MOSCOW, November 9 (RAPSI, Oleg Sivozhelezov) – Deputy Transport Minister Valery Okulov testified on Wednesday in Moscow's Savelovsky District Court in case over embezzlement of about $122.5 million from Aeroflot in the 1990s, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

Nikolay Glushkov, a former first deputy director of Aeroflot, stands accused of conspiring with businessman Boris Berezovsky and convincing Aeroflot's general director Yevgeny Shaposhnikov to carry out financial restructuring. 

Investigators claim that the loans provided for the alleged restructuring were embezzled. The estimated cost of the alleged damage is $122.5 million. 

Glushkov, who had left for England, was charged in absentia.

Okulov was a board member of Aeroflot before becoming Deputy Transport Minister in April 2009. 

He confirmed in court that he was acquainted with Glushkov. However, Okulov said that he knew nothing about Berezovsky’s interest in promotion of Glushkov to the position of the first deputy director of Aeroflot.

Berezovsky left Russia in 2000, soon after criminal proceedings were launched against him. He never returned to his homeland and was granted political asylum in the UK in 2003. He was found dead in his Berkshire home in March 2013.