MOSCOW, August 28 (RAPSI) – The Prosecutor General’s Office has returned the embezzlement case against Gleb Fetisov, former member of the upper house of parliament and former owner of My Bank, to the Investigative Committee, Kommersant newspaper reported on Friday.
The Prosecutor General’s Office has refused to approve the Investigative Committee’s indictment, saying that the investigation involved violations in the criminal procedure.
“We filed complaints against the Investigative Committee’s actions, but we haven’t heard any decision on this or the arguments of the prosecutors’ office, which has sent the case back for further investigation,” Kommersant writes, citing Samvel Karakhanyan, an attorney for Fetisov.
On August 24, Fetisov was released from house arrest.
In late February 2014, Gleb Fetisov, who is ranked by Forbes as one of Russia’s richest men with a personal wealth of $1.4 billion, was arrested for embezzling funds from My Bank, which he owned, and for failing to honor 6.5 billion rubles (over $96mln) worth of commitments to the bank’s clients.
In November 2013, Fetisov decided to sell his 90 percent stake in the bank.
The Central Bank of Russia revoked My Bank’s license in January 2014 for failing to honor its credit obligations and for falsifying reports. The Central Bank also filed a request with the Investigative Committee for an inquiry into the business activities of Fetisov and a number of former managers at the bank.
The request mentioned loan agreements that My Bank had signed over the past three years with alleged dummy companies, as well as potentially irretrievable investments in assets and securities.
The investigation has been completed. Fetisov pleaded not guilty. However, he paid the Deposit Insurance Agency over 14 billion rubles (about $210mln) claiming it was enough to repay the debts to the bank’s clients.