Business ombudsman thinks Orient Express Bank may fall

MOSCOW, Jul 3 (PRIME) -- It is necessary to keep Orient Express Bank afloat, but chances are it may fall, Russian business ombudsman Boris Titov told reporters on Wednesday.

“We need to keep (Orient Express) Bank today. Control over the bank was passed to (Artyom) Avetisyan and his group (Finvision), but no one has cancelled the order of the central bank to form additional assets. You should understand that the group has no money to inject into the bank. Everyone is worried that the bank may not survive,” he said.

In February, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow arrested businessman Michael Calvey, founder of Baring Vostok, and five other defendants for two months over alleged 2.5 billion ruble embezzlement from Orient Express Bank. In April, Calvey was released under house arrest, and it was prolonged until July 14.

Investigators believe that Calvey, his partner Phillippe Delpal, and several other unidentified managers convinced shareholders of Orient Express Bank to vote for a compensation agreement to receive a 59.9% in International Financial Technology Group instead of money. The shares were valued at 3 billion rubles under the deal, while their real value amounted to 600,000 rubles.

On May 17, the Arbitration Court of the Amur Region ordered Evison Holdings Limited, which represents interests of fund Baring Vostok, to fulfill a 2016 call option and to sell the 9.99% stake in Orient Express Bank to Avetisyan’s Finvision Holdings. Following the option, Baring’s stake in the bank shrank to 41.63%, while Avetisyan’s stake rose to 42.01%.

(63.2265 rubles – U.S. $1)

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