MOSCOW, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - Two people have been detained as part of an enquiry into misappropriation of state funds intended for road maintenance in Russia’s central Veliky Novgorod Region, the local Investigative Committee said on Wednesday.
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.
“Those detained are Nikolai Zakaldayev, a deputy of the Chudovo municipal administration, and Alexei Tutykin, an executive director of one of the Veliky Novgorod region’s companies,” the committee said in a statement.
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 Veliky Novgorod 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 breathing with the aid of an artificial ventilator.
