In the criminal case over misappropriation of 93 million roubles, which were allocated for the construction of the sites for an APEC summit, the searches were made in the branches of the Ministry of Regional Development in Moscow and Vladivostok on Thursday. No defendants were found in the criminal case yet. However, the detectives believe that they will be found soon. It looks like this is just the beginning and new criminal cases over the run-up to the APEC summit will follow.
The criminal case was opened by the investigation department of the ministry, press officer of the Russian Interior Ministry Marina Molokova told the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily. “The inquiry has exposed misappropriations of over 93 million roubles of budget funds, which were allocated from the run-up to the APEC summit in Vladivostok. Our colleagues from the Federal Security Service have made searches in the Far Eastern energy management company back on October 29. The FSB agents had the detective information about multimillion misappropriations of budget funds, which were also assigned for the run-up to the APEC summit,” Molokova stated.
The Primorsky law enforcers told the Kommersant daily that the misappropriation was committed in the insurance of the construction of the facilities of the Far Eastern Federal University. The detectives found that the cost of construction works has been overstated manifold, subsequently, the insurance premiums were swollen. Over the misappropriation case the investigation department of the Interior Ministry opened a criminal case for a massive fraud committed by an organized criminal group in a preliminary conspiracy.
Chief of the Primorsky police department Maj.-Gen. Andrei Nikolayev does not rule out high-profile criminal cases after the APEC summit in the future, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily reported. “The construction is not finalized at most sites. We wait for the construction to be completed and final settlements with the contractors and suppliers to be made,” Nikolayev told a press conference on Thursday. Meanwhile, he noted that the law enforcers have sufficient criminal materials.
“Long before the end of the APEC summit auditors of the Audit Chamber have found 6.5 billions of incorrect expenses, the summit directorate was responsible for the embezzlement of 3.1 billion roubles. Over the misappropriation of the APEC summit funds 23 criminal cases were opened with total damages of 224 million roubles. Therefore, the majority of those guilty will be probably convicted in the future. Finally everything will depend from the interests of the federal authorities, which are obviously concerned over the incompliance of the expenditures (679.3 billion roubles) and the summit results,” criminal expert Alexander Sukharenko told the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily.