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Prosecutor denies former colleagues' involvement in gambling cover-up case

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MOSCOW, February 12. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika denied any evidence of his former colleagues involvement in covering up illegal gambling in the Moscow region.

"It's time to wrap up this case. The media launched a campaign that had nothing to do with justice," Chika said at the Government Hour session at the State Duma lower house of the Russian parliament on Wednesday.

He explained that there were no signs of fraud in actions by Ivan Nazarov, the suspected mastermind behind illegal gambling in the Moscow region, but that he was placed under arrest.

The prosecutor general criticized the investigators who he said were not seeking to establish the truth. "Prosecutors are accused of covering up /gambling/ despite the fact that they repeatedly asked courts to shut down illegal gambling parlors. " They carried out 30 checks of 18 parlors belonging to Nazarov, seizing 232 units of equipment, and filing legal actions demanding termination of gambling," Chaika said.

The investigators did not find any money, assets, luxury items or property. "Hence they have no objective proof of officials taking bribes," the prosecutor general said.

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