A Moscow-based court froze the assets of Baring Vostok Capital Partners Ltd. founder Michael Calvey and four of his business partners at the request of Russian investigators, the Financial Times reported Oct. 4.
The frozen assets include apartments, cars and bank accounts. The value of Calvey's assets that have been frozen amount to 55 million Russian rubles.
The businessmen are accused of embezzling 2.5 billion Russian rubles from Public Stock Co. Orient Express Bank, which Baring Vostok controlled until June. They deny any wrongdoing and argue the accusations are related to a corporate dispute over control of Orient Express. Calvey and his French colleague Philippe Delpal are currently under house arrest, while the other three executives are in jail.
Finvision — which is owned by Russian businessman Artem Avetisyan who now controls Orient Express with his business partners — told the FT it was not aware of the asset freeze.
Meanwhile, Vedomosti reported Sept. 30 that the London High Court banned Orient Express Bank from taking legal steps in Russia against Calvey and Baring Vostok's unit Evison Holdings in another, 9.8 billion ruble dispute between the parties. The bank initiated the proceedings earlier in 2019 to recover losses it allegedly incurred at the time when Baring Vostok owned a majority stake in the lender via Evison Holdings. The ban will be in place until Oct. 15, when a hearing on the matter is set to be held, the newspaper said.
As of Oct. 4, US$1 was equivalent to 64.62 Russian rubles.
