MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. The decision of the court in the case of the founder of the investment fund Baring Vostok Michael Calvey will not have a major impact on the Russian business community, Russian Presidential Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
The main aspect for Russia is systemic measures to ensure the investment attractiveness of the country, Peskov explained. "A case taken separately cannot have a major influence," he said, when answering a relevant question. "You know that the main thing is the systemic measures that are taken to increase the country's investment attractiveness and to maintain that attractiveness. This is a much more important process," Peskov added.
At the same time, the Kremlin is well aware that foreign business is very closely watching the Calvey case, Peskov said. "Foreign entrepreneurs, foreign big business have repeatedly met with the head of our state and brought up the subject of Calvey. Each time the President gave explanations about the impossibility of interfering in court cases. Let's hope that the court's decision will not take long and that the situation will be resolved," said Peskov.
Earlier on Monday, it was announced that the Moscow Meshchansky Court will announce Calvey's verdict on August 2, 2021.
The criminal case on embezzlement of 2.5 bln rubles from Vostochny bank, of which Calvey was the main defendant, was initiated by the RF IC on February 13, 2019, based on the statement by a member of the bank's board of directors Sherzod Yusupov, with which he appealed to the FSB of Russia. According to the investigation, Calvey organized a scheme, as a result of which a loan of 2.5 bln rubles, received by the First Collection Bureau (PKB) from Vostochny in 2015, was offset by the assignment of shares.
According to investigators, Calvey misled the bank's Board of Directors regarding the value of PKB shares valued at the debt at a real value of 600,000 rubles, which led to the actual theft of these funds. The defense disputed such an appraisal of the shares, citing the lack of the results of a financial examination by the investigation. Michael Calvey denies guilt and calls the criminal prosecution an illegal attempt by Vostochny's minorities to resolve a corporate dispute.