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SK opens case over sale of Mosvoyentorg building

Criminal proceedings have been instituted against officials of the Defense Ministry and executives of Oboronservis's affiliates
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, November 28 (Itar-Tass) — The Investigative Committee has opened a new case over fraud in Oboronservis's affiliates. Criminal proceedings have been instituted against officials of the Defense Ministry and executives of Oboronservis's affiliates over the sale of the Mosvoyentorg building in Arbat," SK spokesman Vladimir Markin told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

"The case was opened under three penal code articles: Article 285, Part 3 /"abusing office powers"/, Article 201, Part 2 /"abusing authority"/, and Article 159, Part 4 /grand fraud by organized group/," Markin said.

On September 15, 2008, the Mosvoeyntorg joint stock company was established per presidential decree. Its shares were contributed to the authorized capital of Oboronservis. The Defense Ministry is the founder of Mosvoyentorg and its affiliates.

Under the instructions by the former defense minister, all the transactions to alienate immovable property of the Oboronservis companies had to be approved by the Defense Ministry's property department, according to the SK spokesman.

From April through December 20111, officials of the Defense Ministry and executives of Voyentorg and Mosvoyentorg, jointly with the founder and director general of the "Expert" legal support center Yekaterina Smetanova and the executives of the VitaProject company she controlled, implemented a succession of actions to sell the building in Arbat in central Moscow at an understated price.

On September 2011, Mosvoyentorg and the "Expert" legal support center signed a control of evaluation of this non-residential building. "Smetanova arranged the evaluation of the designated building at an understated price. The building thus was priced at 115 million roubles although as of the moment of the transaction it cost at least 140 million roubles," Markin said.

On top of that, officials of the Defense Ministry's property department and the executive of Oboronservis and third-party commercial bodies, stole 2.8 million roubles from Mosvoyentorg when concluding an additional agreement to one of the contracts.