MOSCOW, November 1 (Itar-Tass) – Moscow City’s Tverskoi district court has authorized the arrest of Andrei Vostrov, the chief of a section at the Russian State Duma general affairs department, the court press secretary Alexandra Berezina said.
“By authorizing the arrest, the court answered a request by the prosecutors to appoint a pretrial measure in the form of custody to Vostrov,” she said.
The man will stay in custody through to December 31.
Andrei Vostrov, the chief of the engineering section of the Duma’s general affairs department, is suspected of “selling” the positions of aides at the Russian parliament’s headquarters staff. Charges have been issued to him on the basis of Article 159.4 of the Criminal Code, which cites punishment for swindling.
Investigators say, among other things, Vostrov received 1.2 million rubles from two persons for an ostensible assistance in getting appointments them to the positions of MPs’ aides.
According to Moscow police sources, Vostrov was detained in the act on Moscow’s downtown Tverskaya Street October 30.
If the information on “selling” positions in the Duma gets confirmation, maximum punishment envisioned for such cases should be authorized for the swindler then, Irina Yarovaya, the chairperson of the Duma’s security committee said Thursday.
“In most probability, the case in hand is swindling, or a crime related to the appropriation of finances with the aid of deceit,” she said.
Yarovaya said that decisions on appointments to the Duma committees do not fall into the realm of powers of any section of the Duma’s general affairs department.
Acts of this kind discredit public service as such, she said.