Russia's Yandex CEO Calls Baring Vostok, Company's Arrested Founder 'Standard Of Legality'

Daniyal Sohail Published February 18, 2019 | 05:35 PM

The investments into Russian tech giant Yandex made by private equity fund Baring Vostok Capital Partners, whose founding partner Michael Calvey was recently arrested in Russia, have always been sensible, with the firm and Calvey himself having always been aboveboard, Yandex CEO Arkady Volozh said on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th February, 2019) The investments into Russian tech giant Yandex made by private equity fund Baring Vostok Capital Partners, whose founding partner Michael Calvey was recently arrested in Russia, have always been sensible, with the firm and Calvey himself having always been aboveboard, Yandex CEO Arkady Volozh said on Monday.

Calvey was detained on Friday alongside five other people on suspicion of embezzling 2.5 billion rubles ($37 million) from Vostochny Bank, which the US national co-owns. Calvey has denied the allegations. On Saturday, a Moscow court ruled to place Calvey under a two-month arrest. The other five suspects were arrested for two months on Friday. The businessman's lawyers have said they would appeal the court's decision.

"It's hard for me to imagine that Michael, or anyone from Baring, has been doing something indecent or illegal. They have always been the standard of decency and legality for the market," Volozh said in a statement.

Baring Vostok was the only investor that did not demand control when investing into Yandex back in 2000, according to the executive.

"Their money was smart and delicate. And it brought its results: the seed planted bore amazing fruits. Later, similar principles were applied to all Baring investments in our market, and there has been a line-up of the best companies and start-ups [for Baring's investment]," Volozh underlined.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier in the day that the criminal case against Calvey was not part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's agenda. According to Peskov, Putin has met the Baring Vostok's founder a number of times. The Kremlin has known Calvey as a consistent major investor who defended the attractiveness of the Russian market. The presidential spokesman expressed hope that Calvey's arrest would not affect the investment climate in the country.