Russian Prosecutor General's Office endorses bill of indictment against Calvey, other defendants in Baring Vostok case - lawyer
MOSCOW. Oct 28 (Interfax) - The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has endorsed the bill of indictment against Baring Vostok investment fund founder and U.S. businessman Michael Calvey and his colleagues accused of defrauding Vostochny Bank of 2.5 billion rubles, lawyer Sergei Panchenko, who is involved in the criminal proceedings, told Interfax.
"The bill of indictment will be presented to the defendants tomorrow," Panchenko, who serves as the lawyer for former Vostochny Bank CEO Alexei Kordichev, said.
It has not been decided which court will hear the case merits.
The Baring Vostok case defendants have been charged with defrauding Vostochny Bank of 2.5 billion rubles through a non-performing loan received by the First Collection Bureau in December 2015.
According to investigators, the First Collection Bureau reimbursed Vostochny Bank with a stake in Luxembourg-based International Financial Technology Group, but the cost of shares was much smaller than the company's debt.
There are seven defendants in the case, namely Baring Vostok founder and senior partner Calvey, finance industry partner and French citizen Philippe Delpal, partner Vagan Abgryan, investment director Ivan Zyuzin, former general director of the First Collection Bureau Maxim Vladimirov, as well as former Vostochny Bank CEO Kordichev, and former Vostochny Bank investment director Alexander Tsakunov.
None of the defendants have pleaded guilty. According to Calvey, the case stems from a commercial conflict over control of Vostochny Bank and was initiated by Baring Vostok's opponents, bank shareholders Artyom Avetisyan and Sherzod Yusupov.
Vostochny Bank and the First Collection Bureau said on October 28 that they had reached an agreement, as a result of which the bank would get 2.5 billion rubles (the sum of the damage deemed to have been caused by the defendants) and would drop the civil lawsuit lodged earlier within the criminal case against Calvey and the other defendants.