MOSCOW. Feb 18 (Interfax) - A court in St. Petersburg has ordered the arrest of the City Bar Association's defense lawyer Alexander Shved, suspected of involvement in an embezzlement scheme in which about 4 billion rubles was misappropriated under illegal VAT refunding arrangements, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.
"The court today granted an investigator's request for taking defense lawyer Alexander Shved, 33, into custody," he said.
Six people were detained in St. Petersburg on Friday on suspicion of organizing an illegal scheme to refund about 4 billion rubles in VAT. Among them is a suspected organizer - a leader of Sotrans Group Mark Bronovsky, 34, who has Russian and U.S. citizenship.
Since 2008 the criminal organization has been misappropriating resources on behalf of 39 legal entities. In order to feign legal financial transitions the suspects involved 75 firms registered under the names of controlled directors. Shved is suspected of being an organizer of the scheme, investigators claimed.