be regarded as a reason for arraigning the director of a financial institution, especially because the Bank of Moscow received more than 58 hectares of expensive Moscow land as collateral, whose market value is more than sufficient to cover liability on the loan.

On October 4, the investigator dropped the charges of abuse of authority and charged Borodin with fraud. The investigator said Borodin had stolen Bank of Moscow' money by extending a loan to the Premier Estate private company.

Former Bank of Moscow president Andrei Borodin and his former first deputy Dmitry Akulinin are outside of Russia. They are on the international wanted list. A court sanctioned their arrest in absentia.

Earlier, they were charged with abuse of office within the criminal case over the theft of 13 billion roubles from the Bank of Moscow. The money ended up on the personal account of Yelena Baturina, the wife of former Moscow mayor.

"Borodin, together with Akulinin, abetted by president of the Kuznetsky Most Development private company Boris Shemyakin, director general of the Premier Estate company Svetlana Timonina and a number of unidentified accomplices, stole Bank of Moscow funds, causing a 12.5 billion-rouble damage to the bank," the Interior Ministry’s investigation department said.

Investigators are also probing another criminal case involving Bank of Moscow, over the theft of more than 4 million roubles from settlement accounts of its depositors through the Internet-banking system.