MOSCOW, December 31 (RAPSI) – The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals has dismissed an appeal of Vneshprombank former co-owner Georgy Bedzhamov, charged with large-scale embezzlement, challenging the sale of his house and two land plots at the starting price of 103.5 million rubles (about $1.7 million).

According to court records, the banker has appealed against a decision of the Moscow Commercial Court of October 23.

This July, the Moscow Commercial Court extended for 6 months the asset sales procedure; a motion filed by VTB24 bank to declare Bedzhamov bankrupt was granted in July 2018.

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 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.