MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. Moscow’s Basmanny Court has satisfied the petition of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and prolonged the house arrest of Michael Calvey, the founder of the Baring Vostok private equity firm, for three months, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.
Calvey is accused of embezzling 2.5 billion rubles ($37.5 mln).
"[The court] hereby extends the term of house arrest for the accused [Michael] Calvey for three months, until July 14, 2019," Judge Natalia Dudar declared, reading out the ruling.
On Thursday, the Basmanny Court released Calvey from the detention center and placed him under house arrest. Under the court’s ruling, Calvey will stay in his apartment in downtown Moscow and will not be allowed to use any means of communication except for calling emergency services or talking to his lawyers. His attorneys asked the court to allow Calvey to take daily two-hour walks but the court rejected their request. Calvey is allowed to leave his apartment only upon a written permit from the investigator.
On Thursday, the court also released another defendant in the case, former head of the Vostochny Bank Alexei Kordichev, who pleaded guilty and gave testimony regarding other defendants. He was also placed under house arrest.
Positions of the parties
Before the proceedings started, the lawyers had asked the court to release their client on his own recognizance. In response, a representative of the Investigative Committee joked, asking them to pay a deposit of 2.5 bln rubles (the amount that the investor is accused of embezzling) for Calvey.
During the trial, the representative of the Investigative Committee requested to prolong the term of house arrest, since the circumstances for extending the preventive measure did not change.
"He might get into a consular car, and we will never see him again," the representative of the Investigative Committee stated in reply to the request of Calvey’s lawyers. The representative of the injured party and the prosecutor supported the investigation’s petition.
According to Calvey, any preventive measure that is not related to isolation from society is acceptable to him. "I agree to house arrest, I am ready to comply with all of its terms, but there are questions with prohibitions," the accused said.
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, 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 (fraud 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.