Court extends arrest of another figure in the Russian FSIN embezzlement case until September 30

17:39 28/07/2015
MOSCOW, 28 July – RAPSI. The Presnensky Court of Moscow on Tuesday extended until 30 September the arrest of the former director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Centre for Information and Technical Support and Communications” of the FSIN, Viktor Opredelenov, reports a RAPSI correspondent from the courtroom.

Opredelenov, along with the former head of the Russian prison service Alexander Reimer and other figures, is accused of embezzling 3 billion rubles during the purchase of electronic bracelets.

“The court has decided to satisfy the investigator’s motion and extend the period of detention in custody in relation to Opredelenov until 30 September”, – the judge ruled.

The defendant’s lawyer tried to convince the court that his client should be released from the pre-trial detention centre. In particular, according to the lawyer, “at the hearings on extending the preventive measure, the investigation provides the same materials; there is no corroborating evidence in them”.

The court ultimately sided with the prosecution, finding no grounds for the release of Opredelenov.

On Tuesday, the court also extended the detention period for Reimer until 30 September.

Later, the court kept other figures in isolation – former deputy of Reimer, Nikolai Krivolapov, and entrepreneur Nikolai Martynov. They will be kept under house arrest until 30 September.

The term of the investigation into the case has been extended until 28 February.

The scandal that erupted at the beginning of 2013, when the non-targeted expenditure of billions of rubles was revealed in the FSIN, received an unexpected continuation on 31 March of this year: the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation announced the detention of the ex-head of the prison department Alexander Reimer and three of his alleged accomplices.

The investigation charged them with the embezzlement of 3 billion rubles during the purchase of electronic bracelets for convicts and intends to continue the check: as reported, after the resignation of Reimer, machinations worth 10 billion rubles were discovered in the FSIN. Reimer himself denies all accusations.

The ex-head of the FSIN became the highest-ranking ex-official to be arrested in Russia in recent years on charges of corruption. The last time a former official of the level of a federal minister was involved in a criminal case was in 2013: this was the ex-Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation Anatoliy Serdyukov, suspected of negligence, but he avoided punishment in connection with an amnesty.
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