MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. Baring Vostok founder Michael Calvey pleads not guilty to charges against him, which were reclassified on Monday, his attorney Dmitry Kletochkin told TASS.
"My defendant rejects all charges, regardless of their wording," he said.
Kletochkin confirmed reports that charges against Calvey had been reclassified but did not elaborate, citing a statement of non-disclosure.
He added that the deadline for completing the investigation will expire in mid-January.
"Either the investigation will be completed in mid-January, or it will have to be closed due to expiry of investigation time limits," the attorney went on.
A TASS source earlier said that charges against Calvey had been "re-qualified … from part 4 of article 159 (fraud on an especially large scale, committed by a group of persons), which is punished with an imprisonment of up to 10 years, to part 4 of article 160 (embezzlement on a particularly large scale, committed by a group of persons) with the maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison."
Calvey’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).Currently, all the defendants in the case are under house arrest.
According to the initial version of the investigation, Calvey and his accomplices put together a scheme, where the "First Collection Bureau", under their control, waived its right to a 59.9% stake in a Luxembourg-based company called the International Financial Technology Group (IFTG), to the Vostochny bank to pay it back for a 2.5 billion-ruble debt. Before the deal, IFTG’s shares were valued at 3 bln rubles. However, the investigation is examining another estimate of 600,000 rubles (according to a Cyprus-based company’s valuation). That said, the Central Bank claimed that the price of these shares was close to zero, the investigator noted. The defense later challenged that appraisal of shares referring to lack of results of the financial expertise. Calvey denies all the charges, describing them as an attempt by minority shareholders to solve a corporate dispute.