Russian prosecutors claimed Monday to have thwarted the attempted theft of $1.6 million from the Sochi Olympics construction budget in 2011.
More than $30 billion are being spent on constructing all the stadiums and infrastructure needed for the Winter Olympics, which come to Russia for the first time in 2014.
"The theft of a total 47 million rubles ($1.6 million) has been prevented," said Sergei Vorobyov, Deputy General Prosecutor for Russia's Southern Federal District, on Monday.
Prosecutors last year uncovered more than 1,500 violations related to the budget, to tax issues, to ecological and labor laws in the Olympics project, Vorobyov said.
Some had resulted in criminal proceedings being opened against the suspects, he added.
Russia's Winter Olympics have been billed as the most expensive in history. Organizers have said construction of the coastal and mountain clusters should be complete by the end of the year.
