MOSCOW, December 29 (RAPSI) – Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court on Tuesday extended the detention of real estate tycoon Sergei Polonsky, who stands charged with large scale fraud, until March 12, the court’s spokesperson Anastasia Dzyurko told RAPSI.

The defense asked to release the businessman on bail or place him under house arrest but the court rejected the motion, Dzyurko said.

Polonsky, head of Potok Group (earlier Mirax) has been charged with fraud in absentia in the case of embezzlement of 5.7 billion rubles ($86.5 mln) from the Kutuzovskaya Mile residential community interest holders in the summer of 2013.

In May 2015, Cambodia, where Polonsky was escaping the Russian law enforcement, extradited him to Russia. He is currently in detention and has already been charged in presentio. Polonsky has  pleaded not guilty.

In June, experts found the businessman sane.

If convicted, Polonsky could face up to ten years in prison.