PARIS, March 14 - RAPSI. Neuchatel prosecutor Pierre Aubert has lifted the house arrest order for Bulat Chagaev, the owner of bankrupt football club Neuchatel Xamax, and he is now free to leave Switzerland, the local media wrote on Wednesday.

Chagaev bought Neuchatel Xamax hours after the club said it would file for bankruptcy.

Geneva prosecutors arrested him on January 26, 2012 to prevent "financial mismanagement." The case was later transferred to Neuchatel and Chagaev was moved to a prison in La Chaux-de-Fonds on the border with France. In May 2012 the Neuchatel prosecutor's office granted Chagaev's defense attorneys motion to release him on bail as long as he pledged to be available for questioning from the investigators until the beginning of the trial.

According to Swiss radio and television corporation RTS website, the prosecutor has sent a letter to Chagaev's attorney to inform him that the businessman no longer needs to report to police twice a week and is free to leave the country.

"Bulat Chagaev has demonstrated his interest in seeing the trial completed, and we believe the risk of him fleeing the country less than we imagined before," Mr. Aubert said.

Chagaev bought Neuchatel Xamax in May 2011. In November that year, the Swiss Prosecutor's Office charged him with forgery. Prior to these charges, Swiss media reported that the prosecutor's office suspected the businessman of forging financial documents of the Bank of America. Prosecutors allege that Chagaev may have submitted false evidence of having $35 million on his bank account to avoid Xamax's bankruptcy procedure. Chagaev is also suspected of money laundering and bad business practices.

Xamax filed for bankruptcy after the Swiss Football League's Disciplinary Committee revoked its license on January 18, 2011.