MOSCOW, April 30. /TASS/: The Moscow City Court has ruled to extend to extend the term of house arrest for Michael Calvey, founder of the Baring Vostok private equity firm, who is accused of embezzlement, until August 13, an official with the court’s press service told TASS.
"By the request of the investigation, the term of house arrest for Michael Calvey has been extended until August 13," the official said.
The court also extended the preventive measures for 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.
The investigation of the case has been completed. All the defendants in the case have been accused of embezzlement committed on a large scale by an organized group (part 4 article 160 of the Russian Criminal Code). The accused persons and their lawyers are studying the files of the case.
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, law enforcement agencies arrested Calvey and five others: Vagan Abgaryan, Philippe Delpale, Ivan Zyuzin, Maxim Vladimirov and Alexey Kordichev. They are all facing charges under part 4 article 159 of Russia’s Criminal Code (fraud committed on a large scale by an organized group).
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 lack of results of the financial expertise. Calvey denies all the charges and says that his prosecution is an illegal attempt of the Vostochny bank’s minority shareholders to resolve a corporate dispute.
