MOSCOW, November 24 (RAPSI) – The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court’s decision to initiate debt restructuring as part of bankruptcy procedure against former Vneshprombank co-owner Georgy Bedzhamov charged with embezzlement, according to court records.

A bankruptcy claim against Bedzhamov has been lodged by VTB24 bank.

In 2016, Bedzhamov was put on the international wanted list on embezzlement charges. Investigators believe that ex-Vneshprombank president Larisa Markus along with her brother Georgy Bedzhamov, who once co-owned the bank, created an organized crime group to siphon money from the bank. The group including Glushakova allegedly granted loans to sub-companies and did not refund money to Vneshprombank. Allegedly, from May 2009 to December 2015, conspirators managed to embezzle about 114 billion rubles.

Markus has been sentenced to 9 years in prison. Later, her sentence was reduced by 6 months.

In March 2016, the Moscow Commercial Court declared Vneshprombank bankrupt. Vneshprombank was one of the top 40 by assets before it lost its license in January of the same year.