22 Nov 2018 16:31

Gosfilmofond top officials suspected of improper use of 325 mln rubles - state prosecutors

MOSCOW. Nov 22 (Interfax) - Top officials at Gosfilmofond (The State Film Archive) are implicated in two criminal cases associated with the improper use of 325 million rubles from the state budget, Russian Prosecutor General's Office spokesman Alexander Kurennoi said.

"All the elements of the criminal cases are based on the fact that the 325 million rubles provided for the repair of the organization's facilities was used to repair the Rossiya movie theater in Saransk, which was not part of Gosfilmofond's property," Kurennoi said on the agency's online channel Efir on Thursday.

Additionally, the contractor was paid 9 million rubles for work that was not done, he said.

"The materials of the prosecutors' probe were sent to the Russian Investigative Committee earlier for a resolution of the issue of the prosecution of officials of this establishment," Kurennoi said.

The prosecutors also found that Gosfilmofond officials had accepted 2 million rubles' worth of unfinished work related to technical services and the maintenance of fire-safety systems in buildings used by many people on a permanent basis. "Real danger to people's lives and health was created," Kurennoi said.

Fraud cases were opened against the contractors, and negligence cases were opened against Gosfilmofond officials, he said.

The cases concern state funding provided to and spent by Gosfilmofond in 2014-2017, Kurennoi said.