Court summons Chubais as witness in Rusnano embezzlement case for Nov 24
MOSCOW. Nov 23 (Interfax) - Moscow's Cheryomushkinsky District Court has summoned Rusnano head Anatoly Chubais to testify on November 24 as a witness in the case of the former head of the state corporation, Leonid Melamed, and the former CFO, Svyatoslav Ponurov, who have been charged with embezzling over 226 million rubles, court spokeswoman Irena Kozayeva told Interfax.
"The court has summoned Chubais as a witness for the prosecution at 10 a.m. Moscow time on November 24," Kozayeva said.
Chubais' lawyer, Alexander Asnis, said that Chubais will appear in court on Friday. "Anatoly Chubais will appear in court to testify as a witness," Asnis said.
Rusnano said earlier that there had been no damage and that the defendants acted lawfully.
The Cheryomushkinsky District Court started trying the Melamed-Ponurov case in late May.
Melamed was charged with orchestrating an embezzlement conspiracy. According to investigators, the former Rusnano head hired Andrei Malyshev and Ponurov, whom he had controlled, and initiated the engagement of a consultative company to render services not needed by Rusnano. Ponurov, the chief financial officer and chairman of the tender committee at that time, conspired with Melamed in 2008 and ensured the victory of the company Alemar, which was co-owned by Melamed, in the bidding for consultative services. He drafted an agreement on the provision of services, which was signed by Rusnano Deputy General Director Malyshev. Thus, more than 220 million rubles of corporate funds were improperly spent in February-July 2009, investigators said.