MOSCOW, October 8 (RAPSI) – Criminal cases opened against former Uralkali CEO Vladislav Baumgertner in Belarus and Russia have been consolidated into one, Moscow's Basmanny District Court was told during a hearing on Wednesday. 

The Basmanny District Court in Moscow also upheld an investigators’ decision to withhold the results of an examination of the audio tapes of conversations allegedly held by Uralkali ex-head Vladislav Baumgertner, who has been charged with abuse of power, from his defense team, RAPSI reports from the court.

The forensic examination of audio tapes is designed, in part, to determine the speakers’ identity and to literally transcribe the recorded conversation.

Baumgertner was detained in Belarus in August 2013 in a criminal case launched after a probe into an alleged abuse of power case that led to serious damage to the public interests of Belarus and to the state-run Belarusian potash fertilizer producer, Belaruskali.

The charges followed a July decision by Uralkali, the world’s largest potash producer, to stop selling its output via the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC). Both Uralkali and Belaruskali previously sold its products via BPC, and both accused each other of also using other traders.

In late November 2013, Baumgertner was extradited to Moscow and placed under house arrest. He was eventually released on RUR 15 million ($377,450) bail on September 1, 2014.