MOSCOW, September 14 (RAPSI) – Russian President Vladimir Putin will order the government and law enforcement authorities to address the issue of banning bankers, suspected of siphoning off assets, from leaving abroad, Vedomosti newspaper reported on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the head of Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina said during a meeting with the President that revocation of banking license is often caused by criminal actions of bankers but not by economic factors; and bankers themselves often flee abroad. According to Nabiullina, breach of anti-money laundering law is a basis for withdrawal of banks' licenses in 70 percent of cases.

The state, society and banks' depositors should be guaranteed against criminal practices, however it is necessary to be careful and not to restrict people’s freedom, the newspaper quoted Putin as having said.

Restriction on leaving abroad may become an effective step because lack of unavoidability of punishment instigates some people to commit embezzlement, Yuri Isayev, general director of the State Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA), told Vedomosti.  According to him, it's important to seize assets as soon as possible.

For instance, London's court has arrested assets belonging to Sergei Pugachev, the former beneficiary of the International Industrial Bank (IIB or Mezhprombank) and ex-member of the Russian parliament’s upper house, upon the DIA's application. However, the Agency could not procure the seizure of his assets in Russia because the legislation prohibits attachment of assets owned by third parties, the newspaper cited Isayev.

Mezhprombank’s license was revoked and it was declared to be insolvent in late 2010. An investigation into the bankruptcy was launched on charges of “illegal operations in the process of filing for bankruptcy and deliberate bankruptcy.”

In December 2013, the agency that had been appointed as liquidator to Mezhprombank turned to the Moscow Commercial Court seeking to recover 75 billion rubles ($1.2 billion). Pugachev, together with some former top managers of Mezhprombank, was named a co-defendant in the case.

The DIA alleged that Pugachev extracted money from the bank for his benefit when it was already bankrupt.

In April 2015, Russian court found all the defendants guilty of bankruptcy fraud. An Interpol arrest warrant was issued afterwards for him at Russia's request.

In the meantime, the High Court in London in July of 2014 issued an order freezing $2 billion of Pugachev’s assets.