MOSCOW, October 23 - RAPSI. The Bank of Moscow is preparing case materials on the embezzlement of over 85 billion rubles ($2.72 billion) by its former management, the bank told the Prime business news agency on Tuesday.
A case was launched against the bank's former officials in late 2010.
Former Bank of Moscow head Andrei Borodin and his deputy Dmitry Akulinin were accused of stealing 12.76 billion rubles ($409.95 million) from the Moscow city budget.
The Bank of Moscow allocated the amount to the Premier Estate company, which used the funds in 2009 to buy a 58 hectare land plot in Moscow from the Ramenskaya trade house owned by Yelena Baturina, Russia's richest woman and the wife of former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.
The bank sold additional shares worth 15 billion rubles ($481.92 million) before granting the loan. The shares were purchased by the Moscow City Hall as a major shareholder.
Investigators believe that the Bank of Moscow executives knew the pledge information provided to Premier Estate was false, although the pledge was designed to act as security for the loan.
However, the bank said they confused its management by fraudulently assessing the credit risk.
Another case was initiated against Borodin and Akulinin last winter for the embezzlement of over 6.7 billion rubles ($215.25 million). Additionally, a case for the theft of 540 million rubles ($17.34 million) from the bank is also in progress. The suspects' names have not been disclosed.
"During the active work of the internal control and security services, information on the unlawful actions of the bank's former management is being accumulated and analyzed," the bank said. "The materials are being prepared to be further submitted to law enforcement authorities to initiate criminal cases on the embezzlement of another 85.3 billion rubles ($2.73 billion).
"The bank added that it has submitted 53 applications to the Interior Ministry's investigative units since April 2011 on the 136 billion rubles ($4.36 billion) in losses that it has incurred.
