Updated 7:50 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, September 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russian billionaire businessman Vladimir Yevtushenkov denied on Friday media reports of his release from house arrest in a phone call with RIA Novosti.
"Don't believe these reports, I was not released," Yevtushenkov said, adding that he was not joking.
Spokesman for Russia's Investigative Committee, Vladimir Markin, earlier told RIA Novosti that the court ruling on Yevtushenkov's house arrest had not been rescinded.
"The measure has not been revoked. The investigation is underway," Markin said.
Yevtushenkov was arrested Tuesday over his suspected involvement in money-laundering. Prosecutors are investigating Sistema's acquisition of shares in Russia's Bashkortostan Republic's oil company.
Russia's business community responded to the arrest with sharp criticism, saying the measure was excessive and harmed the business climate in the country.
Earlier in the day, media reports, citing unidentified source in AFK Sistema conglomerate, suggested that the billionaire had been freed from house arrest on Friday. The news caused an immediate rise in AFK Sistema and Bashneft shares on Moscow stock exchange by 13.2 and 5.2 percent, respectively.
Mikhail Yemelyanov, the first deputy head of the State Duma's Committee for Economic Policy, has said that speculators could have tried to take advantage of the situation surrounding Yevtushenkov's arrest to gain from the instability in the company's shares.
