MOSCOW, November 20 (Itar-Tass) — The Investigative Committee said on Tuesday all the culprits involved in thefts of billions of roubles in the Oboronservis case must be held responsible.
"I believe it is necessary o state the SK position on the situation over the coverage of the criminal case over the crimes committed by the administration of the Obornservis and directors of a number of commercial bodies," SK spokesman Vladimir Markin stated.
"That it became possible to open such criminal cases is the result of joint work by not only the Investigative Committee, the Interior Ministry, and the Federal Security Service, but also the Main Military Prosecutor's Office and the Audit Chamber. The whole society is interested in ascertaining the truth in these criminal cases, not only the above government bodies.
"The Investigative Committee does not intend to assume the key role in establishing all the circumstances and episodes of the criminal activity, but under the law, it is the Investigative Committee that bears responsibility for completeness and procedural consolidation of the evidence gathered within the case, which will make groundwork for final charges and court rulings.
"I will underline that it is only thanks to joint efforts and professional work by investigative, law-enforcement, inspection and supervisory bodies that an active probe into high-profile cases is carried out, whose end result should be the arraigning of all the persons guilty of multi-billion-rouble thefts of Defense Ministry funds.
"As for concrete relations between the SK and the Interior Ministry, they have always been constructive and business-like in all criminal cases handled by SK bodies. A successful investigation directly depends on the professionalism of SK investigators and Interior Ministry detectives, and, most importantly, on their coordinated interaction, as is shown by the Oboronservis case which is successfully being investigated by joint efforts," Markin said.
Earlier, the Investigative Committee called the statements by the Interior Ministry regarding the Oboronservis case "inappropriate spin".
"The role of police in these criminal cases is reduced to the fulfillment of certain instructions issued by the investigator. The official and therefore authentic information on the criminal case can only be issued by the investigative body handling the case. All other information is incorrect, unauthentic and is regarded as inappropriate spin which obstructs objective probe and the establishment of truth.
"In this connection, the SK warns about spreading the information which has not been coordinated with the investigators. Given the publicity, the SK intends to inform the public on time about the cause of the investigation into these criminal cases, but within the framework of the law and in the amount which does not contradict the interests of the investigation.
Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry rejected the accusations by the Investigative Committee (SK) of inappropriateness of comments on the investigation into the case against Oboronservis officials. It said it would continue to comprehensively report on its work.
"As for correctness and authenticity of the information provided by police to the mass media, who better than the detectives who directly obtained, checked and documented the information about the wrongdoers' illegal activity can evaluate the expediency of its coverage in the mass media," an Interior Ministry official said.
In addition, the Ministry has enough competent and professional personnel for independently highlighting the activity of the Ministry, so we do not need the assistance of PR bodies of other departments," he underlined.
The official also assured that this work would continue with the framework of the principle of the openness of police to the society.