Criminal proceedings have been launched into the illegal sale of land in Moscow to companies connected to Yelena Baturina, the wife of the city's former mayor, a spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee said on Tuesday.
"A criminal case has been opened over the abuse of land plots set aside for the construction of diplomatic missions," Vladimir Markin said.
The land plots in western Moscow, intended to host the diplomatic missions of a number of countries, including India, Cuba, and China, were illegally sold off after Moscow city officials illegally issued privatization contracts, the spokesman said.
Investigators are currently working to establish the circumstances behind the crime and to identify the individuals involved, Markin added.
The Russian media reported in June that the Russian Foreign Ministry had asked the Prosecutor General's Office to investigate the issue.
The land plots were reportedly bought by Inteko, a company controlled by Baturina, although the firm denied any criminal charges had been made against it.
Baturina's husband, Yury Luzhkov was sacked from the post of Moscow mayor in September following a smear campaign on state-run TV that accused him, among other things, of helping his wife to make billions through construction contracts in the Russian capital.
Company spokesman Gennady Terebkov said ZAO Territorialnaya Direktsia Setunskaya, where Baturina is a shareholder, bought 24.4 hectares of land in western Moscow in 2003 "in accordance with the law."
MOSCOW, November 16 (RIA Novosti)
