MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. The Kremlin is aware of the arrest of the founder of the Group-IB cybersecurity company Ilya Sachkov, but possesses no details, Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.

"Indeed, we have seen this information in media reports, we have no details," he said. Reporters also mentioned the case of the founder of the Baring Vostok private equity firm Michael Calvey within the context of Sachkov’s arrest.

"There is still no connection between the cases you mentioned, definitely there is no connection," Peskov said. "This (Sachkov’s arrest) has nothing to do with the business and investment climate in the country. You see that the accusations do not relate to the economy, but to high treason," he explained.

The Kremlin has no fears either that after the arrest of the founder of the Group-IB cybersecurity company Ilya Sachkov other IT firms will be afraid of cooperating with foreign and Russian state bodies, according to Peskov. "No, obviously, no," he said when asked about this.

It was reported early on Wednesday that the founder of Group-IB had been arrested for two months in Moscow on suspicion of high treason. Earlier, media outlets reported that law enforcement officials raided the Moscow office of Group-IB on Tuesday. The company’s press service noted that the law enforcement officials left the office in the evening of the same day. The company added that it had no information regarding the reason for the investigation.

Calvey’s case

On February 13, 2019, Russia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal case into the embezzlement of 2.5 bln rubles ($33.6 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 was the key defendant in the case. 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 was 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 the lack of results from the financial investigation. Calvey denied the charges and called the prosecution against him an illegal attempt by the Vostochny Bank’s minority shareholders to solve a corporate dispute.

Calvey was found guilty of embezzling 2.5 billion rubles ($33.6 mln) and handed a suspended sentence of 5.5 years in early August.