MOSCOW, February 2 (RAPSI) – The Moscow Commercial Court has granted a motion of the Vneshprombank seeking to put 3.3 billion rubles (about $59 million) on its creditors’ list as owed to it by a bank’s former co-owner Georgy Bedzhamov, charged with large-scale fraud, RAPSI has learnt in the courtroom.

In November 2017, the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s decision to initiate debt restructuring as part of the bankruptcy procedure launched against Bedzhamov. The bankruptcy claim was lodged by VTB24 bank.

In 2016, Bedzhamov was put on the international wanted list on embezzlement charges. Investigators believe that ex-Vneshprombank president Larisa Markus along with her brother Georgy Bedzhamov, who once co-owned the bank, created an organized crime group to siphon money from the bank. The group including Glushakova allegedly granted loans to sub-companies and did not refund money to Vneshprombank. Allegedly, from May 2009 to December 2015, conspirators managed to embezzle about 114 billion rubles.

In May 2017, Markus was sentenced to 9 years in prison. Later, her sentence was reduced by 6 months.

In March 2016, the Moscow Commercial Court declared Vneshprombank bankrupt. Vneshprombank was one of the top 40 by assets before it lost its license in January of the same year.