MOSCOW, December 13 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) – The Moscow City Court overturned a lower court ruling to send a criminal case over embezzlement at the Federal Border Development Agency back to prosecutors for further investigation, a court official told RAPSI on Tuesday.

Dmitry Bezdelov, former head of the Federal Border Development Agency, is one of the suspects in the case.

Investigators claim that in 2009, Bezdelov, then head of the Federal Border Development Agency, conspired with a number of other people to embezzle public funds allocated for the construction of checkpoints on the state border. From September 2009 to May 2013, they allegedly stole and laundered up to 490 million rubles ($7.5 million).

Bezdelov resigned from his post in October 2013 after a probe had revealed inappropriate use of budget funds by the agency. He was arrested in Rome in October 2014 after he had been put on the international wanted list. Italy's court of appeals upheld the decision to extradite Bezdelov to Russia in October 2015. The Supreme Court left the judgment intact.

Bezdelov's lawyers insisted that the case should be send back to prosecutors. Moscow's Meshchansky District Court sided with the lawyers on December 1. 

Two defendants in the case were sentenced earlier to long prison terms. Another one absconded during the trial and was put on the federal wanted list.