The Kremlin on Monday called an embezzlement case against prominent U.S. investor Michael Calvey regrettable and said it hoped he would be freed from house arrest and be able to attend an economic forum in St Petersburg later this week.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the RT TV channel in an interview that Calvey was a trustworthy businessman and that the Kremlin would like to see him attend Russia’s flagship economic forum in St Petersburg later this week.
Calvey, founder of the Baring Vostok private equity group, was detained in February pending a trial on embezzlement charges. He denies wrongdoing and says the case is a way of pressuring him in a dispute over control of a Russian bank.
“This is of course a very regrettable situation. We regret it very much. We of course would like to see him among the (forum’s) participants,” Peskov said.
The St Petersburg International Economic Forum is attended by President Vladimir Putin annually and is used by Moscow to burnish the country’s image as an investment destination.
The United States said last week it would boycott the event to protest against Moscow’s prosecution of Calvey.
The case against Calvey has rattled Russia’s business community despite a court in April releasing him from jail and placing him under house arrest. Other executives also detained in the case are still being held in custody.
“We of course hope that in the end these gentlemen will end up at liberty. But … there is the Russian law and it must be observed,” Peskov said.

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Kremlin says it hopes detained U.S. investor Calvey will be freed

Russian law enforcement has applied to have detained U.S. investor Michael Calvey released on house arrest pending a trial on charges of embezzlement, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/detained-us-investor-in-russia-may-get-house-arrest/4869573.html">VOA</a> reports.
The Moscow City Court says the Investigative Committee, a law enforcement agency, filed an application to be reviewed Thursday regarding Calvey and a Russian colleague.
Calvey and five colleagues have been in custody since February on allegations of embezzlement involving a Russian bank where Calvey&#8217;s firm, Baring Vostok, has a controlling stake. They all deny wrongdoing.
Calvey&#8217;s arrest sent shockwaves through the Moscow business community, as he had avoided political controversy and helped develop Russian tech companies.
A French colleague of Calvey, Philippe Delpal, had his custody period prolonged Tuesday.
Baring Vostok has said the case results from a dispute between shareholders at a Russian bank and maintains its staff acted legally.

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Detained US Investor in Russia May Get House Arrest

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow on Thursday confirmed that its diplomats have not been granted access to detained U.S. national Michael Calvey a week after the founder of the Baring Vostok investment fund group was detained in the Russian capital, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/us-embassy-demands-access-to-us-investor-indicted-by-moscow-court/4798454.html">VOA</a> reports.
Just hours before the embassy announcement, Russian state prosecutors formally indicted the investor.
The U.S. Embassy said in a statement it had asked multiple times to visit Calvey but had not received permission, which it said flouted consular rules between the two countries.
&#8220;We insist on access now,&#8221; the statement said.
On Wednesday, the head of a U.S.-Russian trade organization told VOA that Calvey, who had already been held in a Moscow pre-trial detention center for six days, had been meeting with his lawyers but had not yet had consular access.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve spoken to [Calvey&#8217;s] colleagues, but not him, since the detention,&#8221; U.S. national Alexis O. Rodzianko, president of the Moscow-based American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, told VOA on Tuesday.
Rodzianko, who had just left discussions about Calvey&#8217;s detention with various Russian, U.S., and European members of Moscow&#8217;s financial community, said, &#8220;I understand [Calvey] has met with his lawyers. I understand that he has not yet had consular contact — that&#8217;s as of lunchtime today.&#8221;
According to terms of the Vienna Convention, consular access must be provided within a 72-hour window from the time of arrest, meaning that a member of the U.S. government should have visited Calvey by now.
On Wednesday, a State Department spokesman declined to confirm Rodzianko&#8217;s assertion, citing privacy concerns, but seemed to indicate that the U.S. Embassy was still seeking access to the businessman.
&#8220;We are aware that a U.S. citizen was arrested on Feb. 14, 2019, in Russia,&#8221; said the spokesperson, who spoke on condition of not being identified. &#8220;The U.S. Embassy in Moscow is aware of the case and will be following it closely, and will provide all appropriate consular assistance. We have no higher priority than the protection of U.S. citizens abroad.&#8221;
Calvey is the second American to face prosecution in Russia since late December, when Paul Whelan, a former Marine, was jailed on accusations of spying. Russia announced Whelan&#8217;s detention on Dec. 31, some 24 hours after his arrest.

