MOSCOW, September 6 (RAPSI) – A criminal case against a former vice-president of Rosneft oil company Anatoly Loktionov, who stood charged with embezzlement, was closed, the press service of the Russian business ombudsman Boris Titov reported Friday.

The prosecution was dismissed due to absence of the event of a crime. The businessman has a right to rehabilitation, according to Titov.

In 2010, the first case was opened against Loktionov over attempted fraud upon the application by his ex-partners.

Loktionov was a vice-president of Rosneft from 1998 to 2004, later he entered the business market. In 2015, he became a defendant in embezzlement case. According to investigation, he was involved in stealing over 100 million rubles ($1.5 million) allocated for real estate construction in the Krasnodar Region. In 2016, the two cases were consolidated. The businessman called the case against him contract. He noted that investigators, who had launched it, were convicted in 2016

Loktionov left Russia in 2011. In 2014, he was put on the federal wanted list and in 2016 on the international one. Since then, the businessman has tried to prove his innocence, but investigators have ignored his attempts, according to him.

In 2018, wanted Loktionov asked business ombudsman Titov to include him in his list of entrepreneurs willing to come back to Russia under the guarantees of impartial investigation and non-placement in detention. In November, he returned to Russia.

Loktionov was a vice-president of Rosneft from 1998 to 2004, later he entered the business market.