MOSCOW, January 17 (RAPSI) – The Moscow Tagansky District Court is to hear a criminal case against ex-Chairman of the board of directors of Kazakh BTA Bank Mukhtar Ablyazov, charged with embezzlement of over 58 billion rubles (about $950 million) of the bank’s controlled structure, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

This Friday, the court had to adjourn the hearings due to the absence of the businessman’s representative.

Among other defendants in the case are ex-president of the same bank Roman Solodchenko, as well as a number of other former BTA Bank employees, who currently reside in Europe and whose extradition is sought not only by Russia, but also by Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

The Moscow court is to hear the case in absentia.

According to investigators, Ablyazov has developed several complex and complicated schemes aimed to finance investment projects in Russia, which permitted him to systematically embezzle the Kazakh bank’s funds in especially large amounts.

The case materials make more than 400 volumes. Ablyazov stands charged with 9 instances of serious fraud, 3 instances of money laundering, abuse of office, and causing especially large damages by way of fraudulent misrepresentation carried out by an organized group.

In Kazakhstan, Ablyazov was sentenced to 20 years in prison in absentia for a $7 billion embezzlement and organizing a criminal gang in 2017; last year he was also sentenced for life for organization of a contract murder.