MOSCOW, March 27 (RAPSI) – Moscow’s Meshchansky District Court extended detention of Sergey Yuryev, the president of Moscow's bar association Mezhregion charged with embezzling 1 billion rubles (over $15 million) from the State Air Traffic Management Corporation (ATM) until April 17, RAPSI was told Friday in the Federal Chamber of Lawyers.

Members of the Federal Chamber of Lawyers’ Council and heads of several regional bar associations have repeatedly stood bond for Yuryev. He is an honest and reputable attorney, the Chamber’s statement reads. One of the lawyer’s bail bondsmen was Chair of the Federal Chamber of Lawyer Yury Pilipenko.

They proposed a 1-million-ruble bail for Yuryev, but their motion was rejected.

Investigators claim that in 2008, the State ATM Corporation signed a contract for legal services with one of the bar associations. The bar chairman working connections in the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) submitted a conclusion with a write-up value of legal services for the completion of tender documentation. The signed agreement has been repeatedly prolonged in violation of the established procedure.

The contract overpricing resulted in unjust receipt of more than 1 billion rubles by the bar association from 2008 to 2018, investigators claim.

A Rosaviatsiya employee involved in the case has been arrested and detained as well.