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US Embassy Demands Access to US Investor Indicted by Moscow Court

A Russian court has decided to prolong the detention of American investor Michael Calvey, founder of Baring Vostok Capital Partners, a Moscow-based private equity group, VOA news <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/moscow-court-extends-arrest-of-us-investor-accused-of-fraud/4789638.html">reports</a>.
Late Friday the court moved to extend Calvey’s arrest for at least 72 hours and called for a second hearing Saturday.
Four other defendants in the case have been ordered to remain in pretrial custody for two months.
A spokeswoman for the Moscow district court Friday announced that Calvey had been detained along with other members of the firm Thursday on suspicion of stealing $37.5 million (2.5 billion rubles), a charge that carries of a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
Private equity group partner
Calvey, 51, is a senior partner who founded Baring Vostok in 1994. According to the firm’s website, the private equity group holds more than $3.5 billion in committed capital and is a controlling shareholder in Russia’s Vostochny Bank, which focuses on Siberian and Far Eastern markets.
A statement on the Baring Vostok website said the company “believes that the detention of its employees and the charges that have been brought are a result of a conflict with shareholders of Vostochniy [sic] Bank. We have full confidence in the legality of our employees’ actions and will vigorously defend their rights. Baring Vostok’s activities in the Russian Federation are fully compliant with all applicable laws.”
Before launching Baring Vostok, Calvey worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and for Salomon Brothers. Since arriving in Moscow in the mid-1990s, he’s become a prominent and highly visible member of Moscow investment community. He is a board member of the Washington-based Atlantic Council.
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​Pleas from investment community
The announcement of Calvey’s detention sent shockwaves through the international investment community, prompting numerous pleas for his immediate release.
Herman Gref, head of Sberbank, Russia’s biggest state bank, issued a statement calling Calvey a “decent, honest man,” while Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s $10 billion sovereign wealth fund and a close contact of Russian President Vladimir Putin, described Calvey as “committed to the highest ethical standards accepted in the investment community.”
Kremlin officials Friday said Putin wasn’t aware of the charges being brought against Calvey.
“We are aware that a U.S. citizen was arrested on February 14, 2019, in Russia, a State Department spokesperson said Friday. “We have no higher priority than the protection of U.S. citizens abroad. Due to privacy considerations, we do not have any additional information at this time.”
Calvey is the third Westerner to face prosecution in Russia since Dec. 31, when American citizen Paul Whelan, a former Marine, was jailed on accusations of spying. Last week a Russian court sentenced Dennis Christensen, a Danish adherent of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion, to six years in prison for “organizing the activity of an extremist organization.”
Although Russia has jailed foreign investors who were vocal opponents of the Kremlin, Calvey has no such record of public political opinions.
Russia is “a do-it-yourself market,” <a class="wsw__a" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/tpg-tries-to-muscle-its-way-intorussia/2011/04/26/AFksGjNF_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Calvey told The Washington Post</a> in 2011. “You can’t rely on outside service providers.”
In that interview, Calvey said his group operates with 20 investors, four full-time lawyers and three government relations managers, along with a host of accountants and administrative support. At that time, all 10 of his partners were Russian nationals.
“International firms aren’t equipped for Russia,” he told the Post. “And they usually have a low tolerance threshold for uncertainty and no sense of humor for Russian surprises,” which he described as surprise audits, seizure of assets for back taxes, and sudden, sometimes seemingly arbitrary, business license reviews.
‘The final straw’
Vocal Kremlin critic and Hermitage Capital co-founder Bill Browder was denied entry into Russian in 2005 after his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, began investigating governmental misconduct and corruption in response to suspicious tax evasion charges brought against Hermitage by Russia’s Interior Ministry.
Magnitsky died under suspicious circumstances in Russian custody in 2009.
“The arrest of Mike Calvey in Moscow should be the final straw that Russia is an entirely corrupt and [uninvestable] country,” Browder said in a tweet Friday. “Of all the people I knew in Moscow, Mike played by their rules, kept his head down and never criticized the government.”