MOSCOW, June 18 (RAPSI) – The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow on Thursday ordered the detention until August 16 of Mosoblbank founder Andrzej Malchevsky and Yulia Zedina, former Deputy Chair of the bank’s Board, who have been charged with the embezzlement of 70 billion rubles ($1.3 bln), RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

According to the Interior Ministry, Mosoblbank’s former owner and several other employees carried out fraudulent transactions with personal and corporate accounts. The police claim they misled the staff of the Central Bank by providing false reports that did not include individuals’ accounts on the bank balance sheet and used them at their own discretion.

As a result, Mosoblbank caused damage totaling at least 70 billion rubles ($1.3 billion), by Interior Ministry estimates.

At the hearing, investigator Alla Grozan noted that Zedina played a large role in the crime.

She claimed that initially, Zedina denied her involvement in the embezzlement. However, Zedina later admitted that she was aware that her colleagues were discussing writing money off customer accounts.

The defendant’s lawyer, Dmitry Roshchin, announced that Zedina never pled guilty.