MOSCOW, May 6 (RAPSI) - Interior Ministry investigators have opened a criminal case on the alleged embezzlement of over 70 billion rubles ($1.4 bln) from Mosoblbank, part of SMP-Bank, Kommersant reports Wednesday.

The case is based on the regular thefts of large sums of money belonging to Mosoblbank customers by unidentified individuals, according to the newspaper.

The Interior Ministry found that the thefts occurred between January 1, 2012 and May 19, 2014 when bank management decided to reorganize.

The unidentified suspects used “commercial organizations established for this particular purpose and reporting strictly to them.” The organizations were part of the Republican Financial Corporation (RFC) and carried out false transactions with the bank’s customer accounts that were masked as business operations. As a result, the funds were transferred outside Mosoblbank and either cashed or transferred to the accounts of RFC affiliates. Eventually, Mosoblbank lost roughly 70 billion rubles ($1.4 bln).

Kommersant reports that charges could be brought against Andrzej Malchevsky, Mosoblbank founder and president of the National Saint Trifon Fund for Revival of Traditions, and his son, the former co-owner of the bank, Alexander Malchevsky. The newspaper also notes that they both had a share in RFC and Alexander Malchevsky was the president.

As earlier reported, the first theft case for 580 million rubles ($11.6 mln) was opened last year against Viktor Yanin who owned 30% of the bank.