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Baring Vostok’s Calvey believes court is delaying proceedings against him

Instead of investing money in the Russian economy, time is being waisted on this process, Calvey said

Michael Calvey Sergei Karpukhin/TASS

Michael Calvey

© Sergei Karpukhin/TASS

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. Michael Calvey, the founder of the Baring Vostok private equity firm, believes that the Meshchansky court in Moscow is delaying the proceedings against him creating obstacles for investments in the Russian economy.

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Baring Vostok’s Calvey believes actions he is sued for saved Vostochny Bank

Calvey is a defendant in the case of embezzling 2.5 bln rubles of the Vostochny bank's loan funds.

"I have a feeling that process is being unreasonably delayed. Instead of investing money in the Russian economy, we are wasting time on this process," Calvey said at the end of a regular session at the Meshchansky court.

The court on Wednesday interrogated one of the defendants, Philippe Delpal. The meeting lasted two hours and was postponed until March 17.

As representatives of the defense told TASS that the court is now at the initial stage of the hearings, it will have to consider large amounts of evidence from the prosecution and interrogate the defendants.

Speaking after the hearing, Calvey repeatedly pleaded not guilty and expressed his faith in the Russian justice.

"Nevertheless, I believe in the Russian judicial system and I am convinced that sooner or later the court will confirm our innocence. Of course, we would like it to happen sooner than later," Calvey said.

Baring Vostok’s case

On February 13, 2019, Russia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal case into the embezzlement of 2.5 bln rubles ($33.8 mln) from the Vostochny Bank following a complaint by Serzod Yusupov, a minority shareholder in Vostochny Bank, filed with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). Michael Calvey is the key defendant in the case.

According to the investigation, Calvey put together a scheme to embezzle 2.5 bln rubles in the course of lending funds to the First Collection Bureau company in 2015.

On February 15, 2019, law enforcement agencies arrested Calvey and five others: Vagan Abgaryan, a partner at Baring Vostok, Philippe Delpale, an investment partner for the financial industry sector at Baring Vostok; Ivan Zyuzin, Investment Director at Baring Vostok, along with General Director of the First Collection Bureau Maxim Vladimirov and Alexey Kordichev, an advisor to the Management Board of Norvik Bank. 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).

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