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Kamchatka court sanctions arrest of local minister of sports and tourism on fraud charges

Kravchenko was detained on August 9 at the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky airport when he was registering for a flight to Moscow

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, August 13 (Itar-Tass) —— The city court in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on Monday sanctioned the arrest of minister of sports and tourism of the Kamchatka Territory Viktor Kravchenko on fraud charges, a court spokesman told Itar-Tass.

Kravchenko was detained on August 9 at the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky airport when he was registering for a flight to Moscow. At the moment of detention he has a large sum of cash, including in foreign currencies, and credit cards, according to the police department of the Far Eastern federal district. The man was taken to a detention ward. Investigators filed a monition with the court to sanction his arrest. The court postponed a ruling because of Kravchenko’s health complaints, but on Monday the arrest was finally authorized.

According to investigators, being aware of the availability of funds fixed in the territorial budget to buy equipment for local youth ice hockey teams, Kravchenko offered a local businessman to take part in a tender in the summer of 2011. Kravchenko saw to it that no other businessmen were admitted to the tender. As a result, low-quality equipment, “including that that had nothing to do with ice hockey,” was bought at overestimated prices. “Losses of the territorial budget amounted to 6.9 million roubles,” the press service of the police department of the Far Eastern federal district said.

The court also sanctioned the arrest of the businessman. Invesitation is underway.

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