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Court arrests RusHydro chief accountant accused of fraud

MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/. Moscow’s Basmanny Court has arrested for two months RusHydro Chief Accountant and Director of the Corporate Accounting and Reporting Department Dmitry Finkel accused of fraud, a TASS correspondent reports from the court.

"The court has ruled to grant the investigation’s petition and choose custody for a term until August 22 as a measure of restraint for Finkel," Judge Yelena Lenskaya said, announcing the court’s ruling.

The lawyer asked the court to choose home arrest as a measure of restraint for his defendant. Finkel rejected fraud charges.

Spokesman for Russia’s Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin told TASS on Wednesday that RusHydro ex-Head Yevgeny Dod and Chief Accountant Dmitry Finkel had been detained in a fraud probe.

"The Investigative Committee’s Department for High-Profile Investigations has opened a criminal case against RusHydro former Management Board Chairman Yevgeny Dod and Chief Accountant - Head of the Corporate Accounting and Reporting Department Dmitry Finkel. They are accused of committing a crime stipulated by part 4, article 159 of Russia’s Criminal Code (Gross Fraud)," the spokesman said.

This article carries a maximum prison term of 10 years.

Both suspects in the criminal case were detained, the spokesman said.

"Fraud charges will be brought against them and a measure of restraint will be chosen soon," Markin said.

The former head of Russia’s largest hydropower company has been detained on suspicion of fraud worth 73 million rubles ($2.2 million) for assigning himself a bonus for 2013, the spokesman said.

According to the investigation, Dod and Chief Accountant Finkel committed a large-scale theft of RusHydro property under conspiracy with unidentified persons.

"After approving RusHydro’s financial report, the said persons drafted and Dod personally signed an order ‘On Special Bonus Payments to Members of the RusHydro Management Board for 2013," under which he assigned a special bonus to himself for 2013 in the amount of 353.21 million rubles [$10.8 million], illegitimately overstating the bonus by no less than 73.2 million rubles," the Investigative Committee spokesman said.