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Court arrests deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff in gross fraud case

The lawyer of accused Colonel General Khalil Arslanov said the ruling would be appealed

MOSCOW, February 7. /TASS/. A military court has arrested the deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff, Colonel General Khalil Arslanov, who has been accused of gross fraud.

"The court ruled to sustain the investigator’s request to change the restrictive measure from written promise not to leave town to arrest till April 7," judge Andrei Tolkachenko said. Arslanov was remanded in custody in the court room.

The lawyer of the accused said the ruling would be appealed against.

The investigator says Arslanov was an accomplice in embezzling cash assets of the joint stock company Voentelecom. The criminal proceedings were opened in 2013. Arslanov is Deputy Chief of Russia’s General Staff. Currently he is on vacation and does not perform his official functions. The investigator claims that he was involved in two gross fraud cases worth 191 million rubles ($3 million) and 6.5 billion rubles ($102 million).

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