One of Russia’s law enforcement agencies has begun a criminal investigation into the owner of a major commercial bank that was nationalised by the central bank.

Igor Krasnov, head of a Russian government anti-crime agency called the “investigative committee”, said his organisation had begun legal proceedings against Evgeny Dankevich, former owner of Otkritie Bank. Otkritie was Russia’s second-largest private lender, and eighth-largest bank by asset size, when the Bank of Russia took it over in