Nikolai Maksimov, founder and co-owner of the Maxi Group steel mill, said before his arrest on Wednesday that he had sold his Sberbank shares in 2010 as he feared he would be taken into custody.
Police suspect Maksimov of embezzling 5.9 billion rubles ($200 million) from Maxi Group, where steel giant Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) now holds the controlling stake.
"I don't have [the shares] any more, because if the arrest takes place, I will be in massive debt," Maksimov said at a news conference before he was detained.
He said he had held between 1.6% and 3.4% in Sberbank shares at different periods. All of his Sberbank shares were sold during 2010 and their value is about $2 billion, he added.
"In 2010, when I began to receive hints of a possible arrest, I began to sell," Maksimov said, adding that he had traded his shares on the stock market and sold them to his partners.
According to Maksimov, the funds he received from selling his Sberbank shares went as a loan to an English firm. The company is currently funding construction works of the businessman's new projects, in which he has already invested $80 million.
Maksimov's lawyer Leonid Matveyev said the businessman would now be transferred to Yekaterinburg in the Urals to face charges within the next 48 hours. If found guilty, he could face up to ten years in jail.
In 2007, Maximov, the sole owner of the Maxi Group, had to sell 50 percent plus one share to NLMK to prevent the bankruptcy of his indebted mini-steel mill. NLMK then issued a loan to Maxi Group secured by the shares of Maxi Group and its subsidiaries.
Maxi Group failed to honor its obligations, and the pledged property was auctioned off in 2009. NLMK then gained direct control of Maxi Group's subsidiaries. Maximov said that the shares had been sold at reduced prices, but an arbitration tribunal rejected his claims.
In mid-July, Maximov filed an appeal to a Yekaterinburg court against a previous courts decision on seizing his accounts and securities at Moscow banks over the criminal proceedings against him. In his appeal he said his accounts had been frozen due to the conflict with NLMK.
Maksimov said the case against him had been fabricated with the aim of forcing him to give up his attempt to make NLMK pay for the Maxi Group shares they purchased from him.
MOSCOW, February 9 (RIA Novosti)
