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Michael Calvey released from jail, placed under house arrest

As expected, on Friday, the investigation will file a petition to the Basmanny court for the extension of his house arrest until July 14

MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/. Moscow’s Basmanny Court has released Michael Calvey from a pre-trial detention center and placed under house arrest, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom. Calvey, founder of the Baring Vostok equity firm, is accused of 2.5 bln rubles ($37.5 mln) embezzlement.

"The court satisfies the petition of the investigation to elect house arrest as a preventive measure for Calvey," judge Julia Safina read out the ruling.

The court elected house arrest for Calvey until April 13. Calvey will stay in his flat in central Moscow and will not be allowed to use means of communication except for calling emergency services or talking to his lawyers. The lawyers asked the court to allow Calvey to make daily two-hour walks but the court rejected the request.

Calvey was released from custody in the courtroom and taken to a holding cell. From there he will be taken home after he gets familiar with the court’s decision.

On Friday, the investigation will file a petition to the Basmanny court for the extension of his house arrest until July 14.

Baring Vostok’s case

On February 7, Serzod Yusupov, a minority shareholder in Vostochny Bank filed a complaint with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). In addition, Artyom Avetisyan, another Vostochny shareholder, along with the deputy chairman of the bank’s board Konstantin Rogov testified against Michael Calvey.

Russia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal case into the embezzlement of 2.5 bln rubles ($37.5 mln) from the Vostochny Bank on February 13. Michael Calvey is the key defendant in the case. On February 15, the law enforcement agencies arrested Calvey and five others: Vagan Abgaryan, partner at Baring Vostok, Philippe Delpale, an investment partner for the financial industry sector at Baring Vostok, Ivan Zyuzin, Investment Director at Baring Vostok and also General Director of the First Collection Bureau Maxim Vladimirov and Advisor to the Management Board of Norvik Bank, Alexey Kordichev. They are all facing charges under part 4 article 159 of Russia’s Criminal Code (Swindling committed on a large scale by an organized group).

About Baring Vostok

Baring Vostok is one of the largest private equity firms focusing on Russia and the CIS with $3.7 bln in capital. Since 1994, the fund has poured more than $2.4 bln of investments into 70 projects in the areas of financial services, oil and gas, telecommunications and media, and into the consumer sector. Baring Vostok’s projects include CTC Media, Yandex, Avito, Ozon, ER-Telecom, 1C, and Novomet.