Moscow Court To Begin Hearings On Case Of US Investor Calvey On February 2

A court in Moscow refused to return the case of US investor Michael Calvey to the prosecutor and will proceed with hearings starting on February 2, the court's spokeswoman, Yulia Kotomina, told Sputnik on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2021) A court in Moscow refused to return the case of US investor Michael Calvey to the prosecutor and will proceed with hearings starting on February 2, the court's spokeswoman, Yulia Kotomina, told Sputnik on Friday.

The preliminary hearings are ongoing, and, earlier in the day, the defense asked the court to return the case to the prosecutors to fix all irregularities.

"The court decided to schedule the hearing on the merits of the case for February 2," the spokeswoman said.

The prosecutor is expected to list the facts of the case at the first session, after which the defendants will be able to present their arguments. The court will then move on to studying evidence and questioning witnesses.

In November, the Russian Supreme Court released Calvey and several other defendants, who are suspected of defrauding Vostochny Bank, from house arrest.

Calvey and several others were detained in February 2019. Investigators believe that Calvey and his business partners convinced the bank shareholders to vote for an agreement, under which the bank would receive 59.9 percent of shares of the International Financial Technology Group in place of a debt repayment. The shares were estimated at 3 billion rubles ($40 million) while their real value was around 600,000 rubles, the investigators said.

According to defense lawyers, the shares in question were worth 3.8 billion rubles. None of the defendants have pleaded guilty.