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Baring Vostok hopes Michael Calvey will be transferred to house arrest

The firm’s management hopes that similar applications will be made regarding Michael and ex-CEO of the Vostochny Bank Alexei Kordichev's four colleagues

MOSCOW, April 10. /TASS/. Baring Vostok welcomes the application made by Russia’s Investigative Committee for Michael Calvey, founder of Baring Vostok and ex-CEO of the Vostochny Bank Alexei Kordichev to be transferred to house arrest, the press service of the equity firm reported on Wednesday.

"Baring Vostok welcomes the applications made by the Investigative Committee for Michael Calvey and Alexey Kordichev to be transferred to house arrest, and hopes that the court will give due consideration to the applications," according to the statement.

The firm’s management hopes that similar applications will be made regarding Michael and Alexey's four colleagues, the press service said.

"We firmly believe that prison detention is an excessive measure in the context of this case, which at its core is an exclusively commercial dispute and should be considered within a legal arbitration framework. We believe that the court will establish the truth and find our colleagues not guilty," the press service said.

Baring Vostok’s case

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.

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