MOSCOW, November 23 (RAPSI) – Russia will seek the extradition from Ukraine of former Trust Bank owner Ilya Yurov, who was arrested in absentia on embezzlement charges, Prosecutor General’s Office reported Wednesday.

The Interpol National Central Bureau (NCB) for Ukraine informed Prosecutor General’s Office that Yurov had been arrested at Boryspil International airport outside Kiev, Ukraine, the statement reads.

In late December 2014, the Central Bank of Russia said it would provide Trust Bank with up to 30 billion roubles ($530 million) to stop it going bankrupt. At the time the bank was placed under temporary supervision of the Deposit Insurance Agency it was on the list of top 30 Russian banks. 

The financial rehabilitation of Trust Bank was led by FC Otkritie Bank, part of Otkritie Holding JSC. As a result, Trust Bank now operates as a subsidiary of Otkritie Holding.

On December 17, 2015, Moscow's Tverskoy District Court issued an arrest warrant in absentia for Yurov and two other former owners of the bank, Nikolay Fetisov and Sergey Belyaev, implicated in a large scale embezzlement case. As reported earlier, they allegedly concluded sham credit contracts with companies registered in Cyprus and then transferred funds to accounts controlled by Trust Bank ex-owners.

In February 2016, Trust Bank lodged a lawsuit with the London High Court seeking $830 million in damages from its Yurov, Fetisov and Belyaev.

The claim was filed following a court decision to freeze assets belonging to ex-shareholders. The ruling was delivered on the grounds that companies connected with the defendants obtained credits amounting to $1 billion providing security worth nearly $150 million, according to the statement of Otkritie Holding.

These loans were serviced prior to reorganization of Trust Bank in 2014. 

Before lodging of the claim, in January, Trust Bank turned to the London High Court seeking to freeze accounts of ex-owners and suspend a deal stipulating free divestment of assets priced at $100 million, Otkritie Holding’s press service said.

In May, Yurov sought for reversal of the assets freeze. However, this motion was dismissed.