ST. PETERSBURG, November 10 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) - Former Russian senator and owner of Liviz liquor producer Alexander Sabadash has filed an appeal against his 8.5-year prison sentence for embezzling 190 million rubles ($3.3 million) from Bank Tavrichesky, according to the press service of St. Petersburg courts.

The bank’s chairman Sergey Somov and his deputy Dmitry Garkusha, who had been given 7 years in prison each in this case, also appealed the sentence. The defendants had asked the St. Petersburg City Court to acquit them, the press service told RAPSI on Friday.

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.