MOSCOW, May 17 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court has extended detention of three former managers of Probusinessbank charged with embezzlement of 2.5 billion rubles (about $43.9 million) until August 17, RAPSI learnt on Monday from the court’s press-service.

Defendants in the case are former vice-president of business development Vyacheslav Kazantsev, ex-head of corporate finances department Nikolay Alekseyev and manager Sergey Kalachev.

In February 2016, the Basmanny District Court ruled to detain the defendants.

On April 26, 2017, the Ostankinsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Alekseyev to four years in prison. His case was reviewed separately because he had admitted his guilt. Additionally, Alekseyev was fined 1 million rubles ($18,000). The court also granted a lawsuit filed by Probusinessbank, the victim in the case, seeking to collect 2.44 billion rubles from the defendant.

According to investigators, from September 2014 to July 2015, Alekseyev, acting as a head of the bank’s corporate finance department, conspired with 15 accomplices to embezzle funds belonging to Probusinessbank. Accomplices are believed to be unidentified managers and employees of the bank. Allegedly they used their office positions to enroll their subordinates, employees of the “Life” financial group and heads of sham companies.

In August 2015, the Russian Central Bank revoked the license of Probusinessbank, acting upon the results of an inspection revealing that “the bank’s management carried out large scale operations having markings of assets stripping of the bank.”