MOSCOW (Reuters) -Prosecutors on Wednesday charged Vadim Moshkovich, the billionaire founder of Russia’s top agriculture company Rusagro, with embezzlement of 30 billion roubles ($357 million), state news agency TASS reported.
Moshkovich, a former member of the upper house of Russia’s legislature who Forbes says has a fortune of $2.7 billion, was arrested last week alongside another senior Rusagro executive.
Last Thursday, a Moscow court placed him in pre-trial detention for two months. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
TASS reported that the charges against Moshkovich relate to a deal to buy an 85% stake in the Solnechnie Produkty oil and fats company from its founder, in return for an investment that did not take place.
Moshkovich has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The prosecution of Moshkovich, who started out selling computers amid the chaos of post-Soviet Russia before building one of Russia’s most powerful agricultural holdings, sent shockwaves through Russia’s business elite.
It is the highest-profile arrest of a Russian businessman since the 2018 arrest of Summa shipping and logistics group founder Ziyavudin Magomedov and the 2014 house arrest of AFK Sistema shareholder Vladimir Yevtushenkov.
($1 = 84.1000 roubles)
(Writing by Felix Light; Editing by Mark Trevelyan/Guy Faulconbridge)
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