The president's aide called information about his influence on the Baring Vostok case "complete nonsense"

Presidential aide Andrei Belousov called “complete nonsense” the information about his participation in the criminal case of the founder of the Baring Vostok investment fund, Michael Calvey, writes Forbes .

“This is complete nonsense. Absolutely. I am a believer and I can say during Lent that this is a lie <...> If I had gone to the president with such papers, they would have carried me out of there feet first. The president would never interfere in commercial disputes in this way,” the presidential aide said.

At the same time, Belousov confirmed that he is friends with Vostochny Bank shareholder Artem Avetisyan, whom Calvey considers to be the customer of the criminal case due to a corporate dispute.

Earlier, Dozhd, citing sources in the presidential administration, reported that Belousov “helped” the case against the fund. The presidential aide also told Vedomosti that he was with Avetisyan in Antarctica and Elbrus; they knew each other through the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), but assured that he never used his good relationship with him in “his corporate matters.”

Michael Calvey and five other colleagues and partners of the founder of the fund have been in jail since February on charges of fraud on an especially large scale as part of a group (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code).

According to investigators, the accused are involved in the theft of 2.5 billion rubles from Vostochny Bank, 52% of the shares of which are owned by Baring Vostok together with the investment fund Russia Partners. The FSB believes that the First Collection Bureau, owned by Calvey, paid off the debt to the bank with shares that cost not three billion rubles, but only 600 thousand rubles. Calvey denies wrongdoing.