MOSCOW, June 29 (RAPSI) - Former Trust Bank CFO Yevgeny Romakov has been officially charged with multibillion-ruble embezzlement, RIA Novosti reported Monday citing spokesperson for Russia’s Interior Ministry, Yelena Alekseyeva.
The Tverskoy District Court in Moscow ordered on Friday the detention of Romakov until August 24.
Earlier, fraud charges were also brought against the former deputy board chairman of the bank, Oleg Dikusar. The defendants could face up to ten years in prison.
Investigators claim that from 2012 to 2014, Romakov, Dikusar, and several unidentified persons allegedly forged loan agreements for over 7 billion rubles ($128 million) with several Cyprus-based companies, and for over $118 million with companies registered in other jurisdictions.
The money was presumably transferred to the accounts of individuals, including some living abroad, that were controlled by the suspects.
Two criminal cases were opened against the suspects in April and May, which were later merged into a single case.
Russia’s Deposit Insurance Agency sustained large damages because it was required to compensate the embezzled funds to defrauded investors.
Midsized lender Trust Bank reported losses of 18.8 billion rubles ($343 million) in 2014 amid a financial crisis. As of December 1, 2014, its assets were estimated at over 290 billion rubles ($5.3 billion).
The Central Bank estimated that the bank’s debts exceeded the value of its assets by 67.8 billion rubles ($1.2billion).