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Ex-director of Russia’s penitentiary service faces fraud charges

According to investigators, the defendants used fraud schemes to steal about $51.7 million worth of budget money received for providing prison inmates with electronic bracelets

Alexander Reimer ITAR-TASS/Dmitry Burlakov

Alexander Reimer

© ITAR-TASS/Dmitry Burlakov

MOSCOW, 31 /TASS/. Alexander Reimer, the former head of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service /FSIN/, has been detained on fraud charges, the Russian Investigative Committee said on Tuesday.

"Today, investigators have brought fraud charges against FSIN’s former director Alexander Reimer; his former deputy Nikolai Krivolapov; Viktor Opredelynov, director of FSIN’s center for IT support and communications; and Nikolai Martynov, the general director of a commercial organization," Vladimir Markin, the Russian Investigative Committee spokesperson , told TASS.

"According to investigators, the defendants used fraud schemes to steal about three billion rubles [over $51.7 million] worth of budget money which the Federal Penitentiary Service received for providing prison inmates with electronic bracelets," Markin said adding that prosecutors were demanding the arrest of Reimer, Opredelyonov and Martynov.

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