MOSCOW, December 20 (RIA Novosti) – Russian police said Friday they are investigating embezzlement of 1.2 billion rubles ($36.4 million) in budget funds by former employees of the state-owned agricultural lender Rosselkhozbank.
The cash, granted as loans for buying agricultural raw materials and equipment in 2009, was misappropriated by the suspects in frauds using bogus agricultural companies.
Police are searching the bank's offices in Moscow and Novosibirsk, west Siberia. A criminal case into large-scale fraud has been launched, a police statement said.
