MOSCOW, December 30. /TASS/. The Meshchansky Court of Moscow has extended for six months, until June 4, 2021, a preventive measure in the form of prohibition of certain actions for the founder of the Baring Vostok private equity firm Michael Calvey and other defendants in the case of embezzlement of 2.5 billion rubles, lawyer Sergei Panchenko told TASS on Wednesday.
"The Meshchansky court extended the preventive measure in the form of prohibition of certain actions for all the defendants in the case," he said.
On Wednesday, the court held preliminary hearings on the case to resolve procedural issues and to set a date for consideration on the merits.
In November, the Russian Supreme Court changed the measure of restraint for Calvey and six other defendants in the case of a 2.5 billion rubles ($33.5 mln) embezzlement from house arrest to a number of restrictions.
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 ($32.4 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).
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.