27 Aug 2010 19:26

Swiss release $52 mln frozen in 'Aeroflot case'

MOSCOW. Aug 27 (Interfax) - Switzerland has moved to release 53 million Swiss francs ($52 million) frozen in bank accounts during the investigation of what some have called the 'Aeroflot case', says a statement by the country's Federal Department of Justice and Police.

The money has been transferred directly into Aeroflot - Russian Airlines' account in Zurich.

"We confirm that the frozen funds have been put into the company's account," Aeroflot's press secretary, Irina Dannenberg, told Interfax.

The case involved embezzlement of Aeroflot forex earnings by structures controlled by tycoon Boris Berezovsky.

On November 29, 2007, Moscow's Savyolovsky Court sentenced Berezovsky in absentia to six years in jail for stealing almost 215 million rubles worth of Aeroflot forex earnings.