Russia detains major US investor on suspicion of fraud

MOSCOW: Russia has detained the US head of a major investment firm on suspicion of fraud and he will appear in a Moscow court on Friday, the court said. Michael Calvey, the founder of multi-billion-dollar investment fund Baring Vostok, was named in a court document as having been arrested and facing potential fraud charges.

Several other people from the fund and other businesses were being held in connection with the suspected fraud, a court spokesperson told Russian news agencies. Among them was French citizen Phillipe Delpal, who oversees investments in the financial industry for Baring Vostok.

The firm confirmed in a statement that four of its employees had been detained, without providing their names. It said the charges related to a commercial dispute over the Vostochny Bank, but provided no further details.

"The actions of law enforcement are not directly related to the activities of Baring Vostok and other portfolio companies," the statement said. Delpal appeared in Moscow´s Basmanny Court on Friday for a detention hearing, an AFP journalist at the court said. "I strongly object to the request for a detention," Delpal told the court in English.

"I have no connection with the alleged crime." Delpal said he had lived in Moscow for the last 15 years, and has a wife and two daughters in the city. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Anton Siluanov told news agencies that the foreign investors, if found guilty, should expect to feel the full force of the law.

"If this is a fraud, what can I say: do not violate the law. If the facts are confirmed, no one can spare the perpetrators," he said on the sidelines of an investment forum in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. "Be it a foreigner or a Russian, there is no difference here."