MOSCOW, April 16 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court on Thursday again extended detention of Sergey Yuryev, the president of Moscow's bar association Mezhregion charged with embezzling 1 billion rubles (over $15 million) from the State Air Traffic Management Corporation (ATM), RAPSI was told in the court’s press office.

The defendant will remain detained until June 29 as well as anoter defendant, ex-head of the Federal Air Transport Agency’s (Rosaviatsiya) legal department Vladimir Mnishko.

Members of the Federal Chamber of Lawyers’ Council and heads of several regional bar associations have repeatedly stood bond for Yuryev. He is an honest and reputable attorney, the Chamber’s statement reads. One of the lawyer’s bail bondsmen was Chair of the Federal Chamber of Lawyer Yury Pilipenko.

They proposed a 1-million-ruble bail for Yuryev, but their motion was rejected.

Investigators claim that in 2008, the State ATM Corporation signed a contract for legal services with one of the bar associations. The bar chairman working connections in the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) submitted a conclusion with a write-up value of legal services for the completion of tender documentation. The signed agreement has been repeatedly prolonged in violation of the established procedure.

The contract overpricing resulted in unjust receipt of more than 1 billion rubles by the bar association from 2008 to 2018, investigators claim.