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The business community in Russia is in turmoil after the announcement of the fraud charge of the creator and director of the investment fund Baring Vostok and his French partner. Michael Calvey of the United States and Philippe Delpal of France have been remanded in custody pending a possible trial in which they face up to 10 years in prison.
Michael Calvey and Philippe Delpal are suspected of embezzling 2.5 billion rubles (33 million euros), but in the opinion of many observers, it would be a banal shareholder dispute. The investigation conducted by the Federal Security Service, the FSB, causes strong reactions in economic circles.
Some influential Russian figures have expressed concern, from Sberbank boss Guerman Gref to the former finance minister and current court president Alexei Kudrin.
On Friday, the day of the arrest of the leaders of Baring Vostok, the Association of European companies and the French and German-Russian Chambers of Commerce pointed out in a statement that this affair undermined the "investment climate" in Russia.
Same tone on the side of the entrepreneur's mediator at the Kremlin, the businessman Boris Titov, who in a column of the business daily Vedomosti , believes that this is a business conflict and that the placement in Preventive detention of these men is illegal. Despite these strong supporters, the leaders of Baring Vostok, who have been working in Russia for a long time, were therefore charged.
In his annual speech to Parliament , Vladimir Putin called on law enforcement officials not to hinder free enterprise and to limit detentions for economic crimes as much as possible, without explicitly referring to the case.
At the end of last week, a Moscow court judge denied the request for parole and bail of nearly € 66,000 from Michael Calvey's lawyers, fearing he would be tempted to leave the country and destroy compromising documents.