ST. PETERSBURG, October 25 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – Former Russian senator and owner of Liviz liquor producer Alexander Sabadash, who had been earlier convicted of attempted embezzlement, was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for stealing 190 million rubles ($3.3 million) from Bank Tavrichesky, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.

Accomplices of Sabadash, the bank’s chairman Sergey Somov and his deputy Dmitry Garkusha, have been sentenced to 7 years in prison each. Additionally, all the defendants were fined 100,000 rubles ($1,700) each, the prosecutor’s office told RAPSI.

According to case papers, from June to December 2013, Somov, Garkusha and Sabadash stole 190 million rubles by signing credit contracts in violation of a procedure of approval and processing of loans established in the bank. The defendants transferred the embezzled money to accounts of foreign companies controlled by Sabadash.

In 2015, Sabadash received a 6-year prison sentence for attempted embezzlement of 1.8 billion rubles (about $32 million) involving Arkhangelsk-based developer ES-Kontaktstroy and JSC Vyborgskaya Cellulose. Sabadash, believed to be the owner of Vyborgskaya Cellulose, has organized a fraudulent VAT refund scheme, according to investigators.

Sabadash was stripped of his seat in the parliament’s upper house, the Federation Council, in 2006 after he was accused of carrying out business activities, which senators are forbidden to do.