MOSCOW, August 5 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court has upheld a lower court’s order to destroy over 3,200 bottles of fine spirits which are evidentiary items in a new case against Forum Holding CEO Dmitry Mikhalchenko convicted of alcohol trafficking, according to court records.

The court has therefore dismissed an appeal against the ruling of Moscow’s Basmanny District Court. The alcohol destruction is to be executed by the Federal Service for the Regulation of the Alcohol Market.

In January 2019, the businessman was detained on new charges of embezzlement and organizing a criminal group.

Earlier, in December 2018, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow found Mikhalchenko guilty of alcohol smuggling and sentenced him to 4 years and 7 months in prison. However, the term is to expire on April 19.

Two other defendants in the alcohol smuggling case, Boris Korevsky and Alexey Mishchenko, were also convicted. Korevsky was given 5 years behind bars, Mishchenko received a 3-year suspended sentence.

Mikhalchenko was arrested and detained in late March 2016. Investigators claimed that he had organized trafficking of alcoholic products from countries of the European Union. According to the prosecution, in 2015, the products were bought in European shops, collected in the port of Hamburg and then smuggled into Russia. The caused damage was estimated at more than 61 million rubles (about $1 million).

Forum Holding Company established in 2011 is one of the largest multibusiness companies in Saint-Petersburg.

The company has united several dozens of the city’s enterprises and organizations. Forum Holding consists of industrial enterprises, such as "Spinning Mill named after S.M. Kirov", the oldest textile industry enterprise in Russia, "Izmeron" factory, one of technological leaders of Russia’s downhole equipment market, according to the company’s website.