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Russian Urals city mayor believes case against Yekaterinburg municipal enterprise contract

YEKATERINBURG, December 26,  /ITAR-TASS/. Yekaterinburg Mayor Yevgeny Roizman believes the high-profile case on a 100-million-rouble fraud at the city’s Vodokanal municipal unitary enterprise, which operates the water supplies and sewerage system, is a contract one, he told reporters.

Vodokanal Director Alexander Kovalchik is among the suspects in the case.

“I strongly feel that he didn't do the things incriminated to him,” the flamboyant mayor of the Urals largest city said. “He isn’t guilty. I think Vodokanal is targeted by some financial groupings along with certain law enforcers.”

In early August, criminal cases on a 100-million-rouble (1 RUR = 32.9 U.S. dollars) fraud were instituted with Kovalchik as one of the suspects. He is accused of an embezzlement of extremely large sums and office abuse.

The investigators say his criminal activities caused damage over 27 million roubles while the total damage surpassed 100 million roubles. In November, another criminal case was opened against Kovalchik regarding embezzlement of over one billion roubles. At present all the persons implicated in the fraud are being indentified.

The police detained Kovalchik on August 3 on the aforesaid charges, which were redefined later as with a gross embezzlement of property entrusted to him.

In mid-September, the police searched the Vodokanal offices and the personnel’s private apartments including the apartments of the chief accountant and Kovalchik himself.