MOSCOW, June 14 (RAPSI) - Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky has been officially charged with embezzling over 5.7 billion rubles ($176.2 million) from the Kutuzovskaya Milya cooperative residential construction project's participants, the Interior Ministry reported on Friday.

"As Polonsky failed to arrive to the investigator when he was summoned, charges have been brought against him in absentia in the presence of his attorney," the ministry said.

"The investigators believe Polonsky has stolen 5.7 billion rubles from future property owners who invested in the Kutuzovskaya Milya construction project in Moscow. Over 80 individuals have been recognized as victims of his unlawful actions," the ministry said. According to the Criminal Code, Polonsky faces up to 10 years in prison.

The whereabouts of Polonsky, once one of Russia's wealthiest men, is uncertain. He was until recently on bail in Cambodia, where he was arrested together with two Russian friends, Konstantin Baglay and Alexander Karachinsky, on Dec. 30, 2012 for attacking the six-person crew of a boat ferrying them from a Cambodian island to Sihanoukville.

The three Russians allegedly threatened the crew at knifepoint and locked them in a cabin. Baglay and Karachinsky were released on bail on March 11.  On April 3, Polonsky was released from the Cambodian prison, but was forbidden from leaving the country.