Russian Billionaire Yevtushenkov Freed From House Arrest: Lawyer

The chairman and co-owner of the Russian oil-telecoms-retail conglomerate AFK Sistema Vladimir Yevtushenkov has been released from house arrest under personal guarantee.

MOSCOW, December 17 (Sputnik) – The chairman and co-owner of the Russian oil-telecoms-retail conglomerate AFK Sistema Vladimir Yevtushenkov, suspected of illegally privatizing the Russian oil company Bashneft, has been released from house arrest, Yevtushenkov's lawyer told RIA Novosti Wednesday.

"Yes, you can congratulate us, Vladimir Yevtushenkov's house arrest has been cancelled," Vladimir Kozin said, adding that Yevtushenkov was released under personal guarantee.

Yevtushenkov was arrested on September 16 over his suspected involvement in money-laundering. Prosecutors are investigating Sistema's 2009 acquisition of shares in Russia's Bashkortostan Republic's oil company. Prosecutors suspected that the shares were acquired at deliberately reduced prices, with a "discount" of $500 million. Sistema repeatedly stated that the allegations were ungrounded.

Following the lawsuit filed by the Prosecutor General, on October 30 the Moscow Arbitration Court seized 71.6 percent of shares from AFK Sistema and its subsidiary firm, and handed them over to the government.

On November 14, the Basmanny Court in Moscow extended Yevtushenko's house arrest to March 16, 2015 after finding no reason to let the businessman out on bail or under personal guarantee. Yevtushenko's defense tried to challenge the decision, but later revoked its appeal from the Moscow City Court without specifying the reasons behind the decision to do so.