Vladimir Putin has said honest businesses should not live in fear of prosecution in Russia, a week after the country’s most prominent foreign investor was arrested.
American private equity executive Michael Calvey was arrested last week for allegedly defrauding mid-sized Vostochny Bank of Rbs2.5bn ($38m). Mr Calvey, whose private equity fund Baring Vostok owns 52.5 per cent of Vostochny, claims the charges are related to a struggle for control of the bank with two Kremlin-connected businessmen, Artem Avetisyan and Sherzod Yusupov.
The case — brought less than a week after Mr Yusupov complained to Russia’s security services — has sparked an outcry among western investors and liberal technocrats alike that prompted the central bank to intervene this week.
Without mentioning Mr Calvey by name, Mr Putin used his annual state-of-the-nation address to lawmakers on Wednesday to call for fair treatment of business.
“Honest businessmen should not go around being afraid of criminal prosecution,” he said.
“This is a big issue for the economy. The business community point to many issues in our legal framework,” he said. “So-called economic crimes have to be treated in a fair way. Very often people are kept in jail simply because investigators are not competent enough.”
Mr Avetisyan was appointed by Mr Putin in 2011 to a position at a Kremlin economic think-tank and later convinced the president to back his plans to create a state-backed small business bank.
