MOSCOW, April 12 - RAPSI. Investigators have charged Vsevolod Glukhovtsev, vice president of Royal Bank of Scotland, with fraud, Interior Ministry spokesperson Roman Mikhailov told RIA Novosti on Friday.

A face-to-face confrontation is presently underway between Glukhovtsev and the complainants, he said. On Saturday, investigators will ask the court to take Glukhovtsev into custody.

Glukhovtsev was arrested on suspicion of stealing some 300 million rubles. His workplace has not been specified officially, but a source earlier told the Prime business news agency that he worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland's Russian subsidiary.

According to the police, Glukhovtsev successfully coaxed investors into providing the funds by claiming to be involved in real property and construction in Montenegro.
Six complainants have been identified and more will likely come forward, a police source told RIA Novosti.

To implement his schemes, Glukhovtsev is alleged to have introduced himself as an influential banker, the co-owner of a lending institution, a major financier, the co-owner of numerous casinos in Montenegro, the owner of a hotel chain on the Adriatic coast, an expert in property investment for Russians, and an author.

The victims are believed to have transferred the money to accounts belonging to Montenegrin firms controlled by Glukhovtsev, who embezzled the funds. His "clients" received fake reports that they owned businesses or property outside Russia. According to the police, his investors never received dividends, while the assets that they thought they owned were nonexistent or assigned to third parties.