MOSCOW, April 10. /TASS/. The Investigative Committee of Russia is asking the court to change the measure of restraint for founder of the Baring Vostok private equity firm Michael Calvey from detention on remand to house arrest, the press service of the Basmanny Court told TASS.

"The Basmanny court received a petition from the investigating authorities to change the measure of restraint for Calvey from detention on remand to house arrest," the court’s spokeswoman Yunona Tsareva said.

The court session is scheduled for April 11 at 13:00 Moscow time.

The Investigative Committee also asked house arrest for ex-chairman of the Vostochny bank Alexei Kordichev.

Earlier, Russian business ombudsman Boris Titov and the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev also filed petitions to the court asking to mitigate the measure of restraint for Michael Calvey.

Baring Vostok’s case

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