ST. PETERSBURG, October 11 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – Investigators have arrested Dmity Kostygin, a co-owner of Russian Internet retailer Ulmart, on suspicion of large-scale credit fraud, his lawyer Konstantin Dobrynin told RAPSI on Wednesday.

Kostygin pleads not guilty, the attorney said.

Searches were conducted at Kostygin’s apartment in St. Petersburg. According to the lawyer, investigative activities are connected with the application by Sberbank of Russia. In April 2016, the bank provided a 1-billion-ruble credit ($17.3 million at the current exchange rate) to Ulmart. However, the company stopped making payments towards the loan.

In September, the Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region dismissed a petition of Ulmart seeking to invalidate its non-revolving credit facility agreement worth over 1 billion with Sberbank.

Ulmart group of companies is the largest Russian private Internet holding focusing on e-commerce segment. The company’s distribution network consists of over 400 sales outlets across more than 240 Russian cities and towns.