MOSCOW, November 12 (RAPSI) – Moscow’s Meshchansky District Court has sentenced Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Grigorishin in absentia to 4 years in jail for evading over 1.4 billion rubles (over 18 million) in taxes, according to the Investigative Committee’s press service.

The court has also granted a 2.5 billion-ruble ($32 million) civil claim filed by tax authorities against the defendant.

Russian investigators claimed that from 2008 to 2010, Grigorishin failed to pay taxes worth 674 million rubles on "PIK Sozidanie", the company he owns. However, the total debt was equal to 916 million rubles  including fines and penalty, according to investigation.

The businessman was put on the international wanted list and arrested in absentia.

In 2015, Forbes ranked Grigorishin as “leading river ship owner in Ukraine” with a $1.1 billion fortune.  According to the magazine, despite the fact that the billionaire was born in Zaporozhye and most of his assets are in Ukraine, he is a Cyprus national and does not have a Ukrainian passport.