MOSCOW, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - Two people have been charged as part of an inquiry into misappropriation of state funds intended for road maintenance in central Russia’s Veliky Novgorod region, the Investigative Committee regional branch said on Wednesday.
Nikolai Zakaldayev, a deputy of the Chudovo municipal administration, and Alexei Tutykin, an executive director of a local company, have been charged with gross fraud committed as part of a criminal gang, the Investigative Committee said.
Both have been put into custody pending trial.
Investigators opened several criminal cases on Tuesday against nine suspects thought to have embezzled more than 35 million rubles ($1.15 million), including Veliky Novgorod Region's First Deputy Governor Arnold Shalmuyev, as well as two local lawmakers, Anatoly Petrov and Nikolai Zakaldayev.
According to investigators, Shalmuyev and eight executives from the Novgorodavtodor state company, and other state-run and private companies, are suspected of systematic embezzlement in 2011-2012.
Policemen and investigators conducted over 40 searches on Tuesday in the regional administration and at the suspects' homes, as well as addresses in Moscow, as part of the investigation.
The key suspect in the case, Shalmuyev, was hospitalized following a search, investigators said on Tuesday. He is currently on an ventilator.
