Founder of the Baring Vostok private equity group Michael Calvey, who was detained on suspicion of fraud, reacts inside a defendants' cage as he attends a court hearing in Moscow, Russia February 15, 2019. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia-based private equity group Baring Vostok appealed on Monday for President Vladimir Putin to intervene in a criminal investigation into its U.S. founder Michael Calvey and other executives.

Prosecutors last week formally charged Calvey, the founder of Baring Vostok, and several other of its executives, with fraud after detaining them earlier this month.

Calvey and the others deny wrongdoing and say the case is being used to exert pressure in a business dispute.

In an open letter posted on its website, Baring Vostok said it was appealing to Putin to take the case under his personal control to ensure it was investigated objectively.

“I don’t know if the President has seen the letter and how it was sent, but we will report to him about the letter based on the media reports,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

A Baring Vostok executive and another man held in the case are due to appeal their arrest later on Monday. Calvey is due to appeal on Thursday.