A Moscow courtsentenced banished businessman Sergei Pugachev to 14 years in jail in absentia on charges of embezzlement and misappropriation on Tuesday, more than a decade after his bank collapsed and he fled the country.Pugachev, once a powerful senator and creator of Mezhprombank, was known in the 2000s as Putins lender due to his close ties to the Kremlin.
Mezhprombank, established in 1992, turned into one of Russias largest before defaulting on 200 million euros in eurobond payments in 2010.
A Russian court stated it bankrupt the exact same year.Authorities accused Pugachev of misusing more than $700 million in bailout funds provided by the Russian Central Bank.
On Tuesday, the Tverskoy District Court discovered him guilty and issued a 14-year prison sentence to be imposed upon his extradition.The court estimated damages to the bank at 92 billion rubles ($1.1 billion) but fined Pugachev simply 800,000 rubles, according to business newspaper Kommersant.Pugachevs legal representative stated the exiled businessman had actually sought to have the case transferred to France, where he has lived because 2011.
A French person considering that 2009, Pugachev left Russia after a falling-out with members of President Vladimir Putins inner circle in the after-effects of the 2008 monetary crisis.Since his departure, Pugachev has implicated the Kremlin of seizing his properties without compensation and dismantling his multibillion-dollar organization empire.A Message from The Moscow Times: Dear readers, We are dealing with unmatched challenges.
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