Yesterday Tver court of Moscow arrested in absentia Andrey Borodin, the ex-president of the Bank of Moscow, and Dmitry Akulinin, former first vice-president of the bank. Both former executives of the Bank of Moscow have been put on the international wanted list.

Russian Mafia web-site (rumafia.com) previously reported that two criminal cases had been initiated against the Bank of Moscow. One of them concerns the financial institution issuing an unsecured loan worth 12.7 billion rubles to Premier Estate closed JSC. Another criminal case was filed in mid-April 2011 for the theft of money from bank accounts.

At first the court considered the petition filed by Dmitry Pisarevsky, senior investigator of the investigating committee at the Interior Ministry of Russia, concerning the arrest of former first vice-president of the Bank of Moscow, Dmitry Akulinin. Pisarevsky found that Akulinin and his former boss, Borodin, "executed their powers against the legitimate interests of the bank and in order to derive profits and advantages for third parties." As a result, on March 28 the investigator ruled Borodin and Akulinin to be prosecuted under Art. 201, part 1 of the Criminal Code (abuse of power). And the Tver district court granted the motion of the investigative committee at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and dismissed the bankers from their posts during the investigation. In late April 2011, when the investigation obtained evidence that the accused in absentia fled the country, both men were put on the international wanted list.

Pisarevsky informed the court that the accused banker Akulinin did not show up at the summons sent to him, and that the investigation learned from his lawyer that he was on a long-lasting business trip abroad. The investigator demanded to change measure of restraint for Akulinin from being on parole and good conduct to arrest. As a result, the banker was arrested in absentia by the court. Moreover, the preventive measure for him has an open date, that is, as soon as Akulinin would be within reach of law enforcement agencies of Russia, he will be imprisoned.

Late in the evening the Tver district court, granting another motion from Pisarevsky, ruled the same measure of restraint to be enforced for Borodin.

It is not clear yet whether the investigation proceeds to seek extradition of the arrested bankers. First their exact whereabouts must be established. Andrey Borodin was previously reported to be in London, but he claimed to have left the UK.