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Moscow City Court rules to keep Michael Calvey under house arrest until October 13

"The court rejected the defense’s complaint about the extension of the house arrest to Michael Calvey," according to the official

© REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

MOSCOW, August 15. /TASS/. The Moscow City Court declared the extension of house arrest of Baring Vostok private equity firm’s founder Michael Calvey until October 13 as lawful, an official with the court told TASS on Thursday.

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"The court rejected the defense’s complaint about the extension of the house arrest to Michael Calvey," the official said.

At the same time, the court lifted the restriction on communication for Calvey allowing him to communicate with any people, except those related to his criminal case.

"He is not allowed to contact only with the persons related to his criminal case. Previously, he was not allowed to communicate with anyone. Walks are still forbidden," the official said.

The defense asked the court to release Calvey on bail in the amount of 5 mln rubles ($75,640).

Another defendant in the case

Earlier on Thursday, the court transferred Philippe Delpale, one of the defendants in the Baring Vostok case, from the pre-trial detention center to house arrest.

Delpale will be under house arrest until October 13. He is not allowed to communicate with other accused, witnesses and victims, as well as to use the telephone and other means of communication, except in cases of emergency calls.

Baring Vostok’s case

On February 13, Russia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal case into the embezzlement of 2.5 bln rubles ($37.5 mln) from the Vostochny Bank. US citizen and founder of the Baring Vostok private equity firm 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, Alexei 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).

By now, all of them have been placed under house arrest.

According to 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 bln-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.

Calvey rejected all charges and accused Yusupov and Avetisyan of a conjuring up bogus charges caused by a "corporate conflict" in the bank.

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