MOSCOW, May 22 (RAPSI) – Former CEO of Lenenergo energy distribution company Andrey Sorochinsky and his deputy Denis Slepov have once again denied wrongdoing in a criminal case over abuse of office that led to grave consequences for the company, RAPSI has learnt in the Moscow District Court of St. Petersburg.

The criminal case will be reviewed for the third time.

In January, the case was returned to prosecutors. During preliminary hearings the court found serious contradictions contained in the indictment that prevented it from making a lawful and well-founded judgement.

Earlier, Sorochinsky and Slepov have been sentenced to 4 and 3 years in a penal colony. They were found guilty of going against an order of the company’s executive board and placing 10.6 billion rubles (nearly $190 million) of temporarily available assets in the accounts of Tavrichesky bank, which faced liquidity problems at that time. Soon afterwards, the bank lost its license; accordingly, Lenenergo suffered losses amounting to 8.6 billion rubles (nearly $154 million), whereas 32 billion rubles (about $572.4 million) had to be transferred to the enterprise from the federal budget to improve its financial standing.

Later, the appellate board of the St. Petersburg City Court overturned the ruling and initiated another review of the case.

Lenenergo is one of the largest energy distribution companies in Russia.