MOSCOW, March 31 (RAPSI) – Gleb Fetisov, former member of Russia's upper house of parliament and former co-owner of My Bank, which lost its license in February, will file an application with the European Court of Human Rights, (ECHR) challenging the businessman's detention, Fetisov's spokesperson Igor Pylayev said.
His defense attorneys will also turn to Russia's Supreme Court to seek the withdrawal of his detention order.
On February 28, Moscow's Basmanny District Court granted the investigators' motion and detained Fetisov. The defense asked to release Fetisov on bail or place him under house arrest. On March 26, the Moscow City Court upheld the decision to detain Fetisov until April 20.
Official spokesman for the Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin said earlier that Fetisov was detained on suspicion of having embezzled more than 6 billion rubles from the bank, and shifted the responsibility to repay his client's deposits to the Deposit Insurance Agency.
The Russian Central Bank revoked My Bank's license on January 31. Insurance payments to the bank's clients have been tentatively assessed at 6.5 billion rubles ($182 million). Fetisov sold his interest in the bank to private individuals who represented the interests of Russian and foreign investors in December 2013.
It was widely reported by Russian media outlets in late February that the Central Bank had filed a request with the Investigative Committee to examine the activity of Fetisov and the other ex-managers of My Bank.
The Central Bank's request mentioned loan agreements that My Bank had signed over the past three years with apparent dummy companies, as well as potentially irretrievable investments in assets and securities.
According to Forbes, Fetisov is also a co-owner of Altimo, a company that inherited Alfa Eco's food and commodities trading assets and now has major holdings in Russia's telecom industry.