Former head of state-owned arms export and import firm Ukrspecexport Serhiy Bondarchuk has been released on bail, a court hearing on a date of hearings on his extradition is scheduled for March 24, Ukrainian prosecutor general's press secretary Larysa Sarhan said.

"Ex-head of Ukrspecexport Serhiy Bondarchuk was detained on March 15, but was released on bail, as is foreseen by British laws. A court hearing at which a date for hearings on extradition will be set is scheduled for March 24, 2017," she wrote on Facebook on Friday.

According to her, being out on bail, he should stay in London until March 24.

As reported, on January 21, 2015, the chief military prosecutor's office said that Bondarchuk was suspected of embezzling $7.428 million from the state-run company. He is charged under Part 5 of Article 191 (gross embezzlement via abuse of office under a preliminary collusion by a group of persons) and Part 2 of Article 366 (forgery caused serious consequences) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

On January 29 the investigating judge of Kyiv's Pechersky district court permitted to detain Ukrspecexport's ex-head and sent him to court to decide on his arrest.

The court also seized assets of the suspect, which include $10 million in a Ukrainian bank and two Range Rover cars worth over UAH 2 million, or $74,000.

In February 2015 the Interior Ministry of Ukraine put Bondarchuk on the wanted list.

Interpol placed him on the international wanted list on June 15, 2015.

Hearings on Bondarchuk's extradition from Britain to Ukraine are expected not later than the second half of May 2017, according to Deputy Prosecutor General Yevhen Enin.