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Putin, business leaders did not discuss criminal cases — spokesman

Putin met with about 60 representatives of the Russian business community in the Kremlin

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. During their meeting on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and business community leaders did not discuss ongoing criminal cases against businessmen in Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

When asked whether any high-profile case against an entrepreneur was mentioned in the conversation, Peskov replied: "No, [there was] no such discussion."

Putin met with representatives of the Russian business community in the Kremlin on Wednesday. More than 60 businessmen, chief executives of private and public companies, banks and associations of entrepreneurs were invited to attend the meeting.

In the run-up to the meeting, Putin told businessmen that the main goal of the meeting was "to meet with you, congratulate on the New Year and thank for joint work." "However, we cannot do without commenting on the results of our joint work in the outgoing year," he added.

Among those invited to the meeting was Mikhail Gutseriyev, a co-owner of a large Russian diversified conglomerate, SAFMAR Industrial and Financial Group. He chose not to answer to journalists’ questions about searches in the company’s offices. Earlier, SAFMAR rejected reports of Gutseriyev being summoned for a police questioning and rumors of searches in his apartments and offices.

One of the most high-profile cases involving members of the Russian business community is the case against Baring Vostok founder Michael Calvey. At the moment, the investigation into embezzlement of 2.5 billion rubles from the Vostochny Bank, also lists as suspects 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.

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