MOSCOW, December 9 (RAPSI) – Moscow’s Savelovsky District Court has sentenced a former chief accountant of Transaero air carrier Andrey Kovalev to 7 years in penal colony for accessory in embezzlement of more than 556 million rubles ($7.5 million), RAPSI has learnt in the court’s press office.

The defendant had participated in embezzlement of funds allocated for payment of retirement payments and taxes, the court held.

Transaero found itself unable to pay its debts valued at 250 billion rubles (about $4 billion) in 2015. The government-approved plan of transferring 75% of company’s shares to Aeroflot failed. Its problems resulted in a large number of flight cancels and delays.

In October 2015, Sberbank and Alfa Bank filed bankruptcy petitions against the troubled airline. The Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region initiated bankruptcy procedure against Transaero on December 16. The Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region declared Transaero air carrier bankrupt in September 2017.