Moscow court prolongs arrest of Baring Vostok’s Delpal for 3 mos

MOSCOW, Apr 10 (PRIME) -- The Basmanny District Court of Moscow has prolonged arrest of Phillipe Delpal, top manager of investment company Baring Vostok, for three months, Judge Natalya Dudar said during a court hearing late on Wednesday.

Investigators asked the court to prolong the arrest because Deplal is a French citizen and may flee Russia if he is freed. They also thought he might try to hide documents that law enforcers have not detained yet or destroy evidence.

Baring Vostok said in a statement that the company sees the arrest an illegal and ungrounded decision, and would continue challenging it.

On February 16, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow arrested U.S. investor Michael Calvey, the founder of Baring Vostok, over alleged 2.5 billion ruble embezzlement from Orient Express Bank.

Investigators believe that Calvey, his partner 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.

(64.7766 rubles – U.S. $1)

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