MOSCOW, March 25 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court on Wednesday extended detention of ex-Minister for Open Government affairs Mikhail Abyzov charged with the 4 billion-ruble ($64 million) embezzlement until June 25, the court’s press service told RAPSI.

The court also ordered stay in detention for two other defendants, ex-CEO of RU-COM company Nikolay Stepanov and ex-head of Sibeko company Alexander Pelipasov.

As of today, the defendants have been held in detention for more than a year.

The former government minister is charged with organizing a criminal group and embezzling 4 billion rubles ($62 million) with co-conspirators from two energy companies supplying electricity to Siberia.

Investigators claim that the alleged crimes were committed between April 2011 and November 2014 while the alleged embezzled sum was taken out of the country.

They were arrested in March 2019.