MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/. Moscow City Court has prolonged the house arrest of Michael Calvey, the founder of the Baring Vostok private equity firm until May 13, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.

"[The court] hereby satisfies the petition of the investigation and extends the term of house arrest for the accused [Michael] Calvey for three months, until May 13," Judge Andrei Rasnovsky declared, reading out the ruling.

By the same ruling the court extended the house arrest of Baring Vostok’s partner Philippe Delpale.

The defense offered 25 mln rubles ($389,849) of bail for Calvey and Delpale. The defendants continue to plead not guilty and declare their intention to seek acquittal in court.

The investigator told the court that the defendants were studying the case file and there is a risk that they can escape on this stage of investigation.

"Defendant Calvey has got acquainted with 17 volumes of the case out of 85. The investigation believes that the term until May 13 is necessary to complete this procedure," the representative of the Investigative Committee explained.

The court did not allow Delpale and Calvey to take daily walks the defense had applied for earlier.

On Monday, the Moscow City Court also extended the house arrest to another person involved in the case, former director of Vostochny Bank Alexei Kordichev, until May 13.

The court’s decisions have not yet entered into force; they can be appealed to the court of appeal.

Baring Vostok’s case

On February 7, 2019, 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, 2019. Michael Calvey is the key defendant in the case. On February 15, 2019, 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.