MOSCOW, July 27 (RAPSI) – Prosecutors filed an appeal against release of Russian businessman Sergey Polonsky, who had been found guilty of large-scale embezzlement, press service of Moscow’s Presnensky District Court told RAPSI on Thursday.

On July 12, the court sentenced Polonsky to 5 years in prison but freed him from jail in the courtroom because the statute of limitation had expired.

Two other defendants, Alexander Paperno, Head of the Mirax Group Finance Department, and Alexey Pronyakin, CEO of Avanta company, were sentenced to 3 and 2 years behind bars respectively. They were also released from punishment.

According to investigators, Polonsky, aided by Paperno and Pronyakin, defrauded participants of shared construction apartment projects of 2.6 billion rubles ($43 million at the current exchange rate), thus committing a serious crime.

Polonsky, who is the founder of Potok (formerly Mirax Group), a diversified corporation that has been involved in several large development projects, is deemed to cause damages in amount of 2.4 billion rubles regarding Kutuzov Mile and 256 million rubles with regard to Rublyovskaya Riviera development projects.

Other projects Polonsky has been involved in include Federation Tower in the Moscow International Business Center, office buildings Mirax Plaza, Poklonnaya 11 and Admiral, condominium developments Mirax Park, Golden Keys 1 and 2, and the Well House.

In May 2015, the Cambodian authorities, where Polonsky had been avoiding Russian prosecution, extradited him to Russia.