MOSCOW, June 19 (RAPSI) – Russia’s Investigative Committee has finished its investigation into a 5 billion-ruble fraud case against Alexander Gitelson, former owner of the Bank of East European Finance Corporation (EEFC Bank, St. Petersburg) and former board chairman of Inkasbank, said the committee’s official spokesman, Vladimir Markin.

According to the Investigative Committee, from May 2006 to May 2007, Alexander Gitelson established control over several banks, including Russian Vyborg Bank and Urals Trust Bank, and Serbian Bank EEFC Banja Luka. From January to April 2007, 5 billion rubles (about $150 million) were transferred to Gitelson’s accounts with EEFC from the Banja Luka bank. Investigators allege that Gitelson then illegally withdrew over 2.5 billion rubles ($73 million) from EEFC Bank.

Moreover, according to the St. Petersburg Investigative Department, Gitelson and former Inkasbank CEO Tatyana Lebedeva are suspected of embezzling over 1.9 billion rubles ($55 million) that the Leningrad Region government’s finance committee deposited with Inkasbank from May 2006 to May 2007. “The investigators have gathered enough evidence to move for indictment,” Markin said.

Gitelson was arrested in Austria in April 2013. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office sent an extradition request, saying that Gitelson was sentenced to five years in prison in absentia. Austria extradited the former banker in December 2013.