MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/. Moscow’s Meshchansky Court issued a guilty verdict to Michael Calvey, founder of the Baring Vostok private equity firm along with the other defendants in a case relating to the embezzlement of 2.5 billion rubles ($34.1 mln), a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.
"Calvey committed embezzlement of property of another on an especially large scale," said judge Anna Sokova, reading the introductory part of the verdict.
The judge will name the punishment for the defendants in the final part of the verdict.
The judge noted that Calvey acted as part of an organized group together with French citizen Philippe Delpalle and five other defendants in the case and committed embezzlement with them according to a plan drawn up in advance.
Baring Vostok case
On February 13, 2019, Russia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal case into the embezzlement of 2.5 bln rubles ($34.1 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 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 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. The defense later challenged that appraisal of shares referring to the lack of results from the financial investigation. Calvey denies the charges and calls the prosecution against him an illegal attempt of the Vostochny bank minority shareholders to solve a corporate dispute.
During the debate of the parties, the state prosecution considered it possible to impose a suspended sentence on all those involved in the criminal case. For Michael Calvey, the prosecutor asked for 6 years, for the Baring Vostok partner Philippe Delpal - 5 years, for the director of the fund for investments Ivan Zyuzin - 5.5 years, for another partner of Baring Vostok Vahan Abgaryan - 5 years, for the former managing director of the investments of the bank Alexander Tsakunov and General Director of the First Collection Bureau Maxim Vladimirov - 4.5 years each, for the former director of the Vostochny bank Alexander Kordichev - 4 years.