MOSCOW, August 3 (RAPSI) - Moscow's Basmanny District Court has frozen bank accounts of ex-chief of Rusnano (formerly Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies) Leonid Melamed over alleged embezzling of 227 million rubles ($3.6 million), Melamed’s lawyer, Ruslan Kozhura, told RAPSI on Monday.

“Upon agreement with investigators, Melamed opened an account and deposited funds sufficient for compensating the damages he allegedly caused,” the lawyer said.

The lawyer explained that as soon as his account was opened, it was blocked, again upon agreement with investigators. “This means that not only are we cooperating with investigators but the investigators are cooperating with us,” Kozhura said and added that his client continues to deny any guilt.

The suspect noted that if the court finds that a crime was committed, the money will be transferred to the victim regardless of Melamed’s personal opinion.

The Investigative Committee claims that Melamed transferred 220 million rubles (about $3.7 million) worth of budget funding, allotted to Rusnanotech, to Alemar Co., which he controlled, in violation of the law. Former top Rusnanotech managers Andrey Malyshev and Svyatoslav Ponurov are also involved in the case. The suspects are pleading not guilty.

Melamed is being held under house arrest until September 1, and Moscow’s Basmanny District Court has ordered the detention of Ponurov.

In 2008, when the deal was being closed, Anatoly Chubais had already replaced Melamed, corporate sources said. They added that Melamed had not inflicted any losses on the company and promised to cooperate with law enforcement agencies.

Earlier, Minister for Open Government Affairs Mikhail Abyzov said the buzz around this case would negatively affect the national business climate and the investigation itself.