13:14 Singer Victor Kalina and his wife to appear in court on swindling charges

Belarus's popular singer Victor Kalina and his wife Svetlana are to stand trial on criminal charges after police investigators tabled their case before a district court in Minsk. According to Dzmitry Danilchyk, the chief of organized crime and corruption department at the Interior Ministry of Belarus, Victor Kalina is charges with gross embezzlement and false testimonies.

Svetlana Kalina is also charged with a large-scale forgery. Victor Kalina is currently being held in a pre-trial detention center. His wife was released on bail on February 21.

Victor Kalina was arrested in January 5, 2007 and accused of swindling. His wife Svetlana had been arrested eariler, on December 27, 2006. She was detained in an office of Absolutbank when attempting to receive over Br71 million as insurance payments for the alleged theft of her Mercedes car in Moscow. The car was insured for $34,000.

According to Danilchyk, the Mercedes has been found in Belarus. He said the car had never left the territory of Belarus.