MOSCOW, August 18 (RAPSI) – A criminal case against Sergey Yuryev, the president of Moscow's bar association Mezhregion charged with embezzling 1 billion rubles (about $15 million) from the State Air Traffic Management Corporation (ATM) is a rude and unwarranted interference in civil matters, according to a statement of the Federal Chamber of Lawyers.

Investigators do not have complaints against a tender and its results as well as legal services provided by the lawyer. They belive that Yuryev’s bar association won the tender for legal service provision at an allegedly inflated price. However, the initial price was determined by a state commission but not by the defendant, the statement reads.

The Chamber members point charges against the lawyer are an attempt of the revision of a voluntary concluded and already executed civil law agreement.

Investigation into Yuryev was completed in July.

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.

Yuryev pled not guilty. He is in detention.

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.