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Damage to regional budget expected to be compensated

It is a painful story for the region. The region lost much money, Andrei Vorobyov said

SHCHELKOVO, Moscow Region, July 6 (Itar-Tass) - The Moscow Region's Acting Governor Andrei Vorobyov hopes the region will be compensated for the damage done by ex-finance minister Alexei Kuznetsov to the regional budget.

"It is a painful story for the region. The region lost much money. Legal proceedings are underway against a certain circle of persons," Vorobyov said.

"I have heard today about the detention, and our task is to return the money to the Moscow Region's budget," he said.

Vorobyov noted it was money for regional development, money paid by residents. He said he hoped the losses would be compensated for, and the funds would be used to solve pressing problems.

Alexei Kuznetsov was finance minister of the Moscow Region till 2008 and resigned on his own. Later Boris Gromov, who was governor of the region at the time, explained that Kuznetsov resigned because he had dual citizenship. According to unofficial information, Kuznetsov emigrated to the United States where his family resided at the time.

Former finance minister of the Moscow Region 50-year-old Kuznetsov was detained in southern France on Friday. He was detained in Toulon on France's Mediterranean coast and placed under arrest, Russian law-enforcement sources told Itar-Tass.

From November 2012, the ex-minister was on an international wanted list on charges of fraud, legalization of money obtained as a result of a crime and embezzlement. Damage done by Kuznetsov to the Moscow Region is estimated at billions of roubles